OK, so I'm towing my 2500 pound camper and 6000 pounds worth of wheeler and trailer to Moab and am travelling between Blanding and Monticelo UT last week and I'm comin up a hill out of OD and I notice the coolant temp gage is getting warm, but I'm not hearing the fan clutch kick in.....

Ambient temp was only 76°.

I pull over and check things out and teh fan clutch is free.... very little resistance. Over flow bottle has coolant in it upper and lower hoses are hot with pressure, nothing out of the ordinary.

A/C was off, condensor and trans cooler were clear and not clogged up with bugs.

I also have a bottle on my CCV so the fan can't clog the rad fins that either?

Get to Moab and stop at the NAPA and they have a MOPAR fan clutch they had ordered from a dealer in Denver, in stock. Put it on before travel home yesterday and all was well untill teh climb in Flagstaff on the 89...

Ambient was 85° at the bottom of teh hill, about a 6%± grade for about 3 miles.....

Out of OD 2600 RPM, 65 MPH and the temp gage climbed to about halfway between the 190° mark and the "¾" mark. This is quite a bit warmer than "normal" and can't hear the fan clutch kick in?

Got to Flag for fuel and checked under the hood and all seemed normal.

Left Flag to Phoenix on I17 and the climb out of Camp Verde was worse as I expected......it was 95° in CV with a 8±% grade for a couple of miles facing me......

This time I had the A/C on at first turned it off ¼ the way up, started the climb, out of OD, 2500 RPM, 60 MPH and I hear the fan clutch kick in this time but it still warmed to the ¾ mark on the factory gage......Highest I ever seen it. (I have the engine temp alarm on my Edge J w/ A set to 220° and it never came on).

The last ½ mile the power really dropped off and I got down to 50 MPH.

Question is about the running hot issue.......Thermostat was changed 10 months ago, new fan clutch...... only hear it kick in when the A/C is on.....

Radiator coolant flow restriction?

any other ideas?

Thanks

 

i took my radiator out yesterday to clean it from the clogged fins of oil and what not. I stuck a high pressure house and some detergents in there and you wouldn't belive the crap that came out of it. Large pieces of muck, a lot of rust and dirt. Pull the rad out and clean it up and flush the hell out of the radiator. Spray a lot of water through the drain **** too, that had a crap load in it. Now the truck doesn't go past 185-190 during driving and being a complete douche bag with my adranline on 8.

 

The stock fan clutch kicks in at approximately 206 degrees. You probably did not get that hot based on your temp gauge position.

 

it used to kick on much sooner according to the temp gage......

 

I dont think your edge will trip a warning as it wont read past 204F or something like that, Its in the manual.

Are you positive your rad is clean? looking inbetween the intercooler and rad, not trying to be condesending or anything, but it might look clean on the engine side but inbetween the rad and intercooler can be plugged solid.

also what setting on the edge were you towing in??

How hot did the tranny get??

you say you have a bottle on your ccv, where exactly is the bottle located??

 

I'll double check the Edge book.

I'll also check out the front of the radiator too. Gotta pull other stuff out of the way to get a good view.

I was towing on level 2 "tow"

Trans never got over 180°

The bottle is located right below where the vent hose comes out of the access cover for the VP44 timing nut.

 

what was your max EGT ??

 

Thanks Nick, I have my EDGE EGT alarm at 1250° and my Edge fuel pressure alarm at 10 PSI. Was into both on the first climb and barely into the EGT's on the steeper hotter climb. Once near the top of the second climb and the power dropped off then the EGT's and FP were fine even though I had it to the floor????

 

You mentioned the rubber flap between the bumper and the lower core support, it is prolly suppost to be up attatched to the bumper and laying on the core support right? it was down behind the plastic valence below the bumper cos I changed the foglights this winter, pulled it down and forgot to put it back up there allowing air to pass around the condensor, intercooler and radiator? instead of through it?

 

my rubber piece is only 1/2 there the other half is gone, I dont think it will affect cooling that much, was it clean up in there? if you want to know why your egts were good but your foot was on the floor, pull up your backdown % on the attitude, likely the truck was defueling to keep egts in check, or it could have been defueling to keep your boost levels in check, the backdown feature is a handy diagnostic tool. you can set your truck on kill and the edge will help you get the most power without melting down the truck
I'll bet on an externally plugged rad,

 

I'll check the edge stuff out.

I have to take teh whole front end apart to check the rad out right......

 

the rad can be removed(if you have to) just by removing the hoses and the fan shroud, and a couple tranny cooler lines (I think??, as I cant remember if they go in the rad too,) if the front looks clean try leaving a trouble light in by the fan and look in between the intercooler and rad to see if the light shines thru

 

Take a look at the pics in my profile. My truck was doing the exact same thing yours is doing, I would have my fully loaded 26' toyhauler hitting the mountain springs grade on west I8 in the summer and my gauge would get to the same place yours is, then I went ahead and pulled my radiator and cleaned it real well and put a 180* cummins thermostat in it and no more problems. Same grade (6%) same weather conditions (100*plus) and it stayed at 180 the whole time. Also I put a bottle of that redline water wetter in there, not sure if that helped, but it couldnt hurt.

 

Thanks guys.... gonna check it out today.

DP79, I know that grade........thanks for the insight

 

Your talking coolant temps, right?
As far as I know, the viscous fan clutch kicks in based soley on air temp...as it exits the radiator and hits the sensor coil on the clutch.

Manual says it should engage at between 160 -180* F. (air temp).

RJ