Infrared temp gun to get temperature

[tanyourhide]

My temp guage doesnt ever raise above the first mark. After driving around in town sometimes i can smell this heat stink. I have hay in the heater box from when this was in a field or something before i got it. Ths engine is fairly greasy. Im not sure if im smelling grease heat up or hay heat up. Since the guage doesnt work ive been a littld nervous about an overheat condition. Ive thought about using my temp gun on ths side of the block. Any thoughts?

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Go for it. Point it at the side of the cylinder head and see what you get. Make sure the exhaust isn't in your line of site or it'll say error or a ridiculously high temperature.

 

[75gmck25]

When I got my truck about 15 years ago it had all kinds of field dirt, mouse nests, grease, oil, and other crap on the engine. It smelled very "unique" when it got heated up. However, over the years I've cleaned it up a lot, and installed a crate engine, so I only get a very slight oil odor, which you can't smell from the cab.

If you use the temp gun on the thermostat housing after the truck is warmed up you should get a good idea of actual water temp when fully hot. Then compare that to the gauge reading.

I also have a mechanical temp gauge, and have found that my OEM dash gauge is so "conservative" that when the engine temp is about 195 degrees its only at the 1/4 mark on the gauge. However, its also not very linear, so at about 220-225 degrees its at the 3/4 mark (when I had the A/C running on the highway and had just come back to idle at a stop light).


Bruce

 

[chengny]

When I got my truck about 15 years ago it had all kinds of field dirt, mouse nests, grease, oil, and other crap on the engine. It smelled very "unique" when it got heated up.

Bruce

I'm with Bruce on the mice theory.

 

[HotRodPC]

Just my .02, Not sure if you've priced engines lately but about the cheapest crate you can get is going to be $1600 + shipping, labor to install it and fluids. So $2000 would probably be a good guesstimate if you did the work yourself.

Don't piss around without a temp gauge if you'e senses are telling you it might be a problem. What happens when you get comfy with, "it's just rat ****, hay or oil burning off the exhaust manifolds"? I barely trust our Electric gauges in our trucks, but it's at least something to compare to whether accurate or not. We'd know when something doesn't look normal.

Do yourself a favor buddy. Spend the $33 + shipping to save your $2000 engine. Your peace of mind is worth it. This is an analog set of the 2 most critical things you should know what your engine is doing at all times.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g2924/overview/