Towing issues?

The_Josh_Bear said:

Yessir, a very good option!

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Any suggestions on intercooler models that work with the banks turbo?

Just an update. Trans cooler installed. Fuel filter changed, and air filter replaced. The air filter fits really nice in the ram air box. The bracket holding the box on needed to be shimmed so that the filter fits on the turbo correctly. It has a noticeable increase in power. I haven’t towed with it yet because the damn trailer is in the shop again. Trans temps seem to be lower just driving on the freeway so I am hoping for the best. I’ll post the results of towing after I pick up the trailer next week

I'm sure that the auxillary cooler will make the trans run cooler while empty, but it will make a bigger difference when you're working it, as in towing.

Chadillac said:

Just an update. Trans cooler installed. Fuel filter changed, and air filter replaced. The air filter fits really nice in the ram air box. The bracket holding the box on needed to be shimmed so that the filter fits on the turbo correctly. It has a noticeable increase in power. I haven’t towed with it yet because the damn trailer is in the shop again. Trans temps seem to be lower just driving on the freeway so I am hoping for the best. I’ll post the results of towing after I pick up the trailer next week

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Did you just swap to a larger auxiliary trans cooler, or did you also reconnect the stock one in the radiator?

When I was planning on towing with mine I spoke with quite a few very knowledgeable transmission people. They all said that the stock cooler is a much more efficient setup than any aux cooler you can get. They said to keep the stock cooler and add an auxiliary cooler after it in series.

I would be curious as to why yours is bypassed. It could be worth your time to pull the plugs that were put in it to see if any coolant comes out. It could be that coolant was leaking from the radiator into it. If not I would be very tempted to flush it really good and hook it back up as well. Or if you think a new radiator could help in the near future you could hook up the stock one when it is replaced.

Just my thoughts.

Oh, and I just pulled my trailer yesterday again into another 25mph headwind. Coolant temps were in the 220’s. Hit 232 once but came back down quickly. Trans temps were in the 170’s the whole time. About a 2 hour hwy pull.


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First of all I want to thank everyone who chimed in to help me learn with my limited skills and understanding. The knowledge on this forum is priceless and I appreciate everyone.

Just an update. I just completed a 600+ mile trip from the Tacoma Wa area to the Idaho panhandle near the Montana boarder. The trip over was rainy with cool weather and all the temps stayed where I think they should be when I was running on no grade. Trans temp was running around 170-180 exhaust temp on flat ground was right around 4 or 600 I don’t remember. Oil pressure was good. Coolant temp on stock gauge was on the low side of normal. Up the passes wasn’t too bad but I still feel that the exhaust temp going above 900 is excessive towing a 3000lb trailer up the pass. Also the boost line slipped off of the plenum or whatever the hell that thing is, so I had no idea of what boost I was running. And I noticed the engine temp start to climb on the high side of normal. But other than that everything seemed ok except for the fact that the front springs are worn so I felt stiff when we got to Wallace.

On the way back the weather was warmer and up 4th of July pass same thing, got a good run before the pass and got up at 55 no problem. But the exhaust temp was around 1100 this time. Once outside of CDA-Spokane on flat ground doing 65mph I noticed that when I went to pass a semi that my exhaust/trans/coolant temps were higher and took a lot longer to come down.

This whole time I’m dreading the westbound hill at Vantage WA. This hill will kill a questionable vehicle on the spot because the grade just doesn’t stop. I got a good running start and was going along at 60 which made me feel good. As I felt it start to increase in grade I dropped out of overdrive and was screaming at 3000rpm. But I’m still getting passed by 1/2 tons with 24’ trailers on them so I couldn’t jump into the left lane and try to pass the Spaceballs Winnebago. I lost steam and that’s when all the temps started to climb, trans 200+, exhaust 1100+, coolant to H but still not passed the “L” in normal with pedal to the FLOOR.
After I got passed by a minivan with an R-pod that’s when I said F**K It. I kept the hammer down, kind of hoping that the whole thing would explode with fire, steam and all sorts of parts like a damn cartoon.

Well it didn’t so I’m stuck with the truck and maybe a cooling problem with a messed up transmission because the damn O/D light started flashing a week later. I’m not sure if it’s just the converter I I could trust the transmission. 6-7k since the rebuild and already? Really? How do you even know if a transmission shop is being straight with you if you don’t know how to build a transmission yourself.
If anybody knows of a legit shop in the Tacoma area please let me know. I don’t trust reviews because they can be doctored. I have read up on what needs to be done to these E4od turds to make them more reliable, but a shop could just tell you they did the upgrades and how in the hell are you going to know? You have to take their word for it and frankly, that’s not good enough any more.
Thanks for reading, I’m having a couple beers and it felt really good to let that stuff fly!

BTW: https://official.bankspower.com/magazine/tow-test-ford-f-350-diesel-stock-vs-turbo/
Just found this:

After my phone call to Gale Banks, I was instructed to keep it in overdrive, run at normal highway speeds when towing—55 and 65 mph—and keep turbo boost near 10 psi and exhaust temperature near 1000 degrees. That was a hard learning curve to swallow, because those kinds of techniques often lead to quick engine failure. But I was willing to try. What made matters more confusing was that only part throttle was needed to do this.

I made arrangements with Gale Banks Engineering to tow a special trailer that was only 10 pounds lighter than the boat/trailer combination I used in the original test.

By keeping it in overdrive, the engine maintained the much-needed lower rpm, turbo boost got as high as 10.5 psi and exhaust temperature went up to 1050 degrees F, which is about 600 degrees cooler than the exhaust temperature you’d expect of a gasoline engine when under load.

The results were mind-boggling. Everything held together. The vehicle could maintain 55 mph on all the upgrades while using overdrive, but dropped to a low of 50 mph on the six percent grade; that was the only time third gear was needed. On all but the steepest upgrades, speeds could be brought up to 60 and 65 mph. Besides the performance improvement, mountain towing economy went from 9.6 mpg to 13.2 mpg, which was more consistent with previous turbodiesels I have done.

Driving the Gale Banks turbodiesel in a lower gear caused the engine to reach a speed where the governor began to cut in—thus, the engine is rpm limited. Banks’ way of bypassing the governor was to introduce peak torque sooner and produce volumetric efficiency at a low engine speed, as long as the engine can handle a heavy towed load—with the Navistar/Ford diesel, that was possible.

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I thought it might be a good datapoint.

I know with my stick I'm always in the highest gear I can hold and am not maxing out the engine(have more power if I give it more throttle). Usually OD when towing heavy.

Great info! Thank you.

I guess In hindsight that was sort of how it was working. The only thing was the lack of power going up the Vantage hill. It dropped out of overdrive with it floored. This was at a speed of around 45 mph. I guess it just feels like there is no torque (I’m not sure if I’m correct) going up a hill. Or maybe it’s just my ego, pulling a tiny trailer with an f250 diesel getting passed by minivans towing bigger trailers.
I’m taking the truck into a transmission shop on Tuesday to get the codes read.
I bought a thermostat, fan clutch and water pump. I’m also thinking about a radiator also. It’s a shame I just flushed and replaced the coolant.

Wish me luck and I will keep the outcome posted and probably be asking for a lot more advice.

Also again if there is a good transmission shop that deals with these E4ods in the Tacoma area please let me know.