question about 03 4.3 s10's engine temperature

[LITTLEBLACKEXTREME]

I just got my second s10 and its a 2003 s10 extreme manual 4.6 and to me it seems like it gets to hot under the hood but the gauge reads alittle under 210 and since i've had the truck the gauge has never went higher but it gets really hot under the hood in the engine bay could my gauge be faulty or something ive heard pepole say this type of engine is known for being a hot running engine and that theirs nothing wrong with it thats just the way the engine is but my 95 2.2 run at 210 according to the gauge and it didnt feel as hot as this 4.3 i need help with this so if anybody could help it would be greatly appreciated

[rlith]

You have a 4.3 not a 4.6, that said, 190-210 is normal operating temp...

[LITTLEBLACKEXTREME]

yeah 210 is normal running temp for the 4.3 but what i was trying to say is that i dont think its running 210 even though the gauge reads 210 and also after it runs for alittle bit when you turn it off the exhaust makes popping noises because its so hot i had a 95 s10 and it ran 210 which was normal and it didnt feel half this hot so if i ran my own temp gauge where would i run it to get the best temp readings so i can find out if maybe my stock gauge is not working properly

[rlith]

only way to double check that is to hook a scantool to the aldl and read if the temp sensor for the ECM