My engine seems to be lacking power recently, and it has been running around 135 degrees... I replaced the thermostat and flushed the radiator, now i am running around 150 degrees with a lack of power...

(all my temperatures were taken with the built in temperature gauge and an external gauge for accuracy)

Recently i received a check engine light. I took it in to get scanned figuring that my problems were finally going to be diagnosed. The scanned wouldn't read my computer... Since i replaced the thermostat i have had 1 day where the temperature went up to 190 degrees where it is suppose to...and the whole time all i could smell was burning smell... the next day the engine ran at the 150 degrees the rest of the time....


Can anyone help me with this problem? I think it is defiantly computer related now but i do not know if it is sensors or the computer module itself....

 

So you have verified the actual water temp with one of those surface temp gauges? Are you sure the engine is full of water? Maybe you have some air trapped in the engine and you are not getting an accurate reading? Was it a cheapo thermostat? Pull it out and place it in a pot of hot water on the stove... use your "other" temp gauge to see what water temp it opens at.

 

Have you checked to make sure your fan is working right too? If the fan isn't turning on, it would cause it to run hot.
Also, have you opened any of the coolant lines before? I know I had a problem with my old car when I reconnected heater hoses and forgot to bleed the lines. Air got trapped in the lines and caused the car to run red hot. All I had to do was bleed the lines and the overheated went away. Those are my suggestions..

 

I'm sure the engine is full of water, and yes i have tested the water temperature with a surface temperature thermometer. The thermostat was replaced with a good aftermarket thermostat... i have not tested the new one, but the old one i took out worked perfectly fine....so it is not thermostat related...

Sisk28 - no where near home, read the post im running ice cold, not red hot.

 

The vast majority of posts exactly like this have been solved by properly bleeding the system.

Elevate the front of the truck with the passenger side slightly higher than the driver side. Remove the radiator cap. Run the truck up to operating temperature then allowing it to cool. Keep the level topped off in the radiator during the cool down. Do this multiple times as it can sometimes take up to 5 heat cycles to get the air out of the system. It can also help to jounce the truck to move stubborn bubbles inside the engine.

Gauging coolant temperature by reading the temperature from the outside of any part of the engine will not get you an accurate reading. I have seen anywhere from 10 to 80*F difference between surface temperatures and those actually being seen in the engine.

 

Yes, already did that, and now i am still here...

 

Every post I have read and replied to like this, regardless of how many "I already tried that" responses received, has ended up being an air problem (after the thermostat has in fact checked out okay with a boiling water test and is installed in the proper direction). Often, the simplest explanation is correct.

Did you verify that the thermostat was installed in the proper direction?