I bought my 85 w/22re about 2 months ago. She was running really rough, until I did tune up (wires, rotor, distributor, plugs) and had the timing set and fuel air mixture tweaked. Now it is running good, but still idleing rough. The temp gauge did NOT work and the guy I bought it from said it never worked.

Now the question - I replaced the Thermostat (OEM) and took her for a spin. Low and behold the temp gauge works (settles right in the middle). the question is if I've driven it less than 1000 miles with a bad thermostat (always regestering cold) - Did I do any damage to the motor? Plugs?

Motor currently has 63200 miles on it.

thanks in advance for the help

 

I bought my 85 w/22re about 2 months ago. She was running really rough, until I did tune up (wires, rotor, distributor, plugs) and had the timing set and fuel air mixture tweaked. Now it is running good, but still idleing rough. The temp gauge did NOT work and the guy I bought it from said it never worked.

Now the question - I replaced the Thermostat (OEM) and took her for a spin. Low and behold the temp gauge works (settles right in the middle). the question is if I've driven it less than 1000 miles with a bad thermostat (always regestering cold) - Did I do any damage to the motor? Plugs?

Motor currently has 63200 miles on it.

thanks in advance for the help

 

i would have to say know u just worked your motor harder

 

No you just burned more gas.

 

A thermostat that has been stuck open (which happened to be your case) for many miles usually causes a significant amount of sludge and varnish buildup throughout the motor. This happens because the moisture that naturaly occurs doesn't burn off. This sludge buildup can cause excessive wear. You may also what to check/change your PCV valve since it pulls out blowby vapors from the motor and get plugged with by sludge and varnsih buildup.

It might be a good idea to take the valve cover off and take peek in there for any buildup. Excess sludge and varnish buildup greatly affects the valve lash and causes the gap to close. If you take the valve cover off, you might as well do a valve adjustment and make sure they are not set too tight as this will burn the valve. If this occurs, there is no way to reverse the problem without machine work to the valve(s) and somtimes the head.

There are several basic issues that lead to rough idling for the 22re. Incorrect valve lash, a TPS (throttle position sensor) out of adjustment, and a dirty throttle body. There are all kinds of threads dealing with these issues, all you have to do is use the search. Feel free to ask anymore questions!

 

if it runs too hot the head can warp and cuase a bad headgasket mating surface.... this happened to me, probably resulting form my truck having no thermostat and me always beating my truck.... anyways.... get the dual stage thermostat, i had the regular oem one and it gave me a scare, it died in 5 months and last week i replaced it with the 2 stage, now i wont have t oworry about it anymroe...

 

hey jum!

congratulations on the new baby girl! best wishes to you, your wife and jennifer. you know the drill, this thread is nothing without pix!!

lee

 

Thought this thread was about an engine

 

my apologies for the hijack, saw his sig with the baby news and thought id pass on my best wishes.

lee

 

I can always be wrong, but I do not beleive too much can be harmful from running cool. Thats why ( AFAIK ) most thermostats have a fail safe that keeps them open if they stop working.
Now being an EFI the computer monitors the temp, so being cold will burn more gas an cause a higher idle etc. I am not sure about the sludge build up, because the engine will get pretty warm ( combustion is freaking hot ), its just the coolent is really cold and heat transfer always happend warm -> cold.

PS, PM or email me - I have a factory service manual for your truck