Thanks so much for the reply. The problem started abt. 2-3 months before i had the oil problem taken car of. I do not pull heavy. What i pull is a Renegade motorhome on a FL70 chassis and cab. The living quarters are 28' long. I would guess that the motorhome weighs around 15,000 lbs. I pull a 32' Renegade stacker trailer. This is a race car hauler. Its weight is approx. 18,000 loaded, for a total weight of 33,000 lbs. Like i said, the temps at 40 degrees outside slowly gets up to 205 which is when the fan comes on and cools it down to the operating temp of around 190. Once it reaches the 205 mark the temps to from 190 to 205 for the entire trip, which cycles the fan on and off. I think the engine is indeed running warm. I just can not figure out why. Once the fan comes on it cools the water down. But, right back up it goes again. The less RPM's i turn the cooler the water temps are.

 

Ronm Has this set up (truck & trailer) ever run cool? I mean did it run good then just start warming up one day? Or did you just buy one or the other and it has run warm ever since?

If I am picturing your set up in my mind correctly you have a pretty big blunt front to your race car hualer. I don't know what the 3126 Cat is for HP but is it possible that you are right at the point of being maxxed out and your motor is working hard all the time?

Just a thought---- It sounds like when you started to get warm is about the time ULSD started up and allot of guys were saying that they were showing 5-10* more water temp.

Do you have a fan over ride switch? Or if you don't could you wire one in? If you do maybe try turning it off and see if the heat levels out say at maybe 207. But if it keeps climbing when it is 40* out you are either maxxed out on what you are hauling, maybe driving to fast creating to much wind resistance with the smaller motor or you have a problem.

Any after market grill treatments installed, blocking air.

Brakes dragging.

Maybe a wind deflector on the roof of the tow truck is needed??

Are you pushing water out?

Is there a air dam on the bottom of the grill or bumper that is missing or broken?

Mike

 

Or --- I know you said that you power washed your radiator. But in some cases there is a Trans cooler, air conditioning condensor, water radiator, and a charge air cooler all in line. Maybe somewhere inside one or the other it is almost blocked with bugs and dirt and the power washer can not get that far in. And the air just can not flow through all of them and your water radiator is more than likely the last one in line.

Mike

Maybe everything is plugged up with those Florida Love Bugs from hauling the late model down to Volusia?? What kind of racing do you do?

 

Did not just buy it. I have owned the truck for over 5 years. It has always run cool in the fall, winter and spring. Only times the fan would come on would be in the heat of the summer. Then the fan would cycle on in what i would consider normal operation. The problem started abt. 2-3 months prior to correcting the oil consumption problem. The living quarters of the extends over the cab of the truck with the front of it sloped towards the back to delflect air. The trailer we pull is the same ride height of the living quarters.

I do not have a fan overide switch. I will see if i can figure out how to wire one in. Is there anyway to do that off the A/C switch? The water resevoir does not seem to be pushing any water out. Brakes do not seem to be overheating. Had new rears put on abt. 4 months prior to the problem occuring. Have not had any additions to the grill area. Nothing is missing on the front that i am aware of. Everything seems to be intact. Starting at the front there is a transmission cooler followed by the turbo cooler and then the radiator. I guess it is possible there is debris stuck in there somewhere. I quess my next move will be to take all of that apart and clean it. If the problem persist i have at least eliminated those items.

Is it possible that the water pump vanes have worn and are not moving as much water as before? I do not see any indications of a cylinder head gasket leaking.

Thanks for all the help. Any suggestions are appreciated. Even if they do not provide a solution at least it helps me learn. Keep em coming.

 

By the way we dragrace. We run from Fl all the way up to NJ, Tn and Ky. We run a Top ET dragster, a jr dragster and soon a Top ET El Camino.

 

This seems a little odd for cooler weather. I'ld verify the rad is clean both internally & externally. Might be worth taking off the air to air & condenser etc to get everything clean. Its sometimes hard to clean all the way through everything with out splitting things apart. If you remove the top rad hose you hould be able to look at the core tubes to see how clean they are internally. My guess would be an airflow or coolant flow problem.

Btw, what fixed the oil problem?

 

At this point from what i have read on here so far i would have to agree that it is a flow problem. Either water or air. Do the vanes on the water pump go bad? If not, what does?

Oil consumtion has not completely stopped but is better. I had the o-rings on the injectors replaced.

 

What I learned last year...power washing through the front of the grill is the WRONG thing to be doing...all the crap gets into the charge-air, oil cooler, ac cooler, and radiator traveling through the front...the same direction you are spraying the water. The only way you are going to get that crap out, is to dismount all the components up to the radiator...and wash or air blow the crap out from the back. Found that out at International dealership in Portland OR.

It was already pointed out to get your A/C switch's and your fan clutch checked. I just got my truck out of the shop, from having the fan clutch replaced. It went from engaging intermitantly to on all the time.....was told when I picked the truck up that I was lucky..the condition the fan clutch was in, they usually come apart and take out the radiator.

 

Ok, its a cat - have the water pump checked for the impeller slipping on the shaft.

Also, there is a hose from the top of the thermostat housing going to the radiator, maybe 5/16 or 3/8 inch hose. Run the engine, pull the hose off the radiator, it should be flowing a fair amount of water. If not, there could be mud plugging that hose port from the back side of the thermostat housing, or your water pump could be slipping like I said above.

Airflow is important also, as others have said on here. You often have an a/c condenser, the charge air cooler, maybe a trans cooler and finally the radiator, just one after the other. Maybe its just bugs.

 

It is not the fan. It comes on as the engine temps rise like it should. I will check the hose and clean all the cooling equipment on the front of the engine. Soon as it gets warm enough. Thanks so much for all the help. Like i said before. Keep the info flowing.