98 ford ranger

[Mcoffey24]

Since I am not part of a ranger forum I thought I would give this a shot here. I have a 98 for ranger 2wd 4cyl. I was on my way to Kansas a couple weeks ago and about half way there I noticed the temp gauge was reading at the C mark. Also the heater was not heating like normal. First thing that came to mind was the thermostat must be stuck open. So as soon as I got home I replaced the thermostat but it didn't fix anything. The engine is running under the c mark on the temp gauge. Also the engine is running rough and even at times I can hear the lifters knocking. I have tried covering half the radiator with cardboard with no change so I covered 100% of the radiator with cardboard to see what would happen and I was able to get the temp in the normal range, but as soon as the t-stat opens the gauge drops to below c again. With the outside temps in the 20s I am getting little to no heat in the cab so I am looking for any ideas.

 

[blueflamed03]

sounds like tstat, have you verified the water temp is getting hot?

Like is upper radiator hose hot to the touch?

 

[Mcoffey24]

Yes the upper radiator hose is hot but the lower is cold...

 

[blueflamed03]

water pump not flowing water?

 

[Mcoffey24]

I fixed the problem with one of the following things. The coolant was really dirty looking so I flushed the system with new, The new t-stat was opening to soon so I bought a new one boiled it in a pot to make sure it was working. Also the system had a air lock and took a full day to burp all the air out. The more air I got out of the system the more heat I got.