I have a 2005 PSD, all stock except for AFI intake. I tow a fiver that weighs around 12500 lbs. So, here's the problem. The temperature gauge will rise all the way to the hot at times when pulling steep hills. When it first happened, I shifted (auto tranny) down to 2nd, and it came back to normal pretty quick. The next time was pulling it across White Pass in WA, the temp spiked all the way to hot, stayed for about 15 seconds, then returned to normal (without shifting). It did this about 3 times until we got to the top, then all was fine. I didn't notice anything different as far as how it ran, but the fan does sound odd, I can hear it come on, but the rpms seem to follow the motors rpms. Thanks for any help.

 

Well your tranny temp gauge may have something wrong with the sender unit. I would actually invest in an aftermarket tranny temp gauge as if your gauge is alright and your tranny temp is at the corresponding temp for it to be in the red, then your running a risk of tranny repairs as all the factory gauges are woefully in accurate in their display. However, a brief spike like that makes me think something is wrong electronically.

 

I should have noted...this problem is with the engine temperature. Thanks for the info though.

 

Six in one, half a dozen in the other. Rather your talking about water temp(engine temp) or your talking about tranny temp the same problem goes for almost every gauge that ford puts on there from the factory other then the speedo and tach and possibly the boost gauge, although I have noted a few issues with the boost gauge as well. Check your cooling system though, makes sure it's holding pressure and your levels are good to go, but I would also have your gauge checked out, because even if a cooling system is working properly it takes longer then 15 seconds to go back down. Plus at the engine temp that the hot registers at would be at a point to where a normal water based coolant would start to lose effectiveness at cooling down, another reason why it would take longer then 15 seconds to go back down. It take me about 10 minutes of driving no more then 55 in summer temps to drop from 210 to about 195(normal op. temp for me), I can promise you if your engine is spiking up that to where it says hot on the gauge(which is about 225-230) it would take longer then that to get back down.

 

Are you using Tow/Haul mode?

 

I see a spike in tranny temp using that mode, but I don't notice a spike or atleast not a significant spike compared to the tranny temp spike using tow/haul mode. I think that would be negligible on engine temp compared to tranny temp with tow/haul mode unless he is doing a lot of hard frequent braking.

 

There was a TSB for 2005 trucks doing exactly this. It was a bad instrument cluster. It was fixed free in the 3/36 warranty, but it will be on you if you're not in the 3/36.

 

Yea, it did sound like something was wrong with the electronics. Got to love 'em.

 

Tex, that makes perfect sense. I did not even think about the amount of time it would take to cool down. I'll check the cooling system (have it checked) but I bet your right. Thanks.

Powerstroke wannabe, yes I was in tow/haul mode, never tow without it.


Mark, thanks. Of course my b2b warranty is over.

 

Did you check your coolant level? It could be that simple. Maybe even quality. Where it's jumping up and down it could be air pockets cycling through the system. If this were the case you might also notice your heater not working constantly.

 

I remeber one time I was towing a heavy load and my tranny and coolant temps were pretty high.

 

One question for everyone here.

I had a similar issue with a spike on my temp gauge pulling my 5th up a long steep grade. Spiked and settled when I backed off in about 10-15 secs.

My mechanis said that the Quadzilla performance chip that I have on the truck could possibly cause this due to te chip fooling the oil temp gauge or something like that.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

 

Mine did the same thing, after I blocked the EGR, never again seen my temps rise. The EGR system causes all kinds of havoc with your cooling system.

 

Do you mean the stock gauge? That one will spike from normal to into the yellow when the temperature changes from 229F to 230F. It will stay in the same spot until it hits 230F and then jump to yellow.

 

I have a 2005. I also have bullydog outlook digital gauges. I pull an 8500 lb trailer and in hot summer conditions, totally loaded, truck and trailer, it is not uncommon to see my water temps go high like that, then come down. Is your fan coming on, stepping up, until its on high and sounds like a freight train is passing you? It should come on and knock the temps down considerably, then the fan will step down a notch, it will find a spot where it can stay and keep the temps down. These trucks have a lot of power and can pull at high speeds, on big hills if everything is working right. My Bullydog Outlook monitor has set points to defuel at specified water, tranny, EGT temps. It is rare for defueling to ever occur, I have yet to have conditions where my EGT gets to high to cause defueling unless I am totalling hammering on it, even then for very short periods and it shifts down. Never the water or tranny so far. I am not pulling as big a trailer, but I do often have her loaded to the nuts with firewood, tool box, generator, saw, extra diesel, gas, propane, water ect. So, I would check your EGR is working, not stuck open, change your coolant to 50/50 Gold Motorcraft coolant, with deionized water, make sure oil and fuel, air filters are changes, clean, fresh oil ect. I would also listen to make sure your fan clutch is engaging in steps up to these higher temps. I beleive it has 4 settings, disengaged, stage 1 - barely hear it, 2 - can hear fan and beside truck blows a significant amount of air, step 3 - it roars and will blow huge amounts of dust and you can really hear it even pulling a hill with wiindows up and hair straight back. If its not engaging and pulling your temps down fairly quickly, then there is a problem, but you need the digital gauge to really see that as the gauges in the truck are based on set points for a range of temps and dont really move until past each point up or down. The next thing is to read codes, it will tell you what temp ranges have been exceeded if any. |you need to get a code reader or have dealer look into it, more expensive approach but might be your only option...hope this helps, maybe a tech can chime in with the temps for each stage, if you look up earlier posts of mine, I beleive i did right them out at one time while it was fresh in my mind for which stages of fan and what the gauge on the dash read.