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Help...My truck overheats when towing...

Well I did 500 Miles this weekend in sweltering heat and the Dually was fine towing the camper.

ONly one time did it break 210 and it was because I was climbing a very long steep grade(Tractor trailers were doing like 30 MPH in the slow lane) and I had the cruise on and it was burying the truck in unburnt fuel. I turned the cruise off and backed off with the truck dropped down into 3rd and it dropped to 210 and as soon as it leveld off dropped all the way quick.

The Hayden Clutch makes all the difference. As long as I didnt try to push the truck too hard up grades it was fine. it would climb to 210 and the HaydenSD would bring it down quick. The new 4 inch ex probably helped.

The only thing I saw was if you tried to give it alot of fuel climbing it belched ALOT of grey/black smoke. The cure was drop the tranny down(Stock shifting sucks) or back out a little. It may be lacking boost from stock vac system but when I put the TM on my Tahoe that is when my overheating problems began so I'm paranoidd now but I know this truck is different already just by the way it reacts.

The Dually ran awesome with no issues.

Wish I could say the same for the camper:mad:
Will follow up the camper disaster in RV section. Let's just say I stand by my resolve that anything made in China is pure Sh...
BTW The truck pulls VERY good for a stock tune. It had no problem passing tractor trailers climbing some long grades.
 
Good, glad to hear the dually works well for you. I'm surprised it's working that well actually, before I modded mine heavily I couldn't even get up a hill without a trailer.

I will now be going to look for your camper story..
 
Detroit Dan said:
Good, glad to hear the dually works well for you. I'm surprised it's working that well actually, before I modded mine heavily I couldn't even get up a hill without a trailer.

I will now be going to look for your camper story..
Click to expand...

Yeah, I ave no problem powerwise. I mean it doesn't pull like my Cummins did but it pulls. Even on the long steep grades I was able to maintain 50 mph without cooking the truck. Gotta get a boost gauge on it though. Would like to see where my boost is at with all that excess coal. I wonder if there is a way to "fool" the ecm into thinking it needs more boost instead of using a TM.
 
My truck at a few hunge under 10k lbs ran well all day today at almost 100 out. Fan was on for most of the ride home low RPM, but to me that is perfect. When its this hot I'm quite happy with my Dmax Fan keeping things cool. It only budged off the T-Stats once and that stopped fast as soon as I moved.

Having no A/C and working outside is an entirely other story...... 20lbs of ice in the cooler was a great idea!:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Towed my camper home in the 100 degree heat yesterday. No problems, and I wasnt up in the mountains with any hard pulls, but I would really like to have more power. Maybe I just want to much, I guess it shouldn't feel like a hotrod with 5 tons behind it. It works hard and gets the job done, but it doesn't leave me feeling like I kicked any ass.
Getting sick of listening to the fan being on almost all the time. After my botched clutch fan mod I've got it coming on at about 170. I miss listening to my awesome exhaust.
 
Glad to hear the clutch thing worked out for you. In the whole thread, I was waiting for someone to jump on my "Dead Horse" of you needing a new radiator, but didn't see it. Cleaning the outside fins is great, but it doesn't do anything for the inside where the tubes become plugged near the center where the fan is.

My temp would go up and the fan (with Heath's clutch) wouldn't kick on until past 220, but it was because there wasn't enough heat exchange where the clutch was to let the clutch know it was actually warm enough to kick on. Since I replaced the radiator, I'm not sure I have ever heard the fan kick on because the temperature is always way down.

I bought an original Balance Flow system a few weeks ago and have yet to install it. I don't think I'll see a difference in temps, but as long as the hot coolant at the rear of the heads is ejected quicker, that is really all I'm looking for.
 
Masspike from Worc - Sturbridge - Worc 95+ heat, my needle spent most of the time in between 210 and my thermostat 190 spot. It got close to 210, but never on top of it, I did have let off the throttle on a down hill, then got back into it and fan was rip-roaring.

I think the DMax fan helps even when clutch isn't engaged fully. I'm running cooler than a few months ago, and its the middle of a heatwave.

I'm sure I could benefit from a fresh radiator also.
 
The last I knew, he had it for sale on a Hummer or HMMWV site or they made reference to it or something like that. I'm not sure if it's still for sale, to date, though. I bought part of the kit used as a take-off from another member here. I already had Heath's crossover tube I bought years back when an ear broke off of mine. I just ordered his custom part with intentions of "finishing" off the kit at a later date. It worked out that a fellow member was parting his truck out and we made a deal for the remainder of the parts. I picked up the gaskets from the dealership last Thursday and hope to install it sometime soon.
 
Back before the overhaul on DaHooooley, it would run 210 to 230 on a pull even in mid 80's weather.

The overhaul also saw a fresh Visteon radiator added to the mix. Niow even with all the stock parts (factory single stat and water pump, fan, clutch etc. stays nice and cool.

Temp gauge (if you believe them things) goes to about 205 then drops abruptly to 180/190 range

The factory radiators on these things are pretty well used up by the time the rig has 100K on them.

Glad to hear your DaHoooley is a cool customer.


Missy
 
Since it's been years since my truck could be called attractive, I'm looking to pull a grill off a dead truck, cut the crossmember in front of the radiator out and build a brow - much like that on a baseball cap - extending 6-8" ahead of the front end to capture air that might otherwise roll up over the hood. I've got a bunch of stainless sheet steel laying around and a deep desire to make the truck just that more odd looking.
 
Dan Hunter said:
Since it's been years since my truck could be called attractive, I'm looking to pull a grill off a dead truck, cut the crossmember in front of the radiator out and build a brow - much like that on a baseball cap - extending 6-8" ahead of the front end to capture air that might otherwise roll up over the hood. I've got a bunch of stainless sheet steel laying around and a deep desire to make the truck just that more odd looking.
Click to expand...

might want to check your state inspection book first, I know here there are no sharp edges allowed, and what you describe sounds like a pedestrian guillotine.
 
Missy Good Wench said:
Back before the overhaul on DaHooooley, it would run 210 to 230 on a pull even in mid 80's weather.

The overhaul also saw a fresh Visteon radiator added to the mix. Niow even with all the stock parts (factory single stat and water pump, fan, clutch etc. stays nice and cool.

Temp gauge (if you believe them things) goes to about 205 then drops abruptly to 180/190 range

The factory radiators on these things are pretty well used up by the time the rig has 100K on them.

Glad to hear your DaHoooley is a cool customer.



Missy
Click to expand...

Are you running the 4 bolt WP or the Big nut one ?
 
Dan Hunter said:
Since it's been years since my truck could be called attractive, I'm looking to pull a grill off a dead truck, cut the crossmember in front of the radiator out and build a brow - much like that on a baseball cap - extending 6-8" ahead of the front end to capture air that might otherwise roll up over the hood. I've got a bunch of stainless sheet steel laying around and a deep desire to make the truck just that more odd looking.
Click to expand...

I'm curious, Dan, what are you attempting to gain by this? I assume cooling capacity by trying to force more air in through the radiator, but the factory setup is more than able to cool, even when towing heavy. Why go to the trouble of what you describe here?
 
I have a 12x18 piece of plexi that I mount on my light tower, slanted upward, when I have my plow on. I did this because my truck runs hotter with the plowblade on, and at night I could see in the headlights the snowflakes blowing up and over the hood due to the disruption of the plow. Kind of a poor-mans wind tunnel test. So I made the airfoil to stick up into the airflow to direct some toward the grill
It works, but I am forcing air towards a low pressure area that is starving for air. Without the blade on I dont know if any more air would actually go through, yes it would be diverted toward the grille, but only so much can get through so there might be a "wall" of air built up waiting its turn to go through the radiator.
 
At the very least it should increase pressure into that 'wall' forcing a bit more air through I would think.

It may whistle at speed and become annoying too.
 
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