The last road trip I made when I towed the Race car with my 1989 Ford E-150 351 AOD conversion van I experienced a higher than usual temperature in the cooling system.  This concerned me as it was still April and with the summer coming on I didn't want it to happen then.  I made a note to monitor the temp and see if it reoccurred.

     Then on one of my around town trips I caught the van running hotter than normal in drive (not OD) at 70 mph on the interstate.  It was not a hot day, only about 70 or so.  I was in drive (not OD) without the AC on. (The AC was still inoperative.).  

   A couple of weeks later after I had repaired the AC and was running it on a hot day, again the van was indicating hotter than normal in stop and go traffic.

   The water temp gauge is a arc with the word NORMAL written across it (N is cold, L is hot).  Traditionally the van temp is just after the N about the O.  On the above occasions it was around the M.  Previously I've towed in dead of summer with everything running and its only gotten to the R.  Something was not right.

   So I yanked the radiator (original equipment since 89) and below is what I found.  I installed a new unit from AutoZone and life is good again.....