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Hatterasman · 10-12-2016, 08:05 PM

Me again. I have a 2004 Jayco 24' M.H. with a V10 Ford engine. The other day I took 5 mile jaunt to get gas and a ckeck gauges light came on. The temp guage dropped to nothing and the check engine light came on. Then the rig lost power and I limped back home. I mech. friend of mine said to check coolant level and I did . It was fine. Started rig about an hour later and it ran normal except for engine light staying on. Today I drove it to mech's garage and he said code reads that it was overheating. This time guage was reading high and would drop when you idled it higher. He doesn't think it is overheating. Can the sensor be bad? How about thermostat? Thanks.

Skip426 · 10-12-2016, 08:34 PM

Temp sensor can be bad , or sticking t'stat . Do you have an infrared heat gun , if so aim it at the t'stat housing to see if that temp agrees with the gauge.
You'd have to check with Ford to see if the gauge and the engine ECM use the same sensor.

EDIT: Second thought ; I always have them , with the temp dropping at high idle , I suspect the t'stat was stuck shut when the CEL came on and after sitting its now stuck open , allowing the high idle to move the coolant through the rad and cooling more than the t'stat would allow if operating properly.

Waiter21 · 10-13-2016, 05:53 AM

Anytime there is a suspected overheating issue, Turn off the AC (if its on) and turn the heater on full heat, full blower. This might buy you some time and allow you to get off the road.

If the heater is blowing hot air:

Normally, the vehicles heater system bypasses the thermostat. So if the thermostat is stuck closed, the heater system might provide some coolant to at least get to the radiator.

Also, the coolant level could be low, but the water pump is able to push some coolant through the heater core..

If the heater is blowing cool or luck warm air:

You have a problem, coolant low, water pump not operating (broken fan belt).

CharlesinGA · 10-13-2016, 04:07 PM

I'm sure that this vehicle has a fan clutch. Don't know if it is controlled by the ECU or a simple thermostatic coil on the front of the clutch, but if the fan is simply freewheeling and not moving much air, the engine will overheat. On my Sprinter based RV you can distinctly hear when the fan "engages" and when it drops out. The roar of the fan is quite loud, and you can see the temp drop back about ten degrees and then it "disengages" and gets quiet.

Charles

jelag · 10-18-2016, 06:51 PM

with an infra-red temp gun... and the engine overheat light ON test not only the thermostat housing as mentioned above, but also check the side tank of the radiator, and the top of the pressure cap... if all 3 readings are about the same and under 200* than assume that the temp sender is bad... In almost all cases what you see on the dash is what the ECM sends to the dash... it's the computers interpretation of what it sees at the sensors... the ECM is seeing those signals.... and they need attention...

OLYLEN · 10-19-2016, 09:25 AM

When you checked fluid level did you look at the radiator on just the overflow tank. In the old days if you overheated and the temp gauge dropped to 0 the sensor had no fluid to read and you better shut down or risk real motor damage. Just another thought.

LEN

mscharkey · 10-19-2016, 08:39 PM

The themostat is rated for so many times to function, I would have system flush, replace thermostat. I have my radiator fluid on a annual basis for acidity and flush every 4 years. Cheaper than V10 engine or head gaskets...

Jacobnino · 10-19-2016, 09:30 PM

How many miles?

Arch Hoagland · 10-19-2016, 10:44 PM

Well...has there been a solution to the problem yet?

Hatterasman · 10-21-2016, 08:25 AM

Thanks everyone. Rig has 23560 miles on it. Not much in RV miles. I am changing the thermostat.

Waiter21 · 10-21-2016, 08:41 AM

This shouldn't cause the symptoms you described, but is good info to pass on, since it could be contributing to the problem:

There have been numerous F53 owners reporting overheating. The issue was oil and dirt accumulated on the radiator that blocks airflow through the radiator.

When adding oil to the engine, a little oil is getting spilled and runs down the front of the radiator, Dust, dirt, bugs, etc then stick to the oil and block off 1/3 to 1/2 the airflow through the radiator..

I'm very careful when adding oil to my F53, to minimize spilling. I also once a year use the pressure washer to clean accumulation of oil / dirt from the radiator.