quick question

[brucebruce19]

so this is for my sanity really but to give the short story the other night i was driving down the highway when i noticed my temp gauge going past the middle mark which has never happened, it never went to the red mark as i pulled over instantly. a lot of "steam or smoke" whatever you want to call it behind me as i found the upper radiator hose popped off. i got towed home as there was coolant everywhere and i was not trying to tempt anything other then just putting the hose back on. with that said i am just going to state that within the last 2 years i had my transmission rebuilt and a newer engine put in but that is a tad besides the point right now. I am not a complete dummy with vehicles as i have always tried to do my own repairs. Anyways enough of my rambling, i did some tests after refilling the system with coolant, i checked for heat blowing and after about 5-7 minutes it came through like it normally did which was a good sign in my book for it not being the water pump or a clog somewhere. So the other thing in my mind was the thermostat so i just bought a new one and after some messing around getting the old gasket off I had everything swapped. I go to start it up and everything appears to not be leaking, obviously after a small test drive everything i spilled like an idiot moved and fell. But my issue is that i put in a thermostat rated for 180 when i just saw that my old one was a 195, not a huge issue in my mind but normally the gauge is between where it is in the picture and the middle line but it is staying where you see it in the picture i attached. It fill move a little bit up and then go down like the thermostat is doing its job but i havent seen it that low so thats a little bit alarming. I havent dealt with something like this and was wondering what others thoughts were on it.

My truck as i should have mentioned earlier is an 02 dodge ram 1500 slt 5.9l

 

[MADDOG]

It's gonna run cooler with the 180 deg Tstat in it, especially at highway speeds. No harm in that at all.

If it bothers you, swap in a 195.

 

[brucebruce19]

Thank you for the response. I just did not think it was going to be that much cooler so I wanted a second opinion if that would be normal or not. Just something I have to get used to is all

 

[RoadRamblerNJ]

You're OK. Lots of guys swap the 195 for a 180 so the motor runs cooler. They do it to increase speed. I guess cooler engine = cooler engine compartment = cooler air intake = slightly more dense fuel/air mixture = a bit more power.
I just went with 4.10 gears lol.

 

[RoadRamblerNJ]

Oh, there is a YUUGE difference between smoke and steam. Steam disappears on all but the most humid days.
Smoke lingers and usually has a slight blue hue to it. They indicate vastly different problems. Pay really close attention if it happens again. Steam problems are usually much cheaper to fix than big smoke problems.

 

[brucebruce19]

It was stupid dark n happened very quickly. I'm going to say it was steam as it went away quickly.

So far everything seems to be ok as I have kept a close eye on temps n leaks. I was just concerned with it seeming a little too low but that might have just been worrying side of me haha

 

[geezer336]

Understand you are worried . Should be fine .

 

[brucebruce19]

So today was my longest drive due to traffic. I'll start be saying that I wish my gauge had numbers on it haha. But today (judging by my gauge) itit got what I would say is closer in temps to what I would see when I had a 195 thermostat in it if i drove for an hour.

In my head I'm thinking it's something with the coolant not actually being cooled because it's constantly flowing through or it's not cooling in the rad. I'm not sure but this is why I am here asking