I kept getting hot tranny temps while towing and after a lot of headaches and trouble shooting I believe the problem is a leak in the intercooler causing coolant burnoff. My question is how much difference does one of the aftermarket intercoolers make as opposed to the oem. If it’s worth paying the difference between a $1200 mishimoto vs a $400 stock replacement I guess I could splurge but if there is a minimal difference I think I’ll just save the money. Btw I have a 2012 F250 full delete

 

Not an expert but there's something obviously wrong if your trans temps are getting hot. With you being deleted, what tune you towing in? Stock power or tow tune? Do you definitely have an intercooler coolant leak? I would find why you are having an issue and go from there. The trans is on the secondary cooling system and while i don't tow, I see very cool temps. So I would see if you are a secondary cooling system issue first. How high are the temps? The guys who tow can chime in to what's normal during towing.

 

I first had the issue when we were coming back from a camping trip in Louisiana, it was a very hot day and the tranny temps got up to 246. I pulled over at the first Walmart, noticed the secondary cooling reservoir was low topped it off and didn’t give it another thought until we had another lengthy camping trip where the exact same scenario took place. Our camper is 7k and I only use the tow tune while towing and stock tune otherwise. There is no evidence of an outside leak and reading some older threads it usually indicates an intercooler leak. I’m definitely no mechanic either so I’m hoping that is the issue because it is within my limited mechanically inclined capacity lol

 

pressure test the cooling system. Then go from there.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/ford-man....7L_Diesel.pdf

Going to that link to page 26, page 29 of the PDF, you'll see there's a coolant feed trans fluid cooler also in the coolant system. I'd check that too if you haven't. But I guess you could pop off the lower CAC hose to see if the CAC has an internal coolant leak.

As to the Mishimoto CAC, probably built stronger to last longer than the OEM and flows more air to gain the power lost in the OEM CAC back. Engines are big air pumps. Make the air easier to flow in and out, more power gained back due to better air flow. I have plans to get one but that's way down the road. Maybe when my OEM CAC goes...

 

Transmission temperature of 246°F towing 7,000 lbs in Louisiana = There's a problem. I tow 11K through the Rocky Mountains and my transmission temps will get to the low 230's but I've never seen it over 235°F.

As said in other posts, make sure you're looking at the right cooling system. That's about as far as my knowledge goes.

 

Finally found some time to tinker with it and pulled the bottom hose: full of coolant. Now to decide how much I want to spend on this thing

 

Please keep us posted as to what you do to fix it.

 

The new no limit fab intercoolers look like this. Note the placement of the bottom nipple and cold pipe (more on this later)

I did like the engraving on top but it was immediately covered up by the radiator hose.

The bottom nipple runs right into the power steering hose which is not very flexible at all.

 

I went with the no limit fabrication intercooler I found online for $999 at alligator performance. I like the look of it but the install was an absolute pain in the a**. The bottom coolant hose runs right into the power steering hose and you have to really finagle it to even get the hose around it. Then there’s the cold air pipe location that is so far towards the front of the truck that it interfered with the power steering reservoir as well as the other coolant hoses. Getting that on with the clamp seated properly ended with a lot of cursed mothers. I called no limit and they stated that’s how all of the new ones are made and gave me a few tips on the bottom hose that ended up working out. After the install I took it out for a spin to see how it worked and I was pleased with the results. The turbo spools up quicker and I noticed a very mild increase in hp. I am helping a buddy tow a 9k boat from Missouri to Kentucky next weekend so that will be the ultimate test.

 

Less restrictive flow means quicker spool up... Glad you worked out the minor details.

Let us know how you make out with your road trip... Be safe.

 

The trip went really well, truck towed like a champ. The boat ended up being around 8.5k and granted it was pretty cool outside but my tranny temps never got above 185 even in the hills around the lake of the ozarks. I liked the performance of the aftermarket intercooler, it seemed like the engine didn’t have to work as hard to keep it up to speed and maybe a slight increase to mpg while towing. On a completely unrelated note; we were checking the tow capacity on the new F150’s (for my buddy who would do very little towing with the boat) and the rating for a new 2023 F150 3.5l V6 eco boost is 14k. Can someone explain how a half ton truck can tow more than my F250 with a turbo diesel??

 

Even being as big a Ford fan as I am I have to remember to tell myself there are a lot of folks that will pee on my leg & tell me it's raining. That's the feeling I get when I see some of that F150 B S, how long will that F150 last towing that weight ?

 

I couldn’t imagine towing even a 10k pound travel trailer with a 150…makes me wonder how they are fudging the numbers on this

 

You'll run out of payload capacity long before you run out of trailer capacity.