I monitor various things with torque pro but haven't really paid much attention to primary coolant temp. Was hauling camper and towing boat home this weekend and noticed temp gauge twitching and climb 3/4 of the way to hot on the first grade. It was only 109 degrees outside, so not as hot as many other trips on same route, with same load.

To complicate things I installed a new front winch bumper, which does change the air flow dynamics somewhat. 90+% of the radiator area is above the bumper. On top of that the bumper also carries a generator, although same as before with the OEM bumper I've had for the last 4 years. Didn't notice any issue on trip TO the lake, just held skinny pedal to the floor all the way up every hill. After noticing the gauge I pulled over, checked coolant level and removed the generator from the bumper. Made no difference.

Monitoring ECT1 with torque, I see that the dash gauge will read normal until 220, then move a noticeable amount every degree after that. At 223 the gauge is at 3/4 hot and I could barely notice the fan making some additional noise before the top of the grade. The route has no flat ground only up and down. ECT would drop to 195 then climb back to 221-222 within the 1st mile of the next climb. So it seems the system can't regulate anywhere near the thermostat temps. Is this normal? I was not able to log fan rpm at the time.

No codes in ECU and radiators are clean and free of debris.

Pretty sure my truck didn't do this before and something has degraded over time. The truck seemed to pull fine. Being cautious I kept throttle about 1/2 pedal but made about the same speeds up the hills as to the floor. Definitely nerve racking to see the temp gauge get close to the red. Seems odd the fan doesn't do much until the gauge tells you your about to overheat, but then again it's only 3 degrees apart.

 

Everyone's always sure they've "never seen those temps before".

223° while pulling heavy up a hill sounds just right to me and hardly anything to be concerned about. I've touched 217° on flat ground, into the wind, pulling a gooseneck with a bull in it at 60 mph in 95° ambient temps.

My 2006 Jeep tj used to run at 210° as a base temp and would only go up from there. Your 6.7 likes heat.

 

Its more that I haven't 'paid attention to those temps'. In the past I watched oil temp, egt, trans, now I just check tire pressure at startup and drive.

I know the bumper can alter cooling so being cautious not to burn my $#!& up.
Thanks for the info.

 

 

I hear you on the temp concern Smoky. Purchased a 2015 F-250 6.7 several months back. All stock approx. 52,000 miles.
Pulled my 8,500 pound travel trailer for first time several weeks ago.and during the trip when climbing some hills, my temp gauge would do just as you described going from normal to 3/4 on the way to hot. Once I climbed the grade, the temp gauge would settle to normal or just above. No warnings, codes, or notifications.

Concerning as I was not pushing it hard running about 65 mph. Oil temp was about 210 and transmission temp was around 195..I would expect an increase on coolant temp gauge if I was pushing it hard or climbing a really steep grade. Was surprised to see the increase under these conditions.

Truck has no fluctuation in temp and stays rock solid when running without a load. First diesel in 20 years. Is this issue common?

 

It is not an issue.

 

pretty normal temps for a 6.7. I too have seen 3/4 on the coolant guage. But my fan is working on high pretty consistently.

MIght have your fan checked to ensure it comes on high when commanded.

 

Oil temp is 230 to 246. stays hot, same as always.

Guess I just need bigger tires, better turbo, tune, delete and so on. 5yr engine warranty is about up. Truck has never been back to stealership.

 

 

When I had my 11 6.7 F250, I was pulling my 12k fiver, with nearly 85k on the odometer, It was determined that my coolant was not properly moving the heat by my mechanic, that used to work at the local Ford Stealship and was one of the top Diesel mechanics in the area. I did the change out of coolant myself by draining, filling with distilled water 6 times and driving it to work and back which is 16 miles one way. I then drained and put in new Motorcraft coolant by putting in half full concentrate and filled with distilled water. I used the Airlift tool to vacuum the system down each time. I actually did this on both coolant systems. After I changed out the fluid, my coolant temps decreased by well over 10 degrees and when pulling hard, such as pulling the 12k 5er with 2 ATV's behind that up Monarch pass in Colorado, ECT would reach 245, TFT reached 235 and EOT reached 250 but when the fan kicked on, it sounded like a airplane propeller and the temps fell like a rock. It would then level out at 215 ECT and 220 TFT and the EOT would fall back to 230.
Just a thought here that maybe your coolant is not moving heat as it should. Billy, my mechanic, claims that, you loose the "wet" factor in coolant as it ages, which is the distilled water piece of the equation, then it cannot move the heat as efficiently as new coolant mixture.
Thats my 2 cents worth....
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My fan doesn't fully engage until 225, which I hit on every mountain towing in the summer at 26k GCVW. After the fan kicks in (very loud), it drops a few degrees very quickly.