This is a "When should I be concerned" question. Our truck is a 2012 F350 DRW CC 2WD with the 6.7 PowerStroke and about 43,000 miles at this point (yes - hard to believe for that year of truck). We are full-time RVers and the truck is used almost exclusively to pull our fifth wheel which scales at 13,600 lbs. Occasionally, I have noticed that, on hot days like yesterday (high of 97 degrees in far west Texas) and a significant grade, the engine temp gauge will rise above the halfway mark where it usually lives to a point that's probably about 60% of the scale. There are no degree markings, so I don't know what this means in degrees. This happened while climbing a grade that was about 4 - 5% against a 20 MPH headwind and the truck had shifted down into 5th gear. The 18-wheelers with box trailers, unless empty, were doing about 45 in the right hand lane. If I remember correctly, my speed was about 55 - 60 in 5th with the engine turning about 2,200 RPM. This situation occurred last year climbing a 6% grade on a 98 degree day in southern California, too. As soon as I crested the hill, the engine temp came back down to the halfway mark. The transmission temp never budged. A Ford dealer checked the coolant additive levels just a few weeks ago and everything was within specs.

Given the above information, should I be concerned about these short episodes under extreme conditions - or should I change the way I climb grades when ambient temps are this high? WWYD?

Thanks!

Rob

 

The gauges on the instrument cluster are basically of no use when trying to determine if your temps are high or other concerns. You need to invest in some type of monitor or app that you can get realistic information to determine if a problem or not. You can get a bluetooth/wifi OBDII adapter and use your phone or tablet to monitor the truck with TorquePro or FORScan. You can also use a tuner or monitor to view the temps and other information. The monitor that many seem to use is the Edge CTS/CTS2.

If you have questions about your truck, you might want to visit the 6.7 forum instead of this forum.

6.7L Power Stroke Diesel - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

 

Thanks (and my bad for not thinking of the 6.7 forum). You reminded me that my step-son gave me a BlueTooth plug-in device that has an associated app for the phone... I've never used it. Assuming I can find it, what would be considered a maximum safe temp?

Rob

 

Do a search in the 6.7 forum. I would say any brief temp rise is not a problem. I know I have seen 225 water and 245 oil climbing a hill/mtn while towing the 5th wheel and once going down the other side it cooled off rather quickly.

 

Agree with the ~225 water/245 oil. Brief excursions above are just fine, but lay off a bit if your oil is getting close to 260.
Really need an actual readout of course. The dash water temp (not oil) can tell you if your heater will work, but not much else.