New guy here and to diesel

[Kilted Celt]

Hello everyone,

My name is Jarred and I bought my first ever IDI. I am really happy with the truck and the fact that it is mechanically controlled versus modern electronics.

A little bit about the truck:

'91 F350 XLT Lariat 4 door CC
ATS aftermarket Turbo system (installed in '99)
Perma-cool Oil cooler
Trans cooler and filter
Hummer glow plug controller with manual switch in cab
Rebuilt Transmission

The PO states he had this truck for 10 years and that he hadn't rolled the OD yet so if that is true it had 90,000 miles on it when I bought it for $3,000.

Since I bought it I have tinted the windows, added a shell and put 4,400 miles on it. I really needed a truck for our business as we travel all over selling Celtic themed goods at Highland games. So far it's been wonderful and I have been lurking through this forum for awhile and really finding all of you guys very knowledgeable.

Everything has been running great until I did a steep hill climb and the engine pegged the temp sensor and the engine light came on. This was at the top of the hill and I pulled onto the frontage road where we coasted for a little while until the engine cooled off. Since then I've been watching the temp and it gets up there but nothing like before. The day was high 90's, AC blowing, camping gear and dogs in the bed.

Things on the To Do/want list:

Testing the coolant
Coolant filter
Moose Misters (will have to wait unfortunately)
Moose Pump (will have to wait unfortunately)

 

[towcat]

welcome
you should also be on the hunt for a fan clutch also.

 

[Kilted Celt]

welcome
you should also be on the hunt for a fan clutch also.

New fan clutch or lock the one on it?

 

[sassyrel]

welcome
you should also be on the hunt for a fan clutch also.

maybe thermostat also,,they like to play the stick and release game.....

 

[Kilted Celt]

maybe thermostat also,,they like to play the stick and release game.....

As I saw on an older thread, I need to get one from IH or the Ford dealer. Is there any particular thermostat that is better than another?

 

[OLDBULL8]

Visit the IDI tech articles also the PSD tech if you havent done so. There is part numbers out the whaaazooo there. Yes, use only the IH or Ford t'stat, parts stores will tell you they have the same but they are NOT. When your engine got hot, could you hear the fan roaring when it kicked in? If not, it's time for a new fan clutch. Parts stores that advertise tool rental will have the wrenches to remove the fan, left hand threads.

 

[Diesel JD]

Some people have had good success with Stant thermostats, but the wisdom of the collective is that it's cheap insurance to just buy a Ford or IH T-stat. Those are known to be correct and are pretty much the same. I'd buy from whichever was cheaper/closer. If you're heavy the fan clutch and radiator are critical. You didn't say how much weight you're dragging around or how high your EGTs are. The AC makes the water temp go up..so does hot weather and so do high EGTs. The cooling system should be able to handle it by design, but sometimes they struggle. High elevations can make for higher exhaust temps just because there's less oxygen up there to burn all that fuel you have. You need to address your cooling system issues and make real sure you have adequate SCA levels. The coolant filter would be nice, but you don't need it that badly as long as you only use really good water and diesel rated ELC or low silicate green EG coolant and SCA. Also watch out for the SCA precharged coolant filters if you go this route. They're nice but you wouldn't want to overcharge the system. That can make it not cool as efficiently as it should. I think there are filters without SCAs charged in them. FYI the coolant additives are DCA-2 (Nitrite only, NAPAKOOL, Wix, and CAT and close cousins) or DCA4 (Ford, Fleetgurad) with Nitrite and Molydbate. These should not be mixed. An alternative that does come with some risk to the oil cooler and water pump seals especially if they have been "used" to older EG coolants is an organic acid technology based diesel rated ELC...NOT the Dex-Cool ELC garbage. The upside is it means never having to worry about SCA or cavitation again as long as you don't do something dumb like add water or an incompatible coolant in there.

 

[Diesel JD]

The problem with box parts store T-stats is that some of these may have a bypass, which is bad, because the engine also has one. Also some open at too low of a temperature. The effect could be like running no thermostat, cool temps by the gauge but hot spots places where you don't want them, could lead to cracked heads in a worst case scenario.

 

[Kilted Celt]

Visit the IDI tech articles also the PSD tech if you havent done so. There is part numbers out the whaaazooo there. Yes, use only the IH or Ford t'stat, parts stores will tell you they have the same but they are NOT. When your engine got hot, could you hear the fan roaring when it kicked in? If not, it's time for a new fan clutch. Parts stores that advertise tool rental will have the wrenches to remove the fan, left hand threads.

To be honest I don't recall if I did hear the fan or not. I mainly heard the motor in high rpm and my heart skipping a few beats when I saw the red idiot light shining in my face.

I will have a look through the tech articles for the part info and see how much they run. Thanks again everyone, this is why this forum is the best!

 

[Kilted Celt]

The weight was my 3 dogs (roughly 500lbs, South African Mastiffs) and personal camping gear for my wife and I. Honestly I don't think we were overly weighed down.

The pass in question is Parleys Summit, I-80 East from Salt Lake. Most info states a 2,300 foot elevation gain from the valley.

I have read through all of the cavitation articles and it is why it is my next immediate concern after this heat issue.

 

[Diesel JD]

OK then, you should not have a problem with keeping the truck cool under those conditions. Something isn't perfect. Also I personally like a gauge to watch that gives me an actual number rather than a Ford gauge where the first warning that something is amiss might be that check engine light. IIRC that comes on at 243*F, hotter than I would ever like to see my engine. It's been there, but only when I've had an air pocket in the cooling system after rebuilding the oil cooler and briefly when she pushed out a freeze plug block heater (again reading air temp). If that's actual coolant temp, it's not a good thing.

 

[dakotajeep]

Whatever you do I would ensure you aren't just throwing parts at this thing. I had a cooling issue and replaced every part of the cooling system. The last thing I replaced was the radiator since it was the most expensive. It ended up being a old slightly plugged radiator.

Point is do thorough troubleshooting to find the real problem.

Thad

 

[Danielle]

Welcome Kilted!!

As a fellow newbie (here and to diesel) I can tell you, you won't find a more knowledgeable group of people, AND they're willing to help

 

[Silver Burner]

Welcome to the site brother. Very nice truck for the money. Mine has almost a quarter million on it and the ac doesnt work and I paid more than that for it..

 

[ocnorb]

Welcome neighbor.

I live near the bottom of Parley's...

Do you have an EGT gauge? My truck gets much hotter if I push the EGT's too far when going up the canyon. Just backing off 2-3 mph makes a world of difference to the EGT's and temperature.