So today I drove about 40 miles in 95+ heat on the Hwy and stop and go traffic and my temp gage never went past 1/4th , sooooo is that normal for these Vans or would that mean the previous owner probably removed the thermostat ?

 

No, it's not normal (assuming the gauge is accurate.) The t-stat could be out or stuck open.

 

ok stuck open or out ,it should be ok for the summer for now...and when it starts 2 get cold I will deal with it then ..if I still have the Van by then.

 

The problem is if the temp is too low, the engine doesn't right properly and your gas mileage suffers. You also get some premature wear and tear thrown in there to boot.

 

we just did a 250 mile journey and the temp gauge was reading about the same the Sanchez's . Should be needle be somewhere in the middle then - I guess different vans have different calibrated gauges?

 

I just did 1500 miles and its all good . I DO have to let the Van warm up if its cold for about 5 to 10 minutes before I go somewhere, or it will stall out ...lol

 

On my van the needle runs in that area. If you have a infrared thermometer you can check the top of the thermostat housing and see what the temp is there. There are also radiator caps you can buy that have built in thermometers, have not tried one yet to see how well they work. If at or just above 195 your temps are fine. If below 190 or above 220 I would question the thermostat.

Now also on my van I have updated the cooling system a bit:
192 thermostat
Heavy Duty Clutch Fan
Heavy Duty 2 core radiator

 

Some of the Magnum Ram truck owners swap in 180 t-stats since they mod the engine to run hotter for performance. Anything lower than 180 causes the ECM/PCM to act strangely.

On my van normally runs less than the half-way mark.