03 running a little warm

[dward]

Without going into too much detail, I was fortunate to buy my 03 4x4 DRW truck and Lance camper back.

I bought the truck new and it only has 83k mi on it. I have done a ton of mods including rebuilt/upgraded trans, exhaust, ATS manifold and used a Smarty on level 3. Never abused it and monitored all gauges (Isspro egt, boost, trans) and never exceeded limitations.

Driving the 250 mi home with 5k lb Lance and towing my Jeep I left it in the stock power setting after getting it smogged.

The outside temp was 105-110 deg and according to the factory gauge coolant temp was around 200-210 and trans stayed between 160-210.

Climbing the Grapevine on I-5 I had it floored and maintained about 50-55 mph. With the Smarty it would go up 65 easily.

Toward the top, the eng temp starting climbing and went up to around 230. Wasn't sure if the fan was coming on, but confirmed it was as I stopped a short time later I heard it cycle and the idle speed increased to 1000 rpm for a couple of minutes until it cooled down and idle returned to normal.

The truck has always seemed to run on the warm side, but with my GVW only around 17k lbs, I would think it should run cooler than that. With the stock power setting I assume I could run full throttle all day long w/o overheating.

What do you all think? Was it just too hot outside or is there something I should check.

BTW, when I had the trans rebuilt, my mech installed an aux trans cooler in front of the radiator. I guess this could be blocking some airflow.

 

[Prairie Dog]

My 03 has the same mileage on it and I often tow over our passes at just about the same GCW with the SmJr on #3. I never get very warm (fan never comes on) and my temp gauge at the most rises to just about the thickness of a line over 200. I do have a manual trans so no added heat there.

With the Smarty you have a bit of timing advance and maybe that was keeping it a bit cooler. Or, maybe it's time to get the radiator boiled out and checked for blockages.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Cycle the key three times and check for DTC's, particularly P0483.

 

[dward]

What code is P0483?
Thanks

 

[mweiman]

P0483 I believe is a code for the fan clutch. Also what does your radiator look like externally? Try flushing water through the fins with a garden hose and see how well it flows through and how dirty the water coming out is.
Matt

 

[Got HO?]

P0483 I believe is a code for the fan clutch. Also what does your radiator look like externally? Try flushing water through the fins with a garden hose and see how well it flows through and how dirty the water coming out is.
Matt

What he said. I replaced my radiator at about 200k miles and dropped my towing temps by 10-15 degrees. It had sediment buildup inside, and the cooling fins had a lot of gunk in them. It had started to seep on the tank to core seal, and was part of a cooling system overhaul when my transmission cooler failed, allowing ATF into the cooling system.

 

[BDaugherty]

what was the trans temp doing while the engine was getting hot?

 

[dward]

The trans was heating up but nothing too bad. For most of the trip it was around 160-180 or so.
Climbing the hill it went a little over 200.
It does have an additional trans cooler in front of the radiator and intercooler.
I checked for codes and it did have one, but of course I forgot what it was. Ill have to walk back to the shop to check.
Also, I read somewhere that you should not be able to spin the fan by hand when the truck is off, is this true? Mine spins fairly easily.

 

[dward]

Just checked, the code is P0234.
Anyone know what this is?

 

[dward]

Forget it, just checked the sticky. Its a turbo overboost cond.