Temperature Rising

[Blitz Kreig]

Ok so here is the deal. I replaced my water pump and all associated hoses about 4 months ago. Radiator is still stock. About 2 months ago I put a superchip chip in it. It has run fine until now. What happens is that the temp. starts rising. It doesn't overheat but the temp climbs all the way up to the upper limits of the guage. Also when I am on the highway it feels like I am pushing a brick wall. Almost like it is struggling to maintain the speed. These problems only happen when the truck is running at a steady rpm. When you get on it the truck feels fine(still to slow but got to get her running right before I mod anymore) The temp will go down if you are sitting still at a light and have the heat on full blast Just wondering if anyone out there could help me out on this. I have no problems working on it myself but I couldn't find anything when I looked and I am not going to pay the dipSh@ts at the local dealer $65 just to plug it into their machine and say oh here's your problem and it will be $$$$ to fix. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[psmith]

You might want to check your fan clutch. On my L, at idle you can feel the fan engage and pull air past the radiator. If you turn the fan with the engine stopped, you can feel moderate resistance. Maybe at higher speeds, the fan clutch is not coming on and pulling air past the radiator. You should also look inside your radiator and see if there are any deposits inside. There should be a lot if you are having cooling problems. You might have to drain some coolant out so that you can see the tubes.

 

[Ghost]

Could it be your thermostat going bad and not opening all the way?

Maybee your chip is not controlling the timing right and that's why at lower RPMs it feels like you don't have as much power as you should. I think if your timing is advanced too far that builds heat. I don't know for sure ...just a thought.

 

[ezernut9mm]

how about your exhaust? can't clogged cats cause something like this or am i way off base here?

 

[Abby Normal]

Where Y'at Blitz, The fan clutch & the thremastat sound good but if it cools down when you idle, it sounds like somethings putting a load on the engine when you're driving. Check your brakes to make sure they're not binding. A good friend of mine with a Big Bronco burned his rotors up when a piston got stuck in the caliper. The whole time he was driving it it was running hot & he couldn't find out why till the brakes started smoking in the mountains.
Good luck wit it.

 

[kevinlawson82]

Hey Blitz. When your driving on the highway are your rpm's where they should be compared to your speed? Does the engine sound like its struggling too, or just feel like its struggling at highway speeds? It couldn't be the fan or thermostat because it would continue to heat up at a stop light rather than cool down. I would go with Ezernuts suggestion and check the cats. If they get clogged and start to heat up wouldnt the EGR serve to make the problem worse by heating up the engine once the air pump really got spinning?(such as at highways speeds) I dont know very much about the EGR system on our trucks at all, but it could be clogged cats causing the EGR to overheat the engine. Heck it could be an EGR problem or an air pump problem too. Let us know what happens Blitz!

 

[Blitz Kreig]

Thanks all, I am in the need for new brakes all the way around. But I was thinking it was the cats as well. My truck has 75K on it and has been a southern car so no rust or deposits from snow and stuff. I have a borla SS exhaust on it that has been on it since it was about 6 months old. I have noticed the exhaust smell is alot more noticable when outside the truck. I bent down to pick something up off the ground to load into the truck from the passenger side and was nearly knocked over. Is there anyway to know for sure if your cats are clogged? Also just for my own knowledge how hard is it to replace the rotors and pads on the front in our trucks. I found some awesome cryogenically treated slotted and drilled rotors for it and can't wait to put them on and don't want to pay the dealer.

 

[Ghost]

I just thought of something.... it could be your tourqe converter not locking up and when your at freeway speeds your rpms will be higher than normal and your truck will feel like it's struggling. I also don't think it is one of your front brakes messing up because if it were your truck would be pulling really hard one way or the other......it could be the rear though but I dought it.

 

[Blitz Kreig]

Hmmmmmmm.... Torque convertor huh? Hadn't thought about that but would make perfect sense. What other things are tell tale signs of your convertor going south????? I get a very harsh 2nd. By harsh I mean that no matter whether I am getting on it or not it is a noticable kick in the pants when it changes to second. Thing is though that it has done this ever since I have had it which was back at 50K. Well what do you guys think???

 

[Lightning Struck]

Easiest way to tell if it's the converter not locking up(other than the apparent non lock), is to hold your throttle foot steady at road speeds, and stab the brakes.. If the RPM DOESN"T go up, then the converters not locked...Hitting the brakes causes the converter to unlock.. Other signs of a bad converter is a vibration and such..

 

[Ghost]

I don't think you have to actually "stab" the brakes while holding your speed......I've always just barely pushed on the brake pedal just enough to turn the brake lights on when on the road and that has always worked for me

 

[Kurt]

Have you tried to remove the chip and see if it still happens.

 

[MO351]

You might try and reset the computer by disconnecting the battery a while. Maybe the computer thru a code in the past or something. I don't know. Wouldn't hurt to try it.

 

[kevinlawson82]

If your truck is shifting to hard its either because of a trouble code in the computer, or its your chip. Either way I think thats a separate problem from the overheating. Your overheating engine could make it worse though. If you drive with the torque convertor unlocked there is no reason for it to overheat the truck unless it was seriously damaged and putting load on the motor. If that were the case it would make some bad noises and you would know it. Sounds like youve got alot of maintenance and repair bills coming up . But it sounds like an excuse for a Bassani cat pipe and some Level 10 parts to me

 

[George G.]

Can you guys go over the converter not locking up check again. I've been having a similar prob with what feels like a vibration. I'll be doing like 60mph, then can step on the gas and I feel like something is holding me back at the same time feel a slight jerky feel as if its trying to accellerate. Some one mentioned the T/C to me also. I'm not sure I understand what to look for when I cruise and then press the brake. Why would the RPM's increase? and by how much? Thanks.

 

[Lightning Struck]

It increases because the mechanical lock between the engine and tranny is unlocked..This lets the converter slip, usually at 60MPH it'll raise 200-300 RPM..

 

[Blitz Kreig]

Ok so I am cruising down the highway last night and I did what you said about keeping a constant speed and hitting the brakes. Well I did it like 4-5 times and the rpms only went up like 2-3 times. the other times it didn't go up at all. Is there a sensor or something that could possibly cause this? What about the rear end. I am feeling some sort of hesitation and it doesn't feel like it's from the engine side. Also what's it take to install a Level 10? Tools time etc....

 

[kevinlawson82]

Well I did it like 4-5 times and the rpms only went up like 2-3 times. the other times it didn't go up at all.

Sounds like pretty normal torque convertor operation to me. The couple times the revs didnt go up was probably just because you didnt give the brakes enough of a push to unlock the clutch.

I am feeling some sort of hesitation and it doesn't feel like it's from the engine side.

What happens at highway speeds when you let of the throttle and coast? Does the truck lose momentum really quickly? What would happen if you put the truck in Nuetral at highway speeds? If the truck slows down too quickly in Nuetral, then the problem is deffinately in the drive line some where.
Also...What happens when you just rev the engine in park? does it get up to redline easily. When you let off the throttle how quickly do the revs drop? Any backfiring?

Like I said earlier I dont think you really have any horrible tranny probs. I think your overheating engine heated your tranny up which tripped the trouble code causing it to shift like you described. Just reset the computer and see what that does for the tranny.

 

[WUTNOW95]

why does everyone always think of the most expensive thing that can happen is whats wrong...how hard is it to check a couple little things yourself and see if thats it , instead of just taking it in right away....obviouslly you can check you radiator by pullin off the cap and drain so coolant out...if you dont see much their it probly isnt the cause for the overheat...i figure you also did a thermostat when you did the cooling system....if you decided to buy a quality 1.99 kragen thermostat...why dont you just pop out the thermostat all together and put the housing back on and see if your problem is solved..if it runs cool ,theri you go...ive had people put these things in new and they didnt work....the thermostat from ford should only be 10 bucks....just work your way down...look for the obvious stuff...it will at least mabye same you some cash for more mods

 

[Chris Wilson]

I've seen new thermostats be bad as well. The only thermostats you'll get from Ford are 192 degrees if I'm not mistaken. I switched to the 180 at the recommendation of several people here on the board. It runs a bit cooler now and perhaps a bit richer which I expected. I'm not really sure what's going on with your truck, but to answer your question about the brakes. They really aren't that bad to change. I did mine a while back and repacked the bearings. I noticed that the bearings on my truck have the plastic cages on them. I'm not a big fan of them, but the bearings looked fine so I cleaned them up and repacked them. You'll need a couple of new grease seals most likely. They are easy to booger up taking them out. If you don't have a manual on your truck it wouldn't be a bad idea to get one. It's explained pretty thoroughly in there. The grease seals are a couple of bucks. I use a white grease called Lubri plate. I don't know if you can get it everywhere, but it seems pretty common around here. I've been using it for years and the stuff works great. If your rotors have been cut already I recommend going ahead and replacing them. With your mileage I'd expect they have. Ford rotors are notorious for warping. The thinner they get the quicker they warp. Our trucks are heavy and need all the help they can get. You can really heat the rotors up trying to stop these beasts. If you get into it and have any specific questions just get on here and we'll help you out. Let us know what you find out on your truck. I'd be interested to know what it is.

Chris