Cooling thoughts

[Michael Fowler]

Some of you know I have had some cooling/ overheating issues with my '86 F 250, especially when towing the 5th wheel.
As I prepare for the coming IDI weekend---thats one big, long grade on I68, I want to make some changes. Here are my thoughts so far.

Several years ago, I added A/C to my truck. The A/C interfered with the transmission cooler built into the radiator, so I bypassed it. I already had added one extra cooler, so when I bypassed the radiator tranny cooler, I added a second aux cooler. So I had 2 coolers, and the A/C condenser in front of the radiator.
Maybe I have too much obstructing the air flow. I am also putting all that extra heat into the air before it ever gets to the radiator. No wonder I have cooling problems.

Solutions---
I want to relocate the 2 aux transmission coolers. Do any of you know what kind of air flow we have under our trucks? I am thinking of relocating the coolers under the cab, outboard of the frame rails on the driver's side. It certainly LOOKS like there would be plenty of air, but does anyone know for sure?
2nd solution---Like many of you, I use the heater to dump excess heat ( into the cab), but its better than over heating. What do you think about pulling the square plug from the driver's side heat and allowed hot water to flow from that head, thru and extra heater core installed somewhere below the truck? The water would return thru a tee in the heater line that dumps to the water pump? Is there a danger of over-cooling? Could over-cooling adversely affect combustion?

Thoughts?
Ideas?
Help?

 

[RLDSL]

you can put tranny coolers anywhere on the frame and they'll work just fine.... but you have to put an electric fan on the thing if it's out of the direct air flow.
Or just but one of the tranny coolers that's got a fan built onto the thing like this that is designed for that type of application . It's very common on race cars to have them rear mounted and ever notice where they put the things on off road racing trucks? Up behind the cab most of the time.

One thing that really helps with the ac is adding an electric pusher fan in front of the condenser that is triggered by a relay to come on with the AC ( trigger the ac relay by the ac clutch trigger i.e. the wire after it comes out of the pressure switch at the accumulator ) it wil help with low speed cooling all around and ac performance

 

[Exekiel69]

One thing that really helps with the ac is adding an electric pusher fan in front of the condenser that is triggered by a relay to come on with the AC ( trigger the ac relay by the ac clutch trigger i.e. the wire after it comes out of the pressure switch at the accumulator ) it wil help with low speed cooling all around and ac performance

I thought about this too, but would it be ok with the engine temps the rest of the time when this fan is not working? meaning is it going to block the air flow to the radiator the rest of the time?

 

[RLDSL]

I thought about this too, but would it be ok with the engine temps the rest of the time when this fan is not working? meaning is it going to block the air flow to the radiator the rest of the time?

Old wive's tale, when an e fan isn't on it isn't blocking anything, the air blowing across pushes right through the blades. there is no resistance from the motor when there is no current applied.

 

[Exekiel69]

Old wive's tale, when an e fan isn't on it isn't blocking anything, the air blowing across pushes right through the blades. there is no resistance from the motor when there is no current applied.

Well thank You, I'm on the middle of an intercooler installation and concerned that the evaporator would not cool properly behind the intercooler. I thought about an e fan connected to the ac switch to help but didn't know if it would block when the ac is not ON.