I have a 2002 2.3L duratec ranger. On the other trucks I have the water temp is equal to the cylinder head temp. Not on this one. The Cylinder temp runs at around 260° and the water temp is around 210°.
I guess I wouldn't be too concerned except for the fact that it pings going up hills. Does anyone else have this problem? I use 87 octane and don't really want to go with a higher octane rating. Has anyone removed the thermostat or installed a lower temp thermostat to lower the water operating temperature?

How are you measuring temp on the head?
It is normal for the head to run hotter anyway.

I would leave the stock temp thermo alone. These EEC's are too smart and won't like a colder stat. Emissions and all.

As for pinging, don't be cheap. Put some 89 in and see if it goes away. Enjoy the fact that you don't need a chip.:)
Maybe your 87 is really 85 octane?

I use an autotap scanner. In my other vehicles a 2001 Lightning and 2002 excursion the ect is the same as the cht within 2°.
I drive 40K miles + per year and don't want to pay the extra $175 dollars per year in added fuel cost.
I think Ford restricted the water flow to the head so not as much heat transfer occurs. More heat, more chance of pinging and better fuel economy?


2001 Ford Lightning
11.645@119.69mph
2002 Ford Ranger
2002 Ford Excursion

Better economy and emissions too.

Your valve timing and cam configuration can also affect head temp so don't compare different engines.

As for fuel costs, what difference would it be to run colder stat causing more 87 to be dumped into cyl's and carbon up everything as opposed to running next grade octane and enjoying the truck?

If you wanted, Ford could retard the timing a bit.
Previous owner of mine did that and I had to bump it back up again. LOL.

Maybe your 87 is really 85 octane?
That's happened to me. Ggggrrrrr..... :mad:
I think Ford restricted the water flow to the head so not as much heat transfer occurs. More heat, more chance of pinging and better fuel economy?
.......And gets the cat up to temperature quicker, therefore less emissions.
The head gasket for the Lima has only ~1/8" holes for water return from the head although the passages are ~1/2". I wonder if the Duratech is designed the same way (head gasket-as-restrictor)?

Easterisland,

This is not normal, I go from sea leval to ~1,750 elevation everyday, so no pinging on 87 octane for me, but I only have 3,500 miles on my Ranger at this point.

I am going to throw out a couple of possiblities. 1st, do you have a lot of miles on your 2.3L, where you could have accumulated carbon on the piston crown and or valves? 2nd, perhaps a good fuel injection cleaning is in order, IE partial blockage in the FI which may be obstructing to point of not sending a full charge of fuel through the injectors, hence starving the motor of fuel. 3rd, perhaps you are lugging the motor and you need to downshift, IE to 4th gear vs 5th gear, depends on the grade(s) weather, etc..., perhaps you are putting an excessive amount of load on the motor and overheatin' 'er.

Just a side note, from what I can gather from other posts the Duratec is a very lean running motor, due to the ECU presets. You might want to eliminate the ECU as being the problem by removing the negative battery cable for ~ 30 minutes and letting the ECU reset itself. It runs richer at first, then leans itself out as the sytems learns your driving habits. If you notice an immediate elimination of your problem and several hundred miles your problem reappears, then more than likely your ECU is just running a lean mixture so you may just want to go the next highest level of octane, or you may want to consider "chipping" your Ranger with a Diablo chip, or similar type. They can program the lean spots out, so this is no longer a problem. Case in point, I have reset my ECU now for the 3rd time. Everytime my Ranger runs noticably better after resetting the ECU, only to have the ECU lean my mixture out after several hundred miles, so a chip may be in the future me, as well.

Good luck, please let the group know if you have if you have found a solution to your problem.

MC Out !!!