What are "Normal" Temps While towing

[dreadx]

Hello all, My explorer is a 2003 EB 4.0L with the 3.55 gears. It does have a class 3 hitch and trailer brakes ect. I bought a new travel trailer that’s around 3900 Lbs. I’m using ODBII to monitor temps and I am concerned about how hot the engine and trans are getting.

I monitored temps without the trailer first then with the trailer. Without the trailer the trans temp was running 169F - 176F and the engine temp was around 200F - 220F. While towing the trailer on the long high speed stretches the engine temp was fine but the trans temp climbed as high as 223F. Then for the stop and go portion of the trip the trans temp stayed normal but the engine temp would shoot up every time I accelerated from a red light. It would then cool back down while moving and while stopped then would go back up when I had to accelerate again. The engine temp would get up to around 240. The temp gauge would read just a hair over the 3/4 mark.

On a side note I am in FL and it was very hot, Around 94 degrees. Are there things I can do to cool the car down or am I stuck? Sorry for the long post but I can’t seem to find definitive info on what a safe temp is. ( I did check coolant level and it is full )

 

[Ronin8002]

Trans temps sound about right. Just be prepared to drop the pan and change the fluid and filter more frequently. It may help to modify the cold start valve in the transmission to allow full transmission cooler flow at all times; you can do this next time you drop the pan. Won't be an issue for you in Florida:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=338261&highlight=fluid

Also see this thread...that deep transmission pan will help lower your trans temps a good amount, especially if you combine it with the cold start valve mod:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318184&highlight=fluid

 

[Sedition]

Can you hear your fan kick in and out when it needs to, at about 190*F plus? Does the engine temp gauge on the dash start to climb? Watch out for it. If the temp gauge on the dash does climb, I think from memory it starts to climb at about 220*F, and you continue operating you could easily burn your engine oil. If the temp gauge goes up past the "H" you will blow a head gasket in no time.

I have found that the thermostat in the SOHC engines has a bottom "plug section" that blocks antifreeze from flowing back through the engine and diverts it directly to the radiator. The bottom "plug section" tends to fail and fall apart from the rest of the thermostat causing overheating, but you don't tend to notice it until you need it to cool the engine the most.

If you need to cool the engine in a situation where you can not safely pull over you can always turn the internal heater up to max heat with max fan, this will buy you some time.

I sure would like to monitor my Tranny temps while I run on the sand. There is no way to measure tranny temp, even with an OBD2 scanner on my 2nd Gen, unless I install a temp gauge. Unfortunatly, I have burned my tranny fluid in the past and need to install a bigger cooler, perhaps with some electric fans attached.

I Probably don't have to tell you this but I know from previous experience that the SOHC V6 and 5R55e Tranny really hate running hot so watch out for it is all I'm saying.

 

[Sedition]

Failure pending.

This is the bottom "Plug Section" off the bottom of the thermostat that I was talking about in my previous post. This one was found floating around in my thermostat housing.

When hot this was causing half of my hot coolant to flow through my radiator and half of it back through the engine, via the top of the water pump. It's kind of rough looking because it has been in the bottom of my toolbox for a while.