Engine temps

[92CTDin916]

For those of you that tow alot... I tow a 18ft4000lb fishing boat up and over the Sierra's 3times a month.. was wondering what kind of engine temps you were all seeing pulling long grades with a load? my truck empty runs at 1/4 on the gauge all day.. while towing say in 3rd gear up a 8% grade for a few miles it will reach 3/4 on the gauge, 20psiboost and 11-1200degrees on the pyro at around 55mph..It' ever overheated.. but I'm sure if I put my foot into it enough it would.... any thoughts? anybody found a good heavy duty fan clutch?

Fyi the radiator is new..fan clutch is locking up, t-stat operation is normal. coolant is a 70/30 mix of distilled water and glycol + red line water wetter..

[dpuckett]

I'd go 50/50 on the coolant.

Your experiences sound about right, esp with an auto.

Dan

[Mark Nixon]

I've towed the Grapevine and that climb about tears me up every time I head south on I-5 with a heavy haul.
I found out the hard way that I had a bad fan clutch last fall, got it hot going up, pulled out to cool down and it wouldn't, THEN I realized the fan freewheeled when I revved it.
The only other choice is to shut 'er down and wait a half hour, fire back up and pull 'til 3/4 guage again and shut off.
Until I managed to get a new fan clutch, it was a miserable, miserable time if I had to climb in CA.
Surprising how FEW parts stores actually have a fan clutch for a '97 Ram with a diesel.
Even more surprising, is how few shops out there have the first clue on removing them!

At least with electrics you have fairly relible air flow at all times and you can speed up the wait time some.

Mark.

[TTipswprd]

my truck always goes to 3/4 gauge for temp when i first start driving in the morning. it will then come down to normal like the t-stat opens all of the sudden. it wont get that hot for the rest of the day untill i first start out for 1st time driving. is that normal?