People in colder climates often insulate the Heater hoses, just use that pipe foam the splits and tape in on in a few places
Also E-fan instead of mechanical fan works well, or block off air flow thru rad with cardboard, helps engine metal to retain heat without the constant flow of colder air, lets engine bay warm up a bit more

 

oops on edit, proportional would mean higher than 250 F, but maybe so..

 

Yes, 190degF is normal temp, above 1/3 and below 1/2 on a Ford gauge, just above 1/2 when pulling a load is OK, or going up a long grade

 

I drove my 2.3L off the showroom floor in 1994. When this truck was young, I had no problem in the winters with a cold cab and the engine not warming up. However, now that this truck is old and has 269K miles on it, it just will not get warm. Kansas City gets cold in the winters. I have read this forum over and over, and I agree that this is just the way this engine is. I still have cold air, but no heat in winter. Over the past few years, I have taken to removing the fan every winter. It does not hurt this truck at all in the cold, and makes the cab a little more comfortable in the winter. I would not recommend this in a warmer climate. In a warmer climate, the electric fan as RonD recommended would be the way to go.

 

Whoa nellie. I know I have made statements in the above topic that agreed with everyone about the Ranger 2.3L being “cold” but that is NOT TRUE.

I solved my problem and as an example, it was 27 degrees this morning, I went out and started the Ranger, turned on the heat, and a few minutes later my wife came out and said, “Ahhh, toasty, feels good.”

I posted the details of my solution but looking above, my posting was not on this forum. Unfortunately, last year, I was on several forums and topics and posted elsewhere and forgot this thread. Sorry.

I will search for my other post.

In short, after many years, I obtained heat nirvana by burping my water system for 20 minutes.

I couldn’t believe it.

Thanks to this forum for automatically sending me notification of the previous person’s plea.

 

Look in this forum, here:

• Home
• /
• SOHC - 2.3L & 2.5L Lima Engines

Engine always cold, Fixed

https://www.ranger-forums.com/sohc-2-3l-2-5l-lima-engines-135/engine-always-cold-fixed-174146/?highlight=Engine+cold%2C+Fixed

Here is link ——/

 

Thanks for this post bejingie I will try this tomorrow, and get back with you if this works.

 

Here is what I found: Using the funnel method described in the video, I added over half a gallon (maybe 2/3 of gallon) of antifreeze to the 2.3l 1994 ranger using the burping method described. The heater is not blowing cold now, but the truck still does not get up to proper temperature. The temp here in Kansas City today is approx. 30 degrees F. Obviously I had an air bubble likely in the new heater core that I had put on about a year ago. At that time I had replaced the heater core, I also replaced the thermostat and the fan clutch. In any case, the temperature is not optimal, and obviously RonD was also correct in his assessment of this engine running cool. I let this thing run for at least 45 minutes while burping the system. I did not remove the fan this year, yet, but I did cut some cardboard for in front of the radiator. Tested the fan clutch which I also replaced about a year ago, and it is working fine. By the way, burping the system also made my truck idle smoother, as it was surging up and down while idling. Now it is not doing that. If anyone can tell me what one had to do with the other, I would be much obliged. In the near future, I am going to test that thermostat to see if it is stuck open. When I do that, I will keep you posted. I suspect that this truck is very broke in, and not much friction in this engine. In addition, like RonD said it has a lot of metal for its size, and it has a really good fan. All of this makes it cool very well, especially in colder weather. That's all for now.

 

My Ranger was built September 1994 and I also bought it new. We drove it today in 39F weather and the heater was great.

Don’t despair.

Here are my ideas, plus RonD has good advice.

A. Hold both hoses from heater inlet your hand and run water hose water under pressure through heater. Full flow? Or core stopped up?

B. Using best methods, burp all air out.

1. Heater core runs wild, meaning = there is no valve, water is supposed to be running through it all the time.

2. Using my sketch in my referenced post, measure the temperature at heater inlet and outlet with engine running. Is temperature over 130F on either port?

With blend door closed, temperature should be the same on each.

With blend door open, there should be a drop in temperature between inlet and outlet if heater fan is on and blend door open.

If not, is blend door working? There will be no heat if blend door is closed.

3. Going back to air burping, my sketch shows the small pipe on the thermostat to the heater inlet, it does not take much air to plug the flow.

4. The temp gage in the dash is useless as the 180 mid point will never be reached in our cars, but lesser water temperature keeps me very warm.

Let’s fix your Ranger. Anybody else with ideas to help?

 

As a test:
today- Dec 6 2024
Ranger 2.3L, 1994
going to Dr appt
915 am, outside air temp 25F
inside cab 25F at heater register in cab
start truck
918am - 60F
921am - 80F
923am - 95F
parked at doctor
left motor running
933am - 96F
air temperature on truck seat 67F
delta T - 96-67= 29F

in instrument panel gage - no movement

conclusion:
The truck panel gage will not begin until 134F. On outside conditions like this, the gage will not move into range. That’s just the way it is.

The heating coil at 29F added heat is doing all it can with lukewarm water.
The Ranger runs cool. We have to live with it.

ok

turning car off at 941am
register temp- 98F
near seat temp - 69F
that is not hot, but it is comfortable

 

I had the same problem and I found it was the fan clutch. They are thermal fan clutches and mine was bad. It stayed engaged the whole time so it would only warm up a little at constant higher rpm. Took it off and now it warms up.

 

I know this is an old thread but I recently fixed this same issue by swapping a heater core. They’re so cheap and easy to change that I’m kicking myself for not doing it sooner