Driving your trucks in 115 degree weather.

[cawkazn]

I live in the southern california desert. In the summer time it can be regularly over 110 degrees. Cars are not designed to be zipping down the highway at 75 mph with the ac on when its 115 outside (was 115 last weekend)

every summer I always have some kind of car problem

I replaced my entire cooling system on my explorer, its still overheating.

I also have a ranger that just had some kind of leak somewhere and found coolant all over the floor, just got home now and barely made it home.


So it seems to me that just putting in a brand new stock cooling system is not good enough.

What type of extra modifications can I make to my trucks so they can handle the extreme heat every summer? I am really getting frustrated that stuff keeps breaking and brand new everything doesnt solve the problem either. And I can tell you that working on my cars on my 1 day off in 110 degrees is not fun!

 

[Tbars4]

...My trucks go from the beach, mountains and to the desert regular and I don't do anything special to them..

...I'm currently in the Coachella Valley where I've been for the last 2 weeks and it's been 110-117* with 60-70% humidity...

..During this time I have had 2 days I was driving over 550 miles per day in my Ranger with over 200,000 miles on it...

..If you are going to daily drive in the desert of the Southwest you come to learn to keep up on your maintenance and anything that is made of plastic or rubber will fail when you least expect it..

..As for your Explorer cooling system it is usually the one item you did not change thinking it was good or you replaced with a part from a place like autozone and it was a cr*p part before you put it in new...

..Your Ranger sounds like it has a heater core that went bad..If your Ranger is pre 95 it's a quick swap...If it's after 95 then you will be pulling the dash apart if this is the problem...

...IMO, Cooling system failure in the Southwest is usually due to lack of maintenance or after having a part in the system fail and not going through the system flush and check before refilling it with coolant..

..Oh yea...I don't know what I would do without my AAA premium towing service and my other RBV to pick up the slack when I do have a failure...:biggthump

 

[Anime]

Just replacing an entire cooling system doesn't mean much. You can replace everything, but if you use cheap parts, it'll give poor performance. Cheap water pumps and thermostats especially so.

You also need to use the correct parts for the application. There are different fan clutches and fans with different numbers of blades that flow more/less air and put more/less load on the engine. You need to get the right parts for YOUR vehicle.

Some people have had good luck using 180 degree thermostats in warmer climates, and using a heavy duty/severe duty fan clutch with the 10/11 blade fans.

You also want to be using good coolant. Zerex G-05 or Zerex Original Green seem to work the best for the 91-94 4.0L. Using other coolants like Prestone or Dex-cool seem to compromise the gaskets and thermostat.

 

[cawkazn]

well maybe thats my problem...all the parts I have used were from autozone.

 

[Tbars4]

...Anything Duralast just say...

..Out here I do use AZ to purchase top quality, name brand only, parts at a good price...If they don't have the quality part I'm looking for I'm off to another parts house in a flash...

...EF is a great research Forum for these items as so many others have gone thru and tested any kind of item you can think of and already have posted their good and bad results..

..BTW...You never said what year your Ranger is or what town you are near...Having your location under your name could let others in your area better help you in your searches...

 

[cawkazn]

thanks in in san bernardino redlands area, 2002 ranger!

 

[Tbars4]

..There is a writeup here somewhere on a "Second Gen heater core" fix...I haven't seen it in a while but it sounds like you are going to need the info as it should be the same replacement procedure for your Ranger heater core..

..Good luck on this and plan on taking a day or 2 with this heat...