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slow tow/ over heating

2816 Views 26 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  AllOutFirefighter13, 
D
ok sorry in advance for how long this might be.
First off my truck: 05 F250 6.0L 80000 miles. Banks 6 gun tuner, exhaust, intercooler, intake, airbags.
I just bought a new fifth wheel(07 raptor) 33' 10,010 claimed dry weight. I was pulling it across interstate 40 through arizona into californa. The temperature in cali was about 105* going through the desert.
Now to the story. Any of you who have driven that way know of the hills and win. Up two long hills I lost speed from 72 down to about 35 and into third gear. I was only at about half throttle cause every time I gave it any more the engine temp would run to high (230*) if
I kept my foot half throttle, with the rpms at about 2500, the fan would keep it down (220). I was passed by every semi, a car pulling a van on a uhaul trailer, and a (97) chevy suburban pulling what looked to be about a 28-30 ft travel trailer. I had some coolant puking going on. I put about 3/4 of a gallon back in, even had the a/c shut off and the windows down. is something wrong or is that just the best my truck will do? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif any comments would help. Thanks- Dan
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R
AutoJim,

Got a related question, since the topic of EGR added heat was mentioned earlier. With the change over from the 7.3 to 6.0 did Ford dramatically increase the capacity of the cooling system to cope with the EGR and higher HP levels of the 6.0?

I haven't had any overheat issues, but I've read that the 6.4 has a significant increase in radiator size and water pump volume. Presumably this is to compensate for the that huge EGR setup?
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[ QUOTE ]
Got a related question, since the topic of EGR added heat was mentioned earlier. With the change over from the 7.3 to 6.0 did Ford dramatically increase the capacity of the cooling system to cope with the EGR and higher HP levels of the 6.0?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. Don't have all the changes in core face area in front of me, but just for an example, the fan went from 23.25" diameter on the 7.3L to 26" on the 6L. Bigger fan = more air movement.

[ QUOTE ]
I haven't had any overheat issues, but I've read that the 6.4 has a significant increase in radiator size and water pump volume. Presumably this is to compensate for the that huge EGR setup?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. I know what all the differences are between the 6L and 6.4L, but I'm not at liberty to discuss the actual numbers (I like my job, and I'd like to keep it). The water pump was upsized considerably (and is completely different than the 6L setup -- there is no possible interchange between a 6L front module and a 6.4L front module).

But the assortment of additional heat loads, primarily from EGR, is what drove most of the changes.
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AutoJim,
sorry it's taken a while to reply, but tonight i took the grill off and cleaned the first heat exchanger, which I'm not sure which it is, but it had a considerable amount of bugs and rocks in. the bugs i got off, and like you said sprayed with simple green, but as far as spraying from rear to front ( to push the gunk out, not back in) i couldn't get much spray from behind everything into the radiator through all those fins, in fact no water even came through. Do you take them all off and rinse them, or maybe the engine fan shrouding? Thanks
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I'll pull the top of the radiator loose (two bolts) and tilt it back to get to the back of the CAC, and clean the rad itself through the fan shroud opening. Because of where it's located (at the rear of the stack), the rad doesn't usually get too much buildup. Mostly, though, what I find when I pull the rad loose is a bunch of grass between the rad and CAC! This is scooped/shop-vacuumed out before moving on to the next bit.

The first exchanger is the AC condenser.

I don't so much spray as much as flood the back of the exchangers with just a standard garden hose.. If you really want to do it, yeah, pull the CAC out, but I have so far not done that with mine. Getting to the back of the condenser is tricky without pulling the CAC or the condenser itself loose from the front of the CAC.
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Jim,
Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm not real familar with working on these trucks. Tonight I went a little farther like you said and tried taking the bolts off the top of the radiator, which i found four, two on each side? or did i take the wrong bolts off? I saw quite a few bugs on the front of the radiator, sprayed simple green the best i could down there and tried rinsing the bugs off, but most didn't even budge.
On another note, I called the local Ford dealership to see if they could take a look at my truck, they said it would need to be left over night, and couldn't fit me in for at least two weeks... because I am too young to rent another truck or car while mines in the shop, dropping it off for a few days isn't an option. Maybe when I get home, if I make it... j/k I'll try that dealership. thanks for the help.
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Two of those bolts may have been for the fan shroud. You found some bugs back in there -- not surprising! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Okay, what I sometimes do with persistent stuff is give it a good soaking with whatever cleaner I'm using -- Simple Green, what have you, and use a VERY soft brush and gently brush some of the accumulated crud loose. Again, the risk is that you bend the fins and make the situation worse instead of better, so take your time and be gentle.

Good luck!
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<font color="blue"> Jim ,

As always, your cooling advice, expertise, and insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks for all the info!

Later, </font>
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