The IR temp guns are pretty cheap now. I would borrow or buy one and check the temps. You can't trust the gauge reading as gauge itself, wire, connectors, grounds, and temp sender can all flake out pretty bad.
Do you still have the restrictor in the heater? How about long downhill sections coasting with no fuel on that can cool an engine down?
Lots of good engines and transmissions pulled a couple times before someone decided to check and fix the damn hot indicating gauge for problems.
So the insurance adjuster didn't notice the sawdust and chain saw sitting by the base of the tree?

Don't like Fords but have a soft spot for the land barge sedans like that.
IR gun is a good idea. Where would be the best place to lay the IR point? Top of the radiator? Bottom? Heads?
I have no restrictor in the heater, but that is only a very recent change (a few weeks ago).
I just did a full power pull up the hill by my place. Not sure what the grade is, but it's very steep. Short, but steep.
I backed off the throttle when I hit 11 - 1200* EGT and was fluttering around 21 - 22 PSI on the ATT and doing about 65 - 70 mph by the time I hit the top. I've put two evil looking lines of black doing that run in the past and not paying attention to the stop sign zinging by.
Thank God for four wheel drive on the other side.
Max temp hit about 155* per the gauge. On the way down, it cooled quickly to ~125 - 130*, so pretty much back to "normal".
And it's not a Ford, dammit. It (was) a Lincoln, get it right! : )>
That car was given to me by my great aunt and was a TOTAL grandma car, I hated it. Digital gauges and all.
But I was VERY glad I had it, she saved my ass many times. And I'll tell you, about 9 years of neglect, sitting for 9-10 months at a time, it never failed to start with a click of the key.
Even when a linebacker Douglas Fir roughed her up, I reached in the shattered window to the key and she jumped to life, ready for a drive.
I love loyalty like that, but there was little to save so she had to go.
You're running the aftermarket ac delocos, not the correct reccomended oem type ac delco with the correct bypass blocker spring tension. If you look at RA, the one you want is the one for $26.79.
Got it Ferm, I'll put the 190* back in and see if there is a change, then I'll get that $26.79 unit coming if not.