What can I do to make my truck run cooler going up grades?

[texasmorrell]

Now that it is hot again I have found out that my 08 F-450 with the 6.4L will get hot going up grades with a heavy load. I know that is normal but what can I do to make her run cooler? Any aftermarket products or tweeks that are know to work? The fan kicks in and it sounds like a jet getting ready to take off but it does cool it down quick. Actually the truck pulls very strong and even maxed out on weight it goes full speed up hill until the overheat alarm kicks in and cuts the power way back, very annoying but necessary. Any thoughts?

[MNdriver]

don't try to full power it up the hill then is what the truck is telling you.

[monkeypuncher]

Now that it is hot again I have found out that my 08 F-450 with the 6.4L will get hot going up grades with a heavy load. I know that is normal but what can I do to make her run cooler? Any aftermarket products or tweeks that are know to work? The fan kicks in and it sounds like a jet getting ready to take off but it does cool it down quick. Actually the truck pulls very strong and even maxed out on weight it goes full speed up hill until the overheat alarm kicks in and cuts the power way back, very annoying but necessary. Any thoughts?

Bigger radiator and oil cooler if you don't have one. Also monitor the temp, and back off a little when it gets into it's high range.

[texasmorrell]

don't try to full power it up the hill then is what the truck is telling you.

That is true but it happens with the cruise control on and i dont even know it is happening until the over temp alarm comes on. There is a lag between the temp guage on the dash and the computer sensor. The computer is quicker than the guage. I may need to have a look at the guage or the sending unit because it is slow.

[texasmorrell]

Bigger radiator and oil cooler if you don't have one. Also monitor the temp, and back off a little when it gets into it's high range.

I did not know you could put a bigger radiator in them. There is no room under the hood as it is. Oil cooler is a possibility.

[MNdriver]

how many rows are in the core?

IF you have a 2 or 3 row, you can always swap in a radiator for one with 3, 4 or more rows of cores.

[oldslowchevy]

10-15 degree cooler t-stat, electric fan oid cooler, it it has an automatic transmission a trans cooler, and pay atention to the road and speed up some before you get to the bottom of the hill instead of letting the c/c to just maintain speed.

[gafred99]

Install extra windshield washer tank, plumb lines to front of radiator with nozzles aim for middle, momentary power switch for the pump in cab.
Gets warm hit the button.

Also install largest capacity oil filter you can find to fit. Not sure what yours takes do a little research.
ex. old chevy engines used 1 qt filters, in a medium duty they had 2 qt filters.

[texan007]

You can buy many aftermarker intercoolers/oil coolers. I have done a ton of mods on my 3500 Chevy. The best one was upgrading the addition of an amsoil-by pass oil filtration system. It requires an additional gallon of oil for the truck. The filters are huge aand inckuding the lines it allows for the oil ti get away from the engine and cool better. I actually added a wind deflector to help it cool even more. While fiktering down to 2 microns it alllws the flow rate to remain the same. You can even make one yourself.

I also added two additional fuel fikters one Cat 2 micron filter is over 10 inches long the other is a 4 micron cat water/sep.

I also run amsoil oil which does help my truck to run cooler.

Your absolutely right about no room under the hiids of those 450's but they do make several products for just what you need. I suggest you get into one of the website for ford nuts, they will have a ton of ideas

[tomkatrose]

My suggestion won't help mechanically on the temp but it will prevent overheating and cooking your oil or worse, your engine. Install an A piller 3 gauge set with EGR temp, water temp and oil temp. As you go up the grade, turn off the cc, keep a close watch on your EGT's. As they go up, ease off the throttle to keep them in their max zone. As your water and oil temp start to climb, ease up more to keep them out of the max zone.

Staying hard on the throttle to maintain speed, which the cc will do, your EGT's can climb to 1,800 degrees or higher. Your under hood can get so hot, the fan may not be able to manage it. Don't forget, if it gets too hot, open your windows and turn your heater on full blast. The extra radiator of the heater core will help.