My 1959 Edsel seems to be running a bit cold (all the time) 

I have a Champion 3 row in it, a 7lb cap, 50/50 and a 195 thermostat.

Even the stock gauge never went much up to the middle and the S/W shows it average under 200.  I have milky condensation on the insides of the valve covers (which are aluminum) the oil out of the pan is normal though.

Any thoughts?


1959 Edsel Ranger, 1916 Ford "speedster"
"I may not be a rich man, but I can give you a million dollars' worth of bad publicity."

The temp sounds fine to me.  Do you have a lot of humidity where you live?  I think you need to drive your car more.

Use an infrared or laser thermometer on the thermostat area of the intake to see the temperature.
The gauge is going to be inaccurate, possibly not only due to the quality of the gauge but also because of the location of the sender in the head.  The coolant currently at the sender still has to absorb heat from 3 more combustion chambers.  This can result in quite a difference in the reading indicated by the gauge and the actual temperature of the engine.
Once you know the temperature the engine actually operates at, and the temperature indicated by the gauge at that actual temperature, the gauge accuracy isn't really important.  What is important is that you learn what is a normal indication on the gauge so that you can recognize when there may be a problem.


Lawrenceville, GA

Still running the road draft tube? That system requires some speed, typically over 25mph, to work. The condensation you describe is typical of what I’ve seen in cool weather and trips under 10 miles or so. Or even pretty warm weather if there’s no highway driving. If that fits your driving pattern, maybe think about a PVC system. Plenty of info on that here in the search function.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Will check with digital.

No road draft.  Switched to PCV.

It runs cooler on the highway.

Just thought that new radiator being some much bigger than the old stock one that maybe that's an issue.


1959 Edsel Ranger, 1916 Ford "speedster"
"I may not be a rich man, but I can give you a million dollars' worth of bad publicity."

My 1955 TBird has a 3 row Champion aluminum radiator and an electric fan that runs all the time.     My car also has a 170 degree wide gap thermostat.  It gets hot here in Florida.  My car shows about 170 degrees on my SW gauge.  In traffic, it will climb to 180 degrees. I am running a stock road draft tube with no PVC.  My car is garaged and drives at least 5-10 miles a week.  I have no condensation in my valve covers.

The fact of the matter is, if the thermostat is working correctly, then your operating temperature is near or over 195 degrees.  The radiator being larger doesn't affect that since the thermostat must be open for coolant to pass through the radiator to be cooled.  The engine simply will not stay cool if that is not happening.


Lawrenceville, GA

a lot of miles on your engine

So with a digital it's 168 average at the sensor.  The goose neck is 130.  water pump is 140.  Radiator is 119.

That is after driving for a long time.  So the gauge showing 170 is pretty accurate.

The engine is a rebuild with a few grand miles on it.  But the engine I just took out had the same thing.   


1959 Edsel Ranger, 1916 Ford "speedster"
"I may not be a rich man, but I can give you a million dollars' worth of bad publicity."

Is the goose neck the thermostat housing?

If it won't get over 170, then the thermostat is defective or it's not 195.


Lawrenceville, GA