Anybody get hot pulling mountain passes?

[BIG BOB]

Just wonder if I have a problem or is this normal?



I just came back from vacation to the Black Hills and Jackson Hole. We had a great time and the temperatures were mostly in the 90's to 100+*. Seem like every time I had to go over a pass, it was 100+*.



The temperatures were up to 107* and mountain passes up to 9858 feet (Togwotte Pass, Wyoming), pulling my 7500# travel trailer plus 7600# for my truck give me a total of 15,100 total gross weight. I really got an education on EGT and water temperatures!



As most of you know, I have a ETC, 5 speed, I run a PE Comp, Bully Dog III's, PDR HX35 12 CM (Piers modified my stock turbo), BD exhaust brake, Psycotty air filter and a 4" Jardine System (stopped and taked with Jerry Jardine in Dubois, WY. He is a great guy. ) Last dyno was 422 HP and 859 ft/lbs torque.



You also may have also noticed I put on one of Calvins bumpers on the front of the White Obsession. I noticed the water temperatures had increase right after I put it on without pulling anything. I don't know if a Horton fan would help or not. Anyone have any experience with the Horton fan?



Well, back to the EGT's and water temps. Did we get hot? How about HOT! Yes we did. But of course, for any body that know me, nobody with an RV passed me going up any passes. In fact, coming back, right before going over 4th of July pass, I had another dodge with a trailer about the same size as mine kind of challenge me before the pass, I didn't do anything, I had it on cruise set at 65mph (about 71 with 285's). Before the pass on cruise, he was right behind me, I continued up the pass keeping my EGT's under 1200 pre-turbo and water temps in the operating range. I left him behind in the first mile of the pass and never saw him again.



With the Comp, I could adjust to the conditions and even at times shut it off (you can't do that with the EZ). With just the Bully Dog III's (Comp off) going up the passes I would max out at 1200* pre-turbo. Water temps at times would push the RED! However it alway seemed like I was at the top of the pass and could cool down going down the other side. (I remind you that it was 100+*) I did shut off the air conditioner at times going up the passes. While towing on the flat and boost between 6 and 10#'s, my EGT's run between 800 and 900*'s. I normally run the Comp at 3x3 while towing.



I'm think this may be a common problem for anyone who BOMBS their truck and tows. Is anyone else experiencing this?

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Can't help - but great info Bob - My setup with our fiver will be almost the same as yours - and I will have my Comp on by our next serious tow over the Siskiyous (sp) between N. Cal and Oregon in a few weeks - as well as those along the coast... Pulling stock over the steepest passes in our area, temps stay normal - the fan DOES come on when temps rise slightly, and they come right back down immediately... Interested in the bumper you had installed as to its effect on temps - does it cover the lower radiator openings?

 

[Shooter]

Welcome to the Rocky Mountains. Oo.

 

[Bob Wagner]

BB Can you hear or feel the fan clutch engage?



Sounds like a no fan situation

 

[R.ebel]

Hot

Big Bob,

I'm at 437 hp and tow in the Rocky mountain region and yes I also have to watch my water temp when pulling at hot and high altitudes. EGT is not that big of a problem but water temp can get to the red zone if I'm not carefull. I suppose that if a more normal speed was (less than 70) maintained when pulling those big long grades water temp wouldn't be a problem but that wouldn't be near as much fun



I look at it like this, the stock radiator is desighned to cool 215 hp not 400+ hp



If anyone with big HP that tows and does not tend to build an abundace of heat in their cooling system I'd like to hear what they did to cure the problem.

 

[Driftwood Ram]

Water Temp

Big Bob;



I did notice a sinilar higher than normal water tempature reading somewhere in my travels on the way to MM02 also known as the Western Regional Event in Pahrump. I do not remember where we were, but the egt's were right at 1250 pre turbo for some time and the water temp did climb higher than mormal, but not out of the white operating range on the guage. I an at quite a lot less h/p than you so this may explain why it did not go into the red.

 

[GeneA]

If you can stand it, one way to help this situation is to open all the windows and turn yourt heater on full blast. You will get a little engine cooling relief. I would only do that until I reached the summit, though, because you can get mighty uncomfortable in the cab.

 

[JHansen]

Couple of musings.......

I replaced the bumper on the Silver Cloud with a Ute-it has slightly smaller frontal openings than the stock Sport but there is something there. I looked at a pic of your bumper once Bob but I can't remember what you have for frontal openings. Here are a couple things to check though... ...



1. When I put the Ute on I had to remove the factory rubber flap that seals the bottom of the intercooler/radiator space up. Without this flap I think it's possible for the air to come through the aftercooler and then go down through that hole bypassing the radiator. I made a replacement out of 1/8" puck board fastened with the factory push fasteners at the rear and overlapping into the bumper at the front. So far it's survived a blast to 110 mph !



2. With this flap removed and the puke bottle in its factory location somehow I managed to suck some of the oil mist up between the intercooler and the radiator clogging off a lot of the airflow. It's not obvious at first glance-but when I looked down in there WOW! I ended up pulling the rad out to wash it clean... .



With this in mind I'm still running warmer than I would like to pulling the trailer-not to overheat mind you but I'm not quite as BOMBed up as some of you. I suspect a possible thermostat issue with mine-I will be installing a new 180 degree unit here ASAP. Also I'm going to try pulling out my screen front inserts as I know they restrict airflow as well and going to a stainless screen behind the grille.



Dunno if either of these things will help you out-but the way I look at it they can't hurt!



Jason

 

[Eric_77]

4 ideas.

1. wash the radiator (and AC intercooler, transmission cooler,etc) fins out real good with high pressure sprayer

2. check for bent fins on radiator but also AC and intercooler

3. add Redline Water Wetter (aids in cooiling by removing surface tension)

4. change to Evans NPG coolant

These are in order of solving overheating problems, Evans kind of "masks" problems by having higher boiling point an thus can be safely operated at higher temps, not sure if that would be problem for engine or not.

 

[Mingoglia]

Disclaimer: This doesn't offer any advice or solution to your problem, so if you don't want to waste your time, don't read.



I'm sure glad I don't have overheating problems. I pull about 19,000lbs combined from Phoenix atleast monthly during the summer. As many know, just about any direction outside the valley you're pulling pretty good grades. Of course the higher you go, the cooler it gets but at about 4-5000 feet it's still over 100 degrees and I don't have a problem running with the accelerator to the floor in overdrive the entire way. I always drive with it to the floor going up hill. I'm wondering if I'm lucky, or does an additional few thousand feet make that much of a difference? When I'm running in Flagstaff (about 9,000 ft) I also never have a problem, but the temperature is quite a bit lower in Flagg than it is in Phoenix. Flagg barely gets to 90 in the summer time.



I'm afraid that if I had a overheating truck I would go to great extremes. When I first started driving in Phoenix, I had a car that everytime I hit stop/go traffic in the summertime my temperature would start to get hotter and hotter the longer I sat in traffic. This started to make me craaaazy. I vowed to never have another vehicle that I had to worry about the temperature gauge. Because of this, I feel if I had a problem towing, I would have a huge (we're talking 18 wheeler or large generator) radiator mounted to the roof of my truck sticking up into to wind (can you picture it)!!! This might be an exaggeration, but you get my point.

 

[Elk]

Hello their neigbor. You can see by my post I have done a little bombing. Last year going over to the coast I was almost in the red a couple of times on those yakima hills and then vantage, but at home pulling the 4th of july it never moved. I pull a 33 foot toybox that weighs in loaded around 12k. But now for the kicker it has started heating up going over the 4th july pass. I went to Jims radiator off of 95 and he told me a Diesel you should change the anti freeze every 2 years, because the silica seperates and ends up on the bottom of the radiator and flushing will not help, when it gets to this point so I had it rodded and boiled I will know here shortly if this was trully the problem. As I plan to head for the coast at the end of the month. I may take a trial run over the pass this weekend so I know what to exspect. I will let you know the results.

 

[BIG BOB]

Thanks to everyone for all the insite. It definately give me something to think about. Keep them coming.



Elk,

Let me know how things go with the radiator. I know that Jim's is probably the best radiator shop in town.



Email me sometime, I would like to get together with you.



Have a great time on the coast!

 

[Midnite]

Something else that would be pretty easy to do would be to get one or even two old heater cores that are in good shape, mount them somewhere under the truck where they'll get good airflow when the truck's at speed.



Obviously if the overheating problem is being caused by a shot fan clutch or thermostat, then those should be taken care of before doing anything else. But if everything's fine, the heater core idea might be worthwhile to try.



Mike

 

[jwdeeming]

Wash

I second Eric_77's number one item above. I recently solved my heat problem by discovering and cleaning out a bunch of dirt/weeds out of my radiator. It's not an easy problem to spot unless you really go looking for it since the radiator is covered by two layers of cooling elements in the front, and the fan and shroud in the rear.

 

[roadranger]

Re: Hot

Originally posted by R. ebel

Big Bob,

If anyone with big HP that tows and does not tend to build an abundace of heat in their cooling system I'd like to hear what they did to cure the problem.

Well, I don't tow with BIG horsepower (just an EZ box ) but I did have a hot running problem that was cured with a 180* thermostat.



Seems the stock 190* 'stat doesn't like to open up all the way, which made my truck run around 240* pulling mountain passes.



Putting in the 180* 'stat, I've only seen it at 190* once.





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[claymike]

Hi Big Bob, we took the same trip you did this year same outside temps on the passes plus every time there was a pass it seemed the wind had to blow also. I am pulling a 13K 5er which puts me over 20k. Never got past the 0 in 190 and EGT never went over 850 post turbo. Now mind you my truck is an HO and is stock but still pulled over the hills at 48 mph.



Mike

 

[DHatfield]

I had the same problem coming back from California towing the Jeep over the Rockies a couple of weeks ago. My EGT' keeped getting up to 1150 - 1250 degrees while towing at 70-75 MPH with 90-100 degree ambient temps, my water temp kept climbing to just one needle width of being out of the normal operating range. My truck is only around 325-350 HP and my combined weight is only about 13K.