Anouther running hot

Jeffintampa

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Hi all,
Not sure what to do, as I read abunch of post and nothing really is like mine.

I have a 96 stock Mark 8 lsc and am driving it a bit more lately. Well it ran warmer thank I liked, between N and O on the Normal marks. I took it to a shop by me and they did a Flush and fill, new thermostat, and fan motor. My daughter drove it today and called me getting up to the N she turned the heat to 90 and said it helped a little but stayed high like that.

I came home today and pulled the crossover cap and maybe a small burp came out then fresh green antifreeze sat flush in the hole maybe leaking over a tad. She turned it off at 7am and I checked this at 4pm. Were to start? take it back to the shop?

Thanks
Jeff
 
Jeff,

Check the plug at the cooling fan. They get hot over the years and melt. You can get a replacement off of almost any Ford. I bet that's your problem.
 
hmm

wouldn't you think they would of noticed that when he changed the fan motor?
 
Maybe not. You have to physically look inside the plug at the connection. The mechanic might have just plugged it in. Because its been so hot, it might have lost connection. My Mark did it yesterday. A/C went out and the temp gauge started to climb. I pulled over and wiggled the plug. Back in business long enough to get me home. I had another plug and spliced it in.
 
Well,
Drove it to work today my big 4 mile trip, few stoplights never get above 30 mph. Abe went up to the O in Normal, on the way home did real good on the M till sat there at a pretty long light. I drove through the light, went to the next on as it was climbing to R made that light, kept going up 30-40 mph, went up to O then high O low N pulled in poped the hood and checked the fan was blowing pretty hot air, the overflow tank was to the top.

I am wondering could it be a bad cap as I was always told you change antifreeze always change the thermostat and the cap?????
 
Seeing radiators for $82.99 shipped on Amazon.
 
not unless its leaking.
the pump is easy to do so i wouldn't bother unless its leaking or grindy or loud or something.
 
Get a new radiator and a transmission cooler and by pass using the radiator as a trans cooler. In your part of the world this is a desirable move. For us northern folks we need to use the cooler in line after the radiator to warm the fluid up in the cold weather. Flushing is a waste of money IMHO because new radiators are not that expensive. I got my 96's from the Radiator Barn.

It is also worth noting that our temp gauges do have variability, and the real temp reading versus whats on the gauge on the dash board can be some what different, and the spread varies. In other words the gauges aren't linear in performance. FYI
 
I got to do something, I hate and know getting more hot is the worst thing for a motor. I went really though the burping system stated above. Daughter said that went to N for awile then back down to RM area
 
i replaced the coolant temp sensor on mine and it dropped at least half a letter on the gauge. i think it was the one on the left side of the crossover tube
 
how does it do with the ac on? with it on the cooling fan runs max all the time. without the ac the fan doesn't come on until the R. Should also see what letter it's on when the fan kicks on without the ac. Your gauge might be off?
 
Oh I am in Florida AC is on max all the time, black car, black interior. Its been hot and humid here the fan does come on start up.
 
It is also worth noting that our temp gauges do have variability, and the real temp reading versus whats on the gauge on the dash board can be some what different, and the spread varies. In other words the gauges aren't linear in performance. FYI[/QUOTE]

I have a 96 Mark and installed an Accugauge that provides a digital temperature readout of what the sensor reports to the ECU, and you'd be amazed at the fluctuations of the dashboard analogue gauge compared to the actual digital temp. If the dash gauge is reporting somewhere in the 'normal' range, it is normal. Ford gauges across the model lines in the 90's are like this, I have a 93 f250 and it also acts in a similar fashion.
 
im gonna guess its an air pocket from the shop not filling it properly. i had lots of problems with air in the system after replacing my radiator..i burped it several times but still ran hotter than normal. i began to think it was a bad radiator or water pump until i burped it one last time with the method chris posted which finally cured the problem. now the needle stays under the half way mark at all times.
 
I had this issue in my 94, and improved the situation by changing the radiator, and crossover pipe..

Most first gen Marks (but not all) have this issue, where the temp gauge moves in real time. My 95 Taurus was like that too.. Basically there is a large range of temps that "Normal" covers.. I have a 99 Accord, and whether its running at 185 or 205, its sitting pretty much dead in the middle. My Lexus 08 SC430 I just got, is the same way, and will sit in the center no matter how hot out it is, no matter how much i blast the AC, and no matter how steep a hill I take it up, although I never checked it on this car. My MN12 Tbird sat right in the middle between 170 and 195.

One day my Mark was running warm and started to ping when going uphill in the canyons in Hollywood, and it was about 105 out.. The temp gauge was at the N, literally just before overheating (stupid design), but when I checked the coolant temp with my temp gun it was 207 degrees. My Mark always did run a little warm, but I think there were some other issues which is why I got rid of it.. Racebronco came to pick it up! My Taurus always ran in the upper normal range, but when the AC was on, it dropped below middle, and it did this whether it was hot or cold out. I checked the temp on this Taurus since its the same idea as the Mark, and it was barely 195 when it was in the upper normal range.

Apparently, a lot of Ford dealers had to deal with seriously pissed off people who just dropped $40-$50k on a premium car, but thought they were overheating! This caused a lot of owners to disregard the temp gauge, and then blew their engines later on after owning for a while, because they did not know it was overheating.

I am going to play around with my Lexus a bit (turned out to be a freaking awesome car), but will get another Mark in the next couple years, a second gen LSC with no more than 100k miles.. Its supposed to go 0-60 in about 5.6-5.7 seconds with the 6 speed, but my Mark still felt a good deal quicker even though its about a second slower to 60, and was able to spin the tires so easily, while this SC wont spin much unless you brake torque it. This Lexus and the Mark are both 3800 lbs, and have pretty much the same power but the Cobra engine is more wild when you push it.. If the Mark had a sophisticated trans like my glorified Toyota, I'm pretty sure it would even be faster.

One of the best things you can do for a first gen Mark is to get an aftermarket temp gauge... Assuming your cooling system works perfectly, you would be surprised the temp reading off the coolant, versus what shows up on the temp gauge. Of course the second gen Marks, usually sit right in the center, and of course you are also able to get a temp reading directly from the VMM so that helps as well! :rolleyes:
Also get an external trans cooler if you are in warm climate and bypass the one in your radiator. The external trans cooler works better and protects your trans better while adding fluid capacity to the system, and allows you radiator and fan to only work on cooling your engine - It DOES make a nice difference :)
 

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