As I drive more and more I get to see new things happen. Today on I90 west of I15 in Montana is a pretty good grade. Today as I was climbing I noticed the temp gauge starting to go up. It went up less than halfway to the hot and went back down when I let off it but it stayed warm. I did not hear the fan running. I have heard it in the morning.
I was wondering if Ford may have raised the temp at which the fan comes on or if something else is going on. The dealer will never be able to duplicate the problem.

 

Fan clutch failure is not out of the question. You should watch the oil temp in the info center. If it reaches 245º and you don't hear the fan come on, you may have an issue. I don't know what the fan is set to trigger on at. Just guessing that 245 would be hot enough.

 

Thanks. Ill try looking at the oil temp more. Still used to the 7.3.

 

Oil temp hit 246 today climbing out of the Columbia river canyon west on I 90. Seems to climb forever. I think I am seeing a temp gauge that accually moves. On my '99, the fan would have come on long before the temp gauge moved. All of the temps stayed reasonable and the A/C was cold all the way up at 60-65mph in 6th.

 

246 is pretty high for oil temp. To date I have not seen the oil temp go over 225* towing close to 9,000 lbs on extended 10-12% grades. The only time I ever saw oil temps that high on my 6.0 was when the oil cooler went south.

You said you saw this temp at 60-65 mph in 6th gear. That tells me that you are not working the truck anywhere near capacity. I would be making a visit to the dealer to have that checked out. With no more load than you seem to putting on it, even a bad fan clutch shouldn't be causing that problem.

 

Thanks. I forgot to mention that I was towing a 14K 5th wheel at the time.

 

That seems hot even with 14k in tow.
What was coolant?

 

The needle was clear of the half way point. Not saying it was really high, just higher without the fan then I thought. Still trying to set my limits.

 

Your post reminded me the LCD doesn't report coolant.
I confused the other readout with the transmission temp.
I have the basic info center where the only updated screen is MPG so I'm using that as my excuse.

 

Ok Fulltimer, I would suggest that you contact a dealer next time you stay put for a while. I have never heard the cooling fan engage in my truck but I'm assuming that it can be heard when it kicks in, and if your oil was 246 then your coolant was certainly well above 250.

Also, if I remember right, the only person I know of who had a fan clutch replaced goes by the handle "rickatic". You might send him a private message to ask what his experience was.

And, if you don't mind spending the $$$, Edge has just released the Insight CTS that supports our '11 6.7 diesels, this handy little box will give you access to all the temps under your hood. It's not a tuner, does not have any effect on warranty, just a screen that gives access to a lot of information. If I towed as heavy as you do regularly, I would get one. Here is a link for more info:

Edge Products| What's Happening

Thing that bothers me? I'm surprised that your check engine light has not come on if in fact you have a fan clutch problem. It is a possibility that nothing is wrong, just running the engine really hard.

 

Coolant temp should be somewhere around 10* lower than oil temp under normal conditions and if the oil cooler has an issue the coolant temp may well be in the normal zone.

I was a little too brief in my prior post. My towing experiences that I listed in ambient temps upwards of 100* have yet to cause the fan clutch to engage or the oil/coolant temps to rise above what I would consider to be normal. I have been the passenger in 2 other 6.7 trucks while towing upwards of 16,000 lbs with the same results. This is on the same grade that I tow regularly and it with 16,000 lbs it will force the truck into 4th gear at high rpm for close to 2 miles.

The Edge CTS is a good investment for anybody that tows regularly. It should even allow you to monitor fan speed which would tell you if the clutch is engaged or not. When I had my 6.0 I used AutoEnginuity and my laptop to monitor all the temps, fan speed and even the engine torque output. I am really getting tired of waiting for AE to begin supporting the 6.7. I may just have to invest in an Edge CTS.

 

Hi Joel,

It's actually the other way around. I was able to track my coolant temps with my ScanGauge, and coolant temps routinely ran 10-15° cooler than oil temps until the engine was worked hard. When worked hard, such as WOT up a hill with something heavy behind it, I saw engine oil temp get as high as 25-30° higher than coolant temps. So if he was working it, which I think he was, his coolant was probably around 215-220° which is warm but not overheated which would be why his gauge read slightly higher than normal.

I know on the 6.4L trucks the fan doesn't come on until 220° coolant temp, and I never got my 6.7L truck that hot. If this threshold is the same on the 6.7L engine everything may be working fine...

 

Well, I remember monitoring the coolant and oil temps on my 6.4 with the Edge Insight, and, the coolant was always a fast reacting temp change. It would routinely do this:

Moderate, to heavy engine load, coolant would be the same temp as oil briefly. Coolant would heat up rapidly towards 220º with the oil temp rising to the same behind it. So, the oil always chased the coolant up and down. When the fan clutch would engage the coolant would cool quickly but the oil always lagged behind by a minute or so.

So, my conclusion here is: My 6.4 had constant cooling system problems, 4 separated radiators, traded it in with failed thermostats and another blown radiator (#5). Perhaps my 6.4 cooling system was problematic the entire 153,000 miles that I had on it, since my water temps were always higher than the engine oil temps.

Interesting, sorry to derail the thread. I don't doubt that you guys are right about the temps of the two fluids, so I am left with assuming that my 6.4 was never really working right in this regard.

 

The first time I saw it the climb was through construction and very slow moving vehicles so I saw higher coolant temps even in lower gears. I wasnt looking at the oil temp this time. I really expected to hear the fan though and that is my concern. The coolant temps were not hot I just didnt hear the fan. I'll be climbing to Seattle tomorrow from Ellensburg so Ill check it again. Thanks all.

 

You may have gotten this all figured out by now, but I thought I would through out what I know about the fan coming on.

I tow a 11,500 5'er and went over Mont eagle (both ways) but going North/East is the 6% climb for about 4 miles or so, South/West it goes from 4% to 6% but it's much easier climb. I wanted to see what the 6.7 would do so I eased it down to the floor about a 1/2 mile into the climb. I went from 65 mph to 80 mph and I had to slow down to make the turns (mild switchbacks basically). To my amazement it was still picking up speed after switching from 4th to 5th gear.

When I let off and looked the oil temp was about 230 and tranny was about 218/220. I heard the fan come on while I had the pedal down and was climbing, but not certain when it went off but it wasn't on very long.

I'd love to haul up a 10% grade but it may be after my kids get through college.