I just bought a 2005 F350 and have had it about 2 months. Recently I took it to Pikes Peak and was headed up the mtn when my temp went into the red. I pulled over and kept it at about 1000 rpms and it cooled right down. I was not towing anything and my truck is at 116k miles and has no mods. I drove it back home and it has not heated up since. A few guys have told me to change the thermostat, I have been reading a lot of the forums and wondered about the EGR and oil cooler. Any advice would be helpful. I have been driving the truck since and it has not heated up, but I was not stressing the engine like climbing a mtn.

 

You need gauge something like the Edge Insight or ScangaugeII to tell the difference in ECT-EOT max 15* i think 10* and your oil cooler is starting to get plugged with silicates from the Ford Gold coolant. Did the fan come on it sounds like a jet plane, the stock gauges are junk they move when it is to late. Get a coolant filter to remove the casting sand.
pop

 

Did you hear the engine fan come on?. Its unmistakeable when it does.you'd hear it.

 

Is there white residue around the coolant overflow tank?

 

Yes the fan was definately on. Also there was no white residue around tank.

 

Is the EGR system working?


Check for a coolant system that is plugged with crud from improper / lack of servicing before.

VC-9 full flush

Check for plugged oil and egr coolers.

Check for scale in rad / system from hard water where you are.

Then work out fix plan.

If you are overheating in those conditions, you are down at least 30 to 50% cooling capacity.

The 6.0 cooling system is rated to cool properly in desert like temps @ 80% load or higher.

You were nowhere near that.

 

First I would look for obstructions in the front radiator/grill and then change the t-stat. Second or concurrently get a set of gauges. The factory gauges are junk.

 

wow it got hot by the time that factory gauge hit red

+1 on SGII upto 50 pids and its time to start watching some things

throw a thermistate at it they are cheap and it rules one thing out

great you didnt see any puke or white residue around coolant cap since it didnt puke will put the HG on the backburner

I just cut my old oil cooer in half to see what was in the cells and most the coolant cells were pugged and it shure didnt look like the famous golden goo but a whitetish brownish buildup

how was the coolant did it have oil in it

was the coolant low

 

Hate to say this blades,but that whiteish brownish buildup is whats in my radiator.

 

If you take your fuel consumption, and assumed that something like 50% of the energy in the fuel used is being dissipated by the rad / cooling system.

Take the flow rate through the rad (work from pump volume, RPM) and also airflow volume (rpm and fan speed), and delta t between coolant temp and air temp to get an estimate of the amount of energy being transferred to air.

Run the numbers, and the thumbnail I have is the 6.0 has an "overhead" of about 20 to 30% at maximum power with a brand new rad / cooling system.

Over time, the overhead disappears as things get clogged, age, etc.

In your case, you are exceeding the overhead fast.. so either something is not working right (thermostat closed is possible), or the system is so clogged it is insulating / screwing with the thermal transfer.

If you have a lot of debris in there... scale... etc.. there is your answer.

New rad, new oil egr cooler, VC9 many times, until it comes clean.

 

I thought it kinda looked like what was in your radator steel
shure didnt look like golden goo at all and seems to be kinda grity

FWIW I never flushed any flakes out like you have and I didnt see anything in the coolant filter I cut open that was on the truck when I did the vc-9 flush before I changed the oil cooler out

still running an 6-10 spread at 70mph I think the eot temps go up a little with the a/c running

I would assume at the plant they just add 50/50 mix since theres no water in the system

 

The same thing just happend to me in my 07 lariat on the way to payson, only had the truck less then 30 days! And yes now i know what the jett engine sound was!! No mistaking that! It would only get hot when climbing in lower gears, not towing anything. Then when it kicked back to high gear temp rapidly went back to normal. My first thought was thermostat but then wouldnt it stay hot if it was the thermo?

 

Common Causes for overheating or excessive fan operation:
1. Blown Head Gaskets from stretched TTY bolts, most likely from excessive CP (cylinder pressure). This leaks combustion gasses into the coolant. It adds heat to the coolant and it restricts the coolant flow. Also a leaking EGR cooler can behave similarly.
2. Clogged Radiator (air side) or clogged A/C condensor (that then restrict air flow through the radiator).
3. Bad Thermostat
4. Some suspect a collapsed lower radiator hose
5. Coolant Temperature Sensor (ECT)
6. Low coolant level
7. Wrong coolant (could cause solids to precipitate and plug coolant passageways)
8. Low coolant flow (water pump fins are split where they go around the shaft):
Problem: When they fail, they only spin for a while and when they get hot the spinning will slow down. An easy way to check for this problem is pull the hose off the degas bottle from the intake it should pump the same amount out hot or cold. This can make your engine puke if it is your problem.
9. Drive belt loose, worn or installed incorrectly
10. Broken or weak drive belt tensioner
11. Bad electronically controlled fan clutch or fan clutch controller.
Wiring, connectors, relays or modules
12. Bad input sensors (in addition to ECT) causing fan to operate when not needed (TFT, IAT, and also MAF and VSS IIRC).
13. AC compressor bearings siezing up.
14. High oil temps or high transmission temps can also cause excessive fan operation, even if the coolant temps are normal.
15. Possibly - intoducing air pockets into the coolant system when flushing or changing the fluid.

 

Well it turned out the radiator was clogged. New radiator, hoses, thermo, and reservoir. Nice little chunk of change for a truck I had for 2 weeks! Runs great now.