Have any of you "back flushed" your radiatior? I've 122K on mine and I've never cleaned it yet I've changed fluid twice but thats it.

the reason I'm asking is that I just got back from a camping trip towing a trailer weighing about 3500 lbs. and I was surprised how warm it got. I know it was 100 degrees out and I was going over a 8,000 ft pass at 6% in direct (3rd) auto. The temp gauge want to the next line past the middle.

I've towed some good size boats when the truck was new (10K miles) over passes in the desert with air on and in overdrive and it NEVER got to the middle of the gauge so I was thinking maybe a good cleaning? Thermostat maybe?

any suggestions?

brad

 

Yes go to the parts store and buy the Prestone flush kit. You'll have a ' T ' inline with the heater hose closest to the engine. You hook your garden hose to this T. Follow instructions on the bottle/kit. You'll want at least two jugs of the flush mix, and the package or kit that contains the T, clamps, fittings etc.

 

Was the truck stock at 10k miles? Making more power makes more heat. Also on the automatic trans 1st gens the torque converter puts a lot of heat into the cooling system - which gets worse the more power you put through it.

It could probably stand to be boiled out, but be prepared to buy a new one. The crud might be what's keeping the coolant in.

According to my FSM the temp you saw is well within the normal range for a truck that is being worked in hot weather.

 

Yea, Dave I thought about the crud keeping the coolant in myself! I was running between 12 and 15 lbs of boost. Just seems to run a little hotter. I've turned up the pump, but I was still running 2/3 throttle so I don't think I was tapping into the extra heat a turned up pump would make right?

My buddy driving behind me said he couldn't see any smoke coming out of the exhaust so I figured that the intercooler was not leaking or there would be lots of smoke.

bgilbert, wouldn't the thermostat have to be removed and the housing for it be replaced as it would block the flow from flushing

brad

 

I think with a stock truck you would have been pushing the pedal through the floor trying to go faster.

 

Hey, I make 10lbs more boost than I did stock Dave!!! I really did have room to floor it but I try not to abuse my truck too much! I floor it a lot when I'm home and not towing! Got a few dodges with 5.0 and 5.9 notched on my belt!!

 

I have found that when I use the flushing "tee" and flush it with hot water I will get quite a bit of "crud" out of both the block and the radiator. I do my cooling system every 24,000 miles (Cummins recomendation) and my radiator looks like new. In addition I don't see any build up in the overflow bottle either.

Bob

 

when you you mix your antifreeze use distilled water. That keeps all the minerals in tap water out of your cooling system.

 

A guy told me that you could/should use Calgon dishwashing soap...(it doesn't suds up and it's good for the calcium deposit removal aspect.) OH, and make sure you shut off the coolant flow thru the heater core (heater control in cab).
I have no personal experience with this but I know it works well when used to oil contamination from the rad due to head gasket leaks....just a thought...

pb...

 

PB why shut off the heater core? doesn't it need to be cleaned too?