So my 94 dakota 5.2l runs cold i think. The temp gauge never gets more than 1/4 above the cold. Is it suppose to be dead middle for normal?
If it is then I need a new thermostat and it must be the fail safe kind. I like the idea of the fail safe thermostat but it seems that i've read that they fail more often then a standard thermostat. Is there a way to check the actual temperature of the coolant?
Thanks!

 

If your temp gauge is accurate then it sounds like your thermostat is either missing or failed open.

The easiest way I know to verify the water temp is to use one of those handheld infra-red tempurature devices. Make sure your engine and radiator have adequate coolant, warm up the engine, then point the device at the base of the water neck on the manifold. Keep it close to the neck while taking a reading so you don't pick up temp from other parts of the engine.

 

I bought an infared thermometer and top hose by stat reads 190 ish. So i think im good.

 

The gauge on my 93 5.2 never goes more than 1/4 way and I've never had any issues. I think that's normal range.

 

I had similar problems in my 95 3.9, the temp never got much above the cold line, and I attributed it to the 180* thermostat I swapped in because everybody said the trucks ran better with it, but man on those cold mornings it just didn't blow anything remotely warm out the heater vents. I could have swapped the thermostat back, but it's a pain to get to, and it gave me an excuse to expedite the electric fan swap. That is my favorite mod to my truck so far, I just hard wired it to a toggle switch, so I can let it warm up as much as I want now, or keep it ice cold with the flip of a switch. Probably started as an issue with the fan clutch to be honest, I don't have a clue how to test those things but no problem now. I vote go electric, gain a few hp and enjoy the winter driving!

 

Recently I changed the Thermostat, coolant sensor, and coolant sender because I was failing emissions for high NO. I found a great diagnostic shop that found that the truck was not getting to temp. After I changed these out my NO and HC numbers went way down. I didn't pass emissions yet, I'm still failing for HC at 15mph, but I passed for everything else.

 

Good news. After changing plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and a fresh tank of gas the truck passed smog beautifully. I still have some smoke out the pipe, but that must be the plenum gasket.