Temperature question

[llong66]

Hello! As my title implies, I have a question regarding my engine temp. I had been having issues with this off and on since I put my new engine in last Oct. I had put the probe for my gauge in the rear of the pass. side head, the gauge I currently have is a Bosch, not the best, but not a bad or really cheap one either. It would never read above around 170-180 no matter what, I had "burped" the probe to make sure there was not an air pocket or anything but no change. Yesterday, I moved the gauge probe to the front of the driver side head where the factory idiot light probe went. This is after replacing the thermostat, which was not the proper unit to start with! Well, now, with all of that done, after running and letting it warm up, under normal driving, it is just about rock solid, between 180-195. The issue is, I have almost no pressure in the system, even once warm. Is this normal since it is below 212 degrees? All of my hoses have been replaced, new clamps, all dbl if not triple checked for tightness. I had gotten one of those Mr. Gasket caps with the built in thermo and though maybe it was the issue, so I bought a factory replacement Stant cap, 16# with the emergency pressure relief lever.
As I said, the temp is very steady, all seems to run fine and there is no leak anywhere I can find. I have been planning on installing my turbo and pulling the pass side head to check it out for cracks, I had mentioned this in another post, the current heads are only a cpl years old, they were new SS diesel heads. I know there are alot of different opinions about them.
I have no signs of water in the oil, diesel in the oil, or any other fluid where it shouldn't be. Could this be a cracked head/bad head gasket issue? When I rebuilt the motor, I used bolts rather than studs, but they were new, not reused and torqued according to the TM.
I have judged the pressure, or lack there of by one, feeling the upper rad. hose, and two, now that I have the cap with pressure relief, opening the lever on the cap. When squeezing the upper hose, I feel MAYBE a tiny amount of pressure and there might be a tiny amount of pressure escaping when I open the lever on the cap.
Is this normal with these motors? If not, do I just need to get off my butt and get that pass side head off and check it out. I do, out of the pass side bank get some whitish smoke when accelerating, but only then, and not always. When idling, there is no smoke at all and no smell to the exhaust that is not normal and no different from the drivers side, which does not smoke at all. I also checked for blow by by removing the oil fill cap while the truck is running...nothing, the CDR valve is new, I also put new Bosch inj. in it.
Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,
Greg

EDIT, I guess my main concern is the smoke coming from only the pass side bank.
Thanks nyoffroad, that makes sense, just the one side smoke worries me now! Always something...if it wasnt, I guess Id get board! lol

 

[nyoffroad]

It seems to me that your looking for a problem that's just not there! Both the old temp and the new are just fine, the difference may just be because of the water flow or some other reason after all you also changed the thermostat and cap.
The whole reason radiator caps have a #presure to them is simple , for every pound of pressure it raises the boiling point of water 1.5 degrees (might be 1 degree) so a 10# cap would raise the boil point 15 degrees for a total of 227 . Thats at sea level with water. Boiling water (steam) doesn't cool as well as water. If the thermostat opens at 185 the engine will not really get much warmer than that if the rest of the cooling system is functioning and the engine isn't under a load.

 

[Drock]

Every time I've cracked open the cooling system it took about 5 heat cycles for all the air to purge out of the system, and the over flow bottle from needing to be refilled. Until then it wouldn't build any pressure. Opening the rad cap will prolong this process. I'd just drive it normally for ah few days, and just maintain the over flow bottle level,keeping it full so it doesn't suck any air in.