CK5
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Cooling System Overhaul - Stumped and Frustrated

The main problem I see is air flow on the radiator. As Fordum mentioned, you should try moving both the oil and trans coolers out of the way temporarily.

I had thought of this too.

Outside of idling, due to the design of the core support, isn't it likely that the heat shed from the coolers, if they are anywhere in the core support , is going to still go through the radiator? I don't know what the airflow looks like, but I suppose that only a small portion of what "hits" the front of the truck can make it through those small openings for the radiator, the rest of it has to simply be shoved out and around the vehicle.

Cheap and easy "fix" to move them and at this point, I think anything is worth trying.

I had read that the lower "spoiler" (that only came on 1/2 ton trucks apparently) will help to get air through the radiator at speed due to the low pressure it will create in the engine bay. Not sure I completely believe that, as you'd think 1/2 tons would need that far less than 3/4 and 1 tons, but just something I read.

In the future (I've got all the parts already) I plan on logging oil temperature, as well as trying to determine the efficiency of the oil cooler based on the oil temp.

Darren, do you see drops in your oil pressure, or do they stay pretty constant? In watching mine, even as ambient temp increased significantly, if load on the engine stayed the same, oil pressure reading stayed very consistent. Kind of going off track here, but it is likely that the oil cooler is dumping a lot of heat. Even with that, the new radiator (along with everything else you've done) should have made changes IMO, which it doesn't sound like it did.

As to the mount question, the Champion radiator my Dad got didn't fit the big block radiator support, the Champion was a bit short. IIRC, the big block radiator actually ended up being a 1/2-1" taller than the small block. He made some spacers out of sheetmetal to make up the gap at the top mount. Is your problem that the mounting surface on the radiator itself (the "flange" where the rubber mounts are supposed to sit) is wider on the aftermarket radiator, not the height?
 
Is your problem that the mounting surface on the radiator itself (the "flange" where the rubber mounts are supposed to sit) is wider on the aftermarket radiator, not the height?

Yes, that is my problem.


Finally found my IR temp gun again, and shot the exhaust tubing before/after the cat.

The hottest temps i could find were definitely in front of the cat by 20-30˚ (330ish, vs 275-300 post cat).

All seem within the margin of error of different metal thickness, etc at reading points, but will still need to pull my o2 sensor and see if there is significant backpressure.

Of course, I couldn't find my IR gun to take with me on my weekend's mountain tow.....
 
New Cat is getting installed today.

Went to my records to find my exhaust shop name, and found a note that the cat was getting clogged up when I had the y-pipe built for the headers :doah:

That was only about 10k ago, before i bumped up the fuel pressure, or overheated the hell out of the cat breaking in the cam lean.

Plus, its started to rattle. Curious to see how bad it is when it comes off.

Should run WAY better :woot:
 
What Cat are you going to go with?


The metal type. Looks like a potato. :haha:

We'll see what they have when i get there. But, really, is a high flow worth it on a stock rig like this? I've heard both sides of that story....
 
The metal type. Looks like a potato. :haha:

We'll see what they have when i get there. But, really, is a high flow worth it on a stock rig like this? I've heard both sides of that story....
be careful with that. most high flows aren't CA compatible.
 
I meant "how did your last tow" go? Same, no changes for the better?


Nah, ran the same. This thing cools WAY down when not under load though, so I think the cooling capacity is there.

Thinking the elimination of the plugged exhaust condition may help :whistle::haha:
 
Hey, I can post here...........

Didn't realize my sub had expired until I tried to reply in the lounge. With any luck, I'll scrape up enough in a day or so to get back fully.

Got the money, just don't want to put anything else on the card right now.......

Anyway, what I replied for was to say that after all this, if replacing the cat fixes it, you are going to have a new problem.
You are going to have to build a fire grate and carry firewood to burn under the engine to get it warm enough to go closed loop..............
 
The Cat wasn't in horrible shape, but definitely had some blockage.

God I hope the new one helps. If not, i'm out of ideas. We shall see on saturday. I've been commuting off the freeway, so no idea if it helped cruise temps or not.

But, fixed or not, its towing over the grade this weekend. Wish me luck.
 
Anyway, what I replied for was to say that after all this, if replacing the cat fixes it, you are going to have a new problem.
You are going to have to build a fire grate and carry firewood to burn under the engine to get it warm enough to go closed loop..............

If he's running a 195* t-stat, shouldn't be any issues with closed loop. :confused:

I can't possibly imagine what is left if it wasn't the converter.
 
If he's running a 195* t-stat, shouldn't be any issues with closed loop. :confused:

I can't possibly imagine what is left if it wasn't the converter.

He wasn't even running a stat for a while...But my reasoning was that he had upgraded his cooling system so much, it might take forever to warm up now...

More of a joke than anything. Which was why I mentioned building fire under the engine as he drove down the road to keep it warm enough.......
 
"put the coals to the fire!" is one of my fave sayings when test running boats.... :haha:
 
Drove it into work today. Definitely seems to be running cooler around town. We shall see tomorrow....
 
Well, it runs a lot stronger, but doesn't stay cooler. With 4 1/8" holes in the Tstat surround, and this massive radiator, it warms up slow. Will put a non drilled stat back in. With no load (downhill, etc) temps get down to about 1/4. Load it up, even unloaded on slight freeway grades, and temps creep above half

Pulling up the hill with boat in tow? 3/4+ on the temp gauge

What aux fans could I out in front of my trans an oil coolers to pull in some more air under load?
 
I know some of the hardcore tow guys have better experience with the mechanical fans, but I can say that on my electric fan setup, anything over about 25MPH (and might be even less) the airflow through the radiator was enough to not need a fan.

Depending on vehicle speed, you will probably have a hard time moving air any faster than it's already trying to get through the radiator. And if you have a puller fan, it's going to "fight" the stock fan anyway.

I keep looking at that picture of the coolers. You say the temp goes up even unloaded, which means you don't have to try hard to replicate the problem. Can you remove the trans cooler, or at least unbolt it and move it down a bunch further (open up the radiator to flow on that side), secured just enough to take it for a short drive to see if temps have changed?

Have you ever popped the hood on this thing immediately after it gets very hot? No chance it's running lean? I don't recall that ever being covered. Manifolds should be glowing if it was lean enough to cause issues AFAIK. Even that is a stretch IMO, I've seen/had engines run lean before, and even though the manifolds were glowing, the coolant temp was not any higher than normal. But that was an unloaded truck on fairly level ground. Perhaps towing a substantial load the temps would have been different.
 
you would think a new mill would change that.. tho I don't know what, and if the induction was swapped too..

I missed it, do we have something in the way of a shroud here?


1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 are not very telling other than it sounds like a wide range.. I thought the new gauge setup had degrees? what's THAT range?

as Dorian said, it's RARE when a vehicle going 50 isn't moving enough air thru the rad... even with no fan... bumper to bumper, sure...
 
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