I have an E350 PSD and I understand it's a different animal than the trucks on this forum. I see my EOT hitting around 230 and ECT hitting around 220 when climbing a grade in 45 degree ambient temperature. The fan comes on around 222 and it sounds like a jet engine. I did not check fan speed. It was not hot outside as there was snow on the ground climbing the grade going to Sonora Pass in California.

Here is a brief history: I bought the van used and I don't know any history as it was lost. I changed thermostat, flushed coolant and added CAT ELC, added a Sinister diesel coolant filter, added blue spring kit.

The ECT is always around 7-10 degrees cooler than EOT once the van is warmed up. I can drive all day on flat roads doing 75 and the EOT rarely goes over 205. Most of the time the ECT is 190 and EOT is 199-200.

I am not loosing sleep over the high temperature as the engine is crammed into the engine bay. However, it seems like there is a cooling problem. Just not sure what rabbit hole to run down to correct the issue.

Some folks on the Sportmobile forum added louvers to the hood. This does not seem to be a good idea (IMO) as it changes the pressure differential. The hot air is supposed to escape under the vehicle rather than on top.

Anyone have any ideas where to start? I.E. maybe new radiator. Not sure if it's clogged and no way to verify until I remove it.

Thanks!

 

I would suggest Run synthetic oil, I would look into water pump, cleanliness of rad outside and inside, perhaps oil cooler and thermostat. I am not thinking those temps are out of line for summer, but I wonder for winter if something isn't up to snuff.

 

That's unloaded? Pretty high if your unloaded. Normal for towing. Nothing blocking your rad? No significant fin damage or clogging of insects or debris? Water pump could be weak (guessing) and not flowing at 100% under load and high rpm

 

I always drive unloaded. Never tow. I am running full synthetic. I have not cleaned the radiator. However, I flushed it with Restore (not restore plus rust remover).

The oil cooler is probably mid way through it's life as it runs 10 degrees hotter. However, it's a van and everything is so tight in the engine compartment. There is virtually no air flow through the top of the engine. Everything flows downward.

I have no indication that it's the water pump. The ECT cools down fast when descending.

The EOT and ECT were about the same high temp (225-230 EOT & 215-220 ECT) climbing the same grade in the summer with ambient temperature at 75 degrees.

 

try cleaning the radiator with a low pressure power washer.

 

Should I remove the radiator for this? I assume you are talking about cleaning the outside. I could use a chemical cleaner while I have it removed.

 

it would be easier, especially if it was out of the truck to wash the fins.... backwards of course to blow the crap out.

 

Are you lugging it up those hills? High load, high boost? Still hot for unloaded. I've seen minimal results from cleaning a rad unless the thing is over 80% clogged in the fins.

 

You only mention what your speeds are on flat ground. What was your speed when going up that hill. 6% grade is pretty steep believe it or not, and for how many miles? I saw 230 degrees with my eot, doing 70mph on a 4% grade for 10 miles, and I was unloaded. Also was during summer, but still, I was not worried something was wrong. Just steep driving for a little bit.

 

good point. I am guessing at the grade as I saw a few 6% signs. I was traveling at 60 mph. I drive 75 mph on 4% grades and the EOT and ECT are in the 220-230 range.

My temperature differences are within spec but I have a feeling that the coolers are partially clogged as the PO was running Ford Gold that was filthy. Before I remove and replace l want the make sure the rest of the cooling system is running correctly.

I am so conditioned to gas vehicles where my temps never exceeded 200 degrees driving 9000 foot mountain passes.

 

Thats too bad about the PO not taking care of the coolant. Nothing wrong with Gold as long you stay on top of it. I have mine flushed every 30,000 miles.

 

I would start with some serious coolant empty and many rinses of Dionne's water, with thermostat out, drain plugs in the front plugs and be sure to add a coolant filter. Seriously consider going to ELC. If your going to have to check the water pump, perhaps replace the oil cooler then you should VC 9 clean the coolant system before you do anything else. Preferably with several rinses of deionized water before you add the VC 9. Realize in winter this is a problem for freezing but it needs to be done if the coolant is in that bad a shape. It sounds like your coolant oil temp is in range but I am thinking this is why the overall cooling is not up to snuff. Are your rad and inter cooler clean, fins in good shape, only use a hose and not a pressure washer and you may need to take all the shrouds and reverse flush all the junk, then some simple green detergent and get some of that grime off the rads. All the dirt decreases the efficiency of cooling and with those outside temps and temps your seeing, there is definitely something wrong with something in the system.

 

I think you have an autocorrect issue here, and just to clear it up for everyone, that is probably supposed to say "deionized" or "distilled" water.

 

Yup, thanks matt

 

Likely a dirty radiator. The airside can get pretty nasty. I was seeing similar temps (210-215F) climbing long 6% grades a bit south of you (Hwy 180 into Kings Canyon), also unloaded. Towing it ran 220-225 with the fan screaming. In the flatlands it ran 190 all the time, except when accelerating fast. I would see temp spikes up to 198-200 after a hard run, but it would quickly drop back down to 190.

Air side looked ok from the top, but once I pulled the rad it was impacted all the way thru, especially down at the bottom. Tried flushing with a hose nozzle and dropped the temp a few degrees unloaded. Towing it made no difference, still had the fan screaming the whole way up.

Got a new radiator and my ECT now runs 195-200 unloaded on the same hill depending on how much I get into the go pedal.