I have a 62 Mercury Monterey with a 352fe. The temp guage stays at 3/4 the way over all the time, but today while sitting in a drive thru line, it almost was all the way over to hot. Once I got back on the road, it moved back down to about 3/4 from hot. Is this normal for an fe engine? If not, what could be wrong? I'm new to fe's so I hope some of the fe guru's can give me some advice. Thanks in advance.
Im not sure I would trust the factory temp guage. Maybe you could install a mech temp guage to eliminate sender or guage issues. Also see if you good hot air from the heater when its acting up, if not you could be low on coolant and having air pockets moving through the cooling system. My 390 runs not higher than 200 even crawling on a hot day. Brad
I thought about installing a 3 gauge set with one being a mechanical temp gauge to see if it was a gauge issue.
I have had a few FEs and they tend to run warmer than the small blocks I have had but like you,I like the temps down.I had a 64 Galaxie that ran around 200-212º and I got the temps down on it by making sure the radiator had all of the seals in good shape so that all of the air passed through it and not around it.I also put a 160º thermostat in it and that made it stay around 180.Make sure your timing is right also,that can make it run hot.You can also run a radiator shroud like the air conditioned cars have,that helps.
Sounds like the gauge is working fine, since it changes depending on situation. I think your fan is not pulling enough. CN
I rebuilt the 390 in my 62 galaxie 5 yrs ago.!90 degrees all the time new rad,hoses,t-stat even in traffic.Mike
Any FE I ever had ran hot in the warmer months. Some of my friends had the same problem with their T-Birds and trucks. The "cure" was to remove the thermostat in the summer and replace it just before winter. These were all sound cooling systems with the right AF mixture. Bob
The Jalopy Journal
