Overheating with plow on truck

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98DDiesel

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Ok guys and gals. My 90 truck sits at 240 or so when driving down the road with my plow on. I have the plow low as possible
It stoll blocks some of the rad. I have dual aftermarket fans pushing air on the front and factory fan pulling by the motor
What else can I do to get it cooler? Thought about taking the t-stat out for the winter but I like my cabin heat. What do you guys suggest?
 

poncho62

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Taking the thermostat out likely wont make any difference. I had a Ford years ago that did that, had to angle the plow and then it didnt help much.
 

great white

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Your fan clutch is not pulling enough.

Have a look down a the bimetallic spring in the middle of the clutch. If it is "caked" with dirt and grease, you need to get it clean down to metal. The spring senses the rad temperature. If it's coated with grease/dirt, it will not activate the engine driven clutch fan.

If that is still not enough, your clutch may be dead. They leak over time and go bad. If the spring is coated with crud, that's likely to be the silicone fluid leaking past the seal.

If the clutch is good, you should hear it "roar" when you first start the truck in the cold. As you drive down the road (several hundred feet is enough) the roar should go away. If it doesn't "roar" on first start, it's likely gone.

If everything checks out, there is a modification you can do to the spring to make it engage at a lower temperature. It's actually an old trick most gearheads have know about since clutch fans came out: In a nutshell, you re-bend and lengthen the spring. It's not for the faint of heart though: you can ruin the clutch if you mess it up.

If you're still running the 5 blade fan, it has to go. It works fine for regular driving, but if towing (or blocking the grill with a plow) it doesn't pull enough air. You need the 9 bladed steel fan from the later years or you can bolt on a 21" Duramax composite fan.

A healthy 6.5 clutch fan assembly will keep the truck cool just fine when hauling a plow. Mine does fine with a 7.5' fisher on the front, never goes above 195F. I have to put our 9,000lb trailer ont eh back and head skyward to drive it up to 210F and even then it won't go higher unless I get really stupid with the loud pedal. Maxes out at 215F foot to the floor and towing for sky...

There are other things like a higher output water pump, but you should check the clutch fan before going any deeper in to it.

Once you get the Engine driven fan working correctly, you should drop those pushers. They actually restrict flow though the rad. The clutch fan pulls up around 10,000 CFM on a 6.5 with the 9 blade. Even the best electric tops out around 3,500-4,000. Even with two 4,000 CFM electrics, you're pushing 2,000CFM less than the clutch fan can pull when it's locked up. This means they are actually hindering flow. It's hard to wrap your head around, but it's true. They're just in the way....it's even possible your electrics are preventing the clutch from locking up because the spring on the clutch never gets to sit in a heat soak condition to engage the clutch. That's a bit of speculation on my part though, I'd have to run a few tests to say for sure.

One last thing (and you probably aren't going to want to hear this): 240F is death for a 6.5

It should never get above 215F to stay healthy. 225F+ will do bad things like crack heads, scuff the #8 piston skirts and possibly pop a head gasket. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but 240F will kill it.....

*edit*

D'oh!

Just noticed you were talking about your gasser, not your diesel. All the stuff I typed about the clutch fan and spring holds true for the gasser also. Just disregard all the diesel specific info.

:)
 
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98DDiesel

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Did you try angling the plow at all?

Yes I tried it with the angle to left and right still the same thing. Maybe a few degrees difference but the gauge reads the same.

^^^
that's the only thing that keeps mine cool

I have a buddy and he angles his and it helps. Just not mine I guess :(

Taking the thermostat out likely wont make any difference. I had a Ford years ago that did that, had to angle the plow and then it didnt help much.

Dangit I would think taking it out would help some. I drive with it as low as possible without hitting the pavement. Hitting bumps will make it knick the pavement. Then I raise it up some. But on the hwy I have it like an inch and a half or so from the ground
 

1997chevydriver

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Does your truck have the small radiator in it that came with some of these trucks? Its the narrow width and narrow thickness of the radiator core. If I was you (if you don't already have one) it's swap in a full width 4core radiator and knock out the plates in the core support.

You will probably need a new fan shroud too.
 

98DDiesel

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Your fan clutch is not pulling enough.

Have a look down a the bimetallic spring in the middle of the clutch. If it is "caked" with dirt and grease, you need to get it clean down to metal. The spring senses the rad temperature. If it's coated with grease/dirt, it will not activate the engine driven clutch fan.

If that is still not enough, your clutch may be dead. They leak over time and go bad. If the spring is coated with crud, that's likely to be the silicone fluid leaking past the seal.

If the clutch is good, you should hear it "roar" when you first start the truck in the cold. As you drive down the road (several hundred feet is enough) the roar should go away. If it doesn't "roar" on first start, it's likely gone.

If everything checks out, there is a modification you can do to the spring to make it engage at a lower temperature. It's actually an old trick most gearheads have know about since clutch fans came out: In a nutshell, you re-bend and lengthen the spring. It's not for the faint of heart though: you can ruin the clutch if you mess it up.

If you're still running the 5 blade fan, it has to go. It works fine for regular driving, but if towing (or blocking the grill with a plow) it doesn't pull enough air. You need the 9 bladed steel fan from the later years or you can bolt on a 21" Duramax composite fan.

A healthy 6.5 clutch fan assembly will keep the truck cool just fine when hauling a plow. Mine does fine with a 7.5' fisher on the front, never goes above 195F. I have to put our 9,000lb trailer ont eh back and head skyward to drive it up to 210F and even then it won't go higher unless I get really stupid with the loud pedal. Maxes out at 215F foot to the floor and towing for sky...

There are other things like a higher output water pump, but you should check the clutch fan before going any deeper in to it.

Once you get the Engine driven fan working correctly, you should drop those pushers. They actually restrict flow though the rad. The clutch fan pulls up around 10,000 CFM on a 6.5 with the 9 blade. Even the best electric tops out around 3,500-4,000. Even with two 4,000 CFM electrics, you're pushing 2,000CFM less than the clutch fan can pull when it's locked up. This means they are actually hindering flow. It's hard to wrap your head around, but it's true. They're just in the way....it's even possible your electrics are preventing the clutch from locking up because the spring on the clutch never gets to sit in a heat soak condition to engage the clutch. That's a bit of speculation on my part though, I'd have to run a few tests to say for sure.

One last thing (and you probably aren't going to want to hear this): 240F is death for a 6.5

It should never get above 215F to stay healthy. 225F+ will do bad things like crack heads, scuff the #8 piston skirts and possibly pop a head gasket. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but 240F will kill it.....

*edit*

D'oh!

Just noticed you were talking about your gasser, not your diesel. All the stuff I typed about the clutch fan and spring holds true for the gasser also. Just disregard all the diesel specific info.

:)

I will check that tomorrow and see. I don't think the fan has a clutch on it. Last time I tried to move it it was stiff as heck!! But when running it sure blows some air out. Now with my 98 diesel I can grab the fan and move it a little bit and on first startup I can hear it kick on for a little bit. My 90 doesn't do that. Will have to look at it again in the morning and see. I think its just a fan not a clutch fan.

That's ok when I was reading it I said he assumed I was referring to my diesel. :)
 

98DDiesel

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Does your truck have the small radiator in it that came with some of these trucks? Its the narrow width and narrow thickness of the radiator core. If I was you (if you don't already have one) it's swap in a full width 4core radiator and knock out the plates in the core support.

You will probably need a new fan shroud too.

I don't think so. It has a new radiator in there. Probably stock replacement. I can see it sticking out the core support. Don't know what a stock one should look like. That's a good idea to get bigger radiator. That should help out better.
 

michael hurd

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Check the fan clutch as mentioned, and if the water pump hasn't been changed, I would swap in a new one.... $ 30 ish for a new pump. That alone made my truck run quite a bit colder even without changing the thermostat, not that it was running hot before hand. Probably a good idea to change the thermostat when you have the system drained anyhow.

My family has several plows on GMT 400 trucks, and they should not run warm with the plow on driving on the highway, mind you it does get pretty cold in Northern Ontario in the fall and winter.
 
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