heating up while towing?

[bovine]

okay i just got me a boat its a decent sized boat 20' pontoon boat trailer and 40hp motor well i was towing it for the first time today for any distance to test it and see what it would do with my 1994 ford explorer 4x4 and it normaly sits right about the n on the normal gauge but when i was towing coming out of town about probably 25 miles or so it got up to the L by the time i got home which worried me a little mostly because i want to go on longer trips later like around 100-120 miles or so with it and if it did that after 25 then it would not be able to go that far my best guess is that the boat loaded weights in the neighborhood of 3000-35000 lbs also i have the 3.73 axle and 235/75/15 tires on my explorer other then that it is stock with 135,000 on it i also did replace the thermostat in it about 8 months ago with a 180 degree and at the same time did a radiator flush on it. any ideas as to what could cause that? thanks now on to pictures

 

[Bobmbx]

You need to find out how much your tow weighs. You're limited to about 3500 pounds total towed weight, and by looking at your photo's, it looks like you may have exceeded the tongue load already.

 

[thebrakeman]

Wow! Look at the rear-end squat! You'll be blinding oncoming drivers if you tow at night. You probably do not have a HD towing package, which explains your lack of cooling capacity. Like previous post said, at best you have 3500 lbs towing capacity, and that boat/trailer leaves you with no capacity for cargo/passengers in the Explorer.

Time for a new tow vehicle with at least 5000 lbs towing capacity.

 

[Maniak]

I'm assuming you have an automatic trans in there.. If so. you NEED a aux transmission cooler. The A4ld isn't a heavy duty trans and heat kills them. In stock form, the only thing trying to cool the trans fluid is the coolant in the radiator which is 190F+ at the top/pass side and 160F or so at the bottom/driver side..

Also, did you change/upgrade your fan clutch? Being a 1994 that fan clutch has been on there a while. Over time they get weak. In the hotter climates I like the hayden Severe duty fan clutch. It is loud, it does fuel mileage some but it really pulls the air across the radiator. When my fan clutch starts to go bad the first thing I notice is temperatures creeping up when I'm accelerating (like onto a freeway)..

One other thing.. I'd add an external trans filter (there are a few threads on that on here) which will give you another 1 qt of fluid capacity, plus what you add with the aux trans cooler. That is all in addition to the extra filtration you will get since the factory trans filter (in the pan) is really no more than a screen.

~Mark

 

[bovine]

I'm assuming you have an automatic trans in there..
~Mark

you would be correct i do have the auto and was looking at getting the larger stacked plate design cooler one for trans and one for engine oil with temp sensors on both but my thought was if i go with a bigger cooler can i disconnect the radiator since it is really not doing much to cool it and only heating up antifreeze more? also thought about adding a bottle of like water wetter or similar that is supposed to keep engine 20 degrees cooler any experience with those?

 

[Maniak]

The heat exchanger (trans cooler in the radiator) does 2 things. First is raise trans temp some so it isn't over cooled.. (probably not an issue in Florida). 2nd, It cools the trans fluid. The fluid coming out of the trans is at its hottest when it comes out. It can be pretty hot.. IIRC well over 200F. It is run through the left side (cooler side) of the radiator which should be cooling the trans fluid down to the 160F range (maybe hotter, I never measured the trans fluid, only the coolant on that side)..

If you add a Trans cooler after that it will cool the fluid down even more. Get as big of one as you can fit.. I like the Tru Cool coolers. I'm using one of their really big ones on my tow rig (45gvwr IIRC) but that won't fit in a 1st gen X. You could put the aux cooler before the heat exchanger if you were worried about over cooling BUT I prefer having cooler fluid in the pan if possible. I am also in a hot climate (today is 110F) so I don't worry much about over cooling. Also, in general. the liquid to liquid heat exchange is more efficient than air/liquid (aux cooler).. That means you need more air/liquid (bigger) cooling area to equal the same cooling capacity with a liquid/liquid cooling system.

As for Water Wetter, I've used water wetter BUT I only use it to help when I'm running water only. You can't use coolant in a motorcycle on the track, water only. Water Wetter changes the PH of the water to help it transfer heat better. You do that because anti-freeze also raises the boiling point some BUT pure water transfers heat better than anti-freeze anyway. In reality, the pressure increase in the cooling system is what increases the boiling point. It is 3F per PSI so with a 16psi cap you have a boiling point of water of 260F. Of course, altitude plays a role in this too..

~Mark

 

[bovine]

well i did and i didn't want to but i had to trade so i am now the proud owner of a 1988 ford f350 regular cab dually 300 inline 6 5 speed stick 2wd needs a little work its out of time needs a clutch adjustment and its not the prettiest pulls a little to the right but its a mans truck so its okay i don't care. will post pictures tomorrow if yall are interested.

 

[bovine]

pictures

here are the pictures of my new truck if yall are intrested