So ive been reading the manual and some posts but nothing conclusive enough for me, my truck 00 ram 1500 5.9gas seems to have a weird reading on the dash it says the engine is only running maybe 130-145deg f but no dtc, the manual says there isnt a need to change thermostat if there isnt a dtc.... so my question is what should my gauge be reading 180? 195?, or is it that i have a freaking good cooling system?

 

Should be reading 195 if stock.
These gauges suck. Horribly inaccurate. It is likely that your gauge is just messed up. If it isn't dropping a CEL on ya, you're fine.

 

ya just curious cause i dont know if its gonna hurt my milage, and i gotta hit emissions tommorow, so i dont want nothing to go bad, but im just kind worried somethings not right...

 

If it WERE running that cold, it would have set a code once it got into closed loop. I don't remember the cold but it is basically engine cold too long. That affects emissions. But since you haven't popped that code, you should, in theory be good.

 

Mine was reading too low on the gauge and it was the coolant temp sensor. It idled a little fast and smelled like it was running rich. Didn't throw cel for a few days though.

 

Did you actually check for codes with a scan tool, or are you just checking to see if the check engine light is on? Sometimes, the code for running cold for too long can get set, but it will not trigger the check engine light to come on.

 

ya i checked it with a scan tool and nothing came up, but u wasnt able to look into the memory for stored codes...cheap scan tool

 

Are the hoses getting hot? Does it put out hot heat? If you can get ahold of a scanner that will show live data you can see what temperature the sensor is reading.

 

So as Im waiting for the wife to get a new housing it turns out the thermostat was broken came out in 4 peices I think problem solved

 

That would certainly explain it.