First Out of town trip with my IDI. So far so well not so good.

[condor74]

Recently had the transmission rebuilt on my 1990 F250 4x4 with a 7.3 IDI. Have been commuting to work in it about 10 miles each way for 2 weeks. flushed coolant and repaired a few other things that have come up. Well this week for Easter the plan is to Take it out of town towing a small trailer full of 2 dirt bikes, a quad, and a golf cart. The trip is about 150 or so miles and I do have to climb a pass.. Well the truck ran smooth with no issues on flat ground with the cruise set at 55 mph. The minute I started climbing the grade the tempurature started to climb. about 10 miles up the 30 mile long grade temp guage went to hot and check engine light came on. I pulled over and let it cool down. Found a small pin hole in the radiator that only seems leak when radiator has a lot of pressure in it. I dumped a can of stop leak and topped my coolant back off. I started back up the hill and 10 more miles the truck over heats again. Not coming out of pin hole this time. Long story short Stop 3 or 4 times on the way up the hill but once I am on the top and level ground or down hill the truck cools back down to the lower half of normal. Drive the rest of the way down the hill with out insodent. Get on highway 14 and there is some gentle up hills that all of a sudden seemed like mountains because every time the truck aimed upward the temp climbed. Had to stop an additional 4 times. Once again on flat ground the engine stayed cool. Tomarrow I will be calling to see if there is any Radiator shops open that can repair my radiator in 1 day. nice start to my vacation. lol Oh well. There are other funny side stories that went on during this I may share later.

 

[rhkcommander]

That's too bad. Might have to slow her down. See if the fan clutch works, turbo?

Even with a turbo mine wasn't too happy in 4th, but it would do 45-50 in 3rd no problem I just didn't like the higher rpms(was probably fine though I wasn't eVen governed

 

[icanfixall]

If your running tap water in the coolant your radiater is going to be plugged up. Only run distilled water and not reverse osmosis water. You will never again have a radiater problem. Also check the fan clutch. See if the spring has dirt built up around it. If either side has dirt near the spring or shaft the clutch is shot and time to replace it. Only the Ford clutch is any good. Others may work but not for long... This long grade you pulled... Was it the Grapevine and traveling on I14 off the % freeway is nothing but a contuinus climb so don't be surprised about heating up on that highway. If you can get a fin count on the radiater and a tube count. What you don't want is a 12 fin count or a 3 row tube count.... A 4 row and 15 fins per inch will cool your rig very well but 12 fines per inch wont...

 

[Brianedwardss]

Sounds like a fan clutch to me.

 

[Clydesdale]

I was shocked at what the grapevine did to the temp gauge in HIdalgo.

going from the elvaton points, I DID NOT expect the heat I recieved out of the deal.

Grapevine was the only spot I had pull over and water issues, running CA,OR, NV, WA, ID, UT as a hotshotter.

 

[condor74]

Update. This morning I called a radiator shop to get the radiator fixed. I removed the radiator and took to the shop and he said he could not fix it. Said the leak could be fixed but there are a lot of smaller leaks that just are not leaking yet. The guy in the shop was nice enough to order me another radiator from a local parts house. I am not sure, but I believe he sold it to me at his cost which came out to about 325. I had previously called around and found replacements for 450. Anyway I replaced the radiator. The Fan Clutch looks ok. I will have to load it down and pull a hill to know for sure. He also said the tubes were plugged up. The new radiator is aluminum with large metal tanks. I have driven around town today and the truck never got hot.

The hill I pulled was highway 58 from Bakersfield to Tehachapi. It ran cool on the down side and the on the 14 going through JawBone/Red Rock Canyon. Ran cool from the 14 down hill into Ridgecrest

 

[condor74]

If your running tap water in the coolant your radiater is going to be plugged up. Only run distilled water and not reverse osmosis water. You will never again have a radiater problem. Also check the fan clutch. See if the spring has dirt built up around it. If either side has dirt near the spring or shaft the clutch is shot and time to replace it. Only the Ford clutch is any good. Others may work but not for long... This long grade you pulled... Was it the Grapevine and traveling on I14 off the % freeway is nothing but a contuinus climb so don't be surprised about heating up on that highway. If you can get a fin count on the radiater and a tube count. What you don't want is a 12 fin count or a 3 row tube count.... A 4 row and 15 fins per inch will cool your rig very well but 12 fines per inch wont...

I just went and looked at it. It was a little difficult to look at in the truck..The truck now has a 5 core and the fins appear to be 12 fins per inch, (not 100 percent sure on the fins per inch though). The original radiator was a 4 core.

 

[condor74]

ok got a better look and took a tape measure. the fin count is 15 fins per inch.

 

[condor74]

I drove the truck home today over the pass the temperature never got over the N on normal. I did notice while pulling the grade with the trailer that there is a lot of black smoke pumping out of the exhaust. It seemed to have the power I expect it to have. Nothing earth shattering but It pulled the hill between 45 and 60.

Ironically I got all the way home and got called into work to go fix a truck near LA so now driving a newer F350 I get to go climb the aforementioned Grape Vine. He blew a turbo inter cooler hose. I got him fixed but didnt get home till after 1 AM Sunday night/Monday morning.

 

[hesutton]

I drove the truck home today over the pass the temperature never got over the N on normal. I did notice while pulling the grade with the trailer that there is a lot of black smoke pumping out of the exhaust. It seemed to have the power I expect it to have. Nothing earth shattering but It pulled the hill between 45 and 60.

Ironically I got all the way home and got called into work to go fix a truck near LA so now driving a newer F350 I get to go climb the aforementioned Grape Vine. He blew a turbo inter cooler hose. I got him fixed but didnt get home till after 1 AM Sunday night/Monday morning.

Sounds like the old radiator was full of scale and crud, limiting it's function sigificantly. Like Gary (icanfixall) said, be sure to use distilled water only when mixing your coolant. That will limit the mineral deposits building up in the radiator. That junk can also clog up the oil cooler as well.

Heath

 

[franklin2]

You are running a aluminum radiator now, so you need to think about your coolant. If you were running the old school green low silicate with the other chemicals added, the low silicate won't protect the aluminum. I run a aluminum radiator and use Zerez GO5 coolant in mine.

Of course if you run regular green anti-freeze with no chemical additives, it has the silicate in it and it will protect the aluminum, just not protect against cavitation.

 

[condor74]

wouldnt running regular coolant plus the additive for the cavitation be ok?

 

[RLDSL]

Or you can run Evans waterless coolant and then you don't have to worry about water, or SCAs or ever again darn near dont have to worry about boiling over with a 375 deg non pressurized boiling point

 

[condor74]

Just an update. Took the truck out of town again on a short trip just to go fishing this weekend. Mind you no trailer but had the whole family in the truck. Truck ran flawlessly. Didnt catch any fish but was still a good day.

 

[colorado_joe]

Any recommendations were to get a good radiator? Should any RockAuto/ stock replacement work, or is there a certain brand/retailer that's better than another?

Also I've been using the Fleet Charge pink stuff. Should that be good in any radiator?

My '89 250 likes to overheat towing in Colorado, and a new radiator could be the ticket to fixing the problem.

Thanks everyone. This site ROCKS for IDI info!