how hot does your deuce get

[parlusk]

well i just got in from driving it about 35 minutes and after i shut her down the radiator was only warm to the touch, i opened the cap and the coolant was only warm to the touch too... idk if the truck just runs cool, or the thermostat is bad or i need to get one of those winter front covers.... i have noticed coolant on my frame rail that has been coming from the overflow, that may have something to do with i..

 

[WillWagner]

These run on the cool side. The hottest mine has been is around 190 or so in June pulling Tehachapi grade.
Looking for a winter front? I have one with the springs and mounts. PM me if interested.

 

[JDToumanian]

Mine runs between 190-205. Closer to 190 around town and up to 205 at speed or on grades. The radiator is often just warm because it does it's job well. It gets too hot to touch in the summer. I like that the gauge needle is pointing just about straight up at operating temperature (same with my 0-120 oil pressure gauge)..... Makes it easy to see at a glance that everything is a-ok.

Jon

 

[patracy]

I think mine is cold blooded. Literally. 175F-180F is the hottest it gets. I thought perhaps the thermostat was stuck open, but the temp crawls up to that range and stays there all the time.

 

[Maxwell1815]

These run on the cool side. The hottest mine has been is around 190 or so in June pulling Tehachapi grade.
Looking for a winter front? I have one with the springs and mounts. PM me if interested.

How much do you want for it?

 

[velociT]

This was on an 80'F day.

 

[JDToumanian]

Yeah mine appears to be an exception.... I remember that Bjorn's Cranetruck also ran with the needle straight up but most seem to run on the cold side. It would be interesting to check the accuracy of the thermostats and gauges / senders.....

 

[patracy]

I think I have a spare mechanical therm. I could slap in mine to do a comparo. I'll have to figure out where it is in the shop though. I'd personally like to get away from all the electric gauges....

 

[WillWagner]

I think I have a spare mechanical therm. I could slap in mine to do a comparo. I'll have to figure out where it is in the shop though. I'd personally like to get away from all the electric gauges....

I did that when I first got my junk. Also did an O/P comparison. The temp gauge was pretty much right on and the oil pressure gauge reads low at idle by 5 or so pounds when hot. Cold it is also close.

patracy, PM sent.

 

[patracy]

I did that when I first got my junk. Also did an O/P comparison. The temp gauge was pretty much right on and the oil pressure gauge reads low at idle by 5 or so pounds when hot. Cold it is also close.

patracy, PM sent.

That's good to know. I still don't trust the sending units on them though....

Didn't get your pm though?

 

[cattlerepairman]

170 on mine in "normal" weather, running empty. 200 with winter front on in the summer (with flap open, as in my avatar). Barely reaching 160 without winter front when it is cold (around freezing).

 

[Heavysteven]

Mine hits 180 and holds. I have not seen it ever go past that.

 

[hdexpert]

Mine runs 180 most of the time as does oldgrunts. Kipman's runs 160 which is a little on the cool side. They used a few different t-stats in these trucks. I'd say swap in a different thermostat if you want your truck to run a higher temp.

 

[Barrman]

The fan and radiator are matched up great on this truck. Even in 100° plus temps and the gauge over 200° while going down the road. 5 minutes at idle and the temp is down to 180° or so and the radiator while not cool to the touch is not trying to burn your arm off.

 

[wb1895]

I have a non turbo deuce and mine runs around 210 on a hot day, and around 190-200 on a cold day, with no winter grill cover. She does take around 20 minutes to get up to temperature.

 

[rlwm211]

My truck runs 175-180 summer time and will raise to 195 or so on a long climb. In the winter it runs 170 and hardly ever goes above that unless I have the winterfront on. Then it can climb up to over 200 on a long draw.

RL

 

[maddawg308]

Mine runs about 180 all the time. As far as the interior goes, I removed the heater. Even in January in Virginia, I don't need a heater at all.

 

[cjtroutt]

Yester day my ran around 195 ish at 25 dargee out side.

 

[Jake0147]

well i just got in from driving it about 35 minutes and after i shut her down the radiator was only warm to the touch, i opened the cap and the coolant was only warm to the touch too... idk if the truck just runs cool, or the thermostat is bad or i need to get one of those winter front covers.... i have noticed coolant on my frame rail that has been coming from the overflow, that may have something to do with i..

Verify your temperature at the engine only. These use a full flow "diverter valve" as opposed to an open/closed thermostat. There is always a full flow, but when the thermostat is closed, it's a full flow completely within the engine. As the thermostat opens, it partially opens a "parallel path" which includes the radiator, and at the same time, restricts the "internal only" path by a like amount. This gives the engine 100 percent coolant flow to equalize hot spots and what not inside the engine with no external cooling when cooling is not needed. This means that an engine which is fully warm and maintaining it's own temperature nicely, with only just a tiny touch of "extra" heat will not wait until it's too hot and then open up to the radiator, rather it will get hot enough and then "trickle" enough coolant through the radiator to maintain it's temperature.
After this, factor in that the Deuce has about three times the radiator that a modern "civvy" equivalent would have, so it's not working as hard to cool the engine. It needs much less flow, much less of the time to do it's job.

You will quite often find a discrepancy in the temperature of the coolant in the radiator and the temperature of the engine. Go with the temperature at the intake water manifold just prior to the thermostat (where the temperature gauge is mounted) for temperature that may be accurately interpreted the way most folks are accustomed to. (That'll be the "steady" temperature that in an ideal world would peak and hold at or about 180 degrees.)
If that temperature is where you'd like it to be then you've got no worries. (around 180 is ideal, some have a hard time making it quite there, and if it's hot enough out with some hard work, you can tease it up a little over that). If that temperature doesn't get to where you'd like it to be, then you have something to correct. But the bottom line is that a radiator that's cooler than the engine is a characteristic, not a symptom.

 

[duffman1993]

Ok, may I ask a stupid question, is it necessarily bad to have a cool running engine?? I would think that the cooler it runs, the less stress is put on the internals.