Overheating PX Ranger

[Macca_75]

So it's along story here, but for the past few years whenever I have the van fully loaded and tow for a full day in hot weather the car overheats to the point of shutting itself down.

Symptoms are basically the temp gauge on the dash goes from just over half (where it normally runs) to red in about 5 seconds and then I lose power.

I know it a combination of things. I have a Bullbar with Winch and LED bar across the front (restricting air flow), under body protection and a long range tank (once again reduced air flow) and fully loaded it's pushing 6.4T GCM (yes I have the Lovells upgraded GCM). The

Anyway, previously I thought it may have been the iDrive (I forgot to disable it when we pushed up central SA). A subsequent drive up the NSW coast with it turned off saw me lose power again.

After a little bit of a Google search on a few Ranger forums I found others had the same issue with similar circumstances (fully loaded, hot day, etc). They ALL ended up changing the viscous hub and the issues went away (after many other things - this seemed to be the golden bullet). Always at around the 100K mark as well.

So I booked my car In to have this replaced, but in the week between my making the booking and dropping the car off I split the Intercooler hose (talk about bad timing). So I drop the car straight into Ford on the way to work that morning. They replaced the hose under an extended part warranty (There is a known part specific recall and it was going to be done on the next service anyway) and replaced the Viscous hub while it was there.

I am yet to tow (Wednesday is the big test) but the car temp gauge now sits 1/8 under where it always did previously so that's a good sign.....

I never had TorquePro running while the issue occurred - but will be running it the entire trip in a few days.

Will report back in a few days.

 

[Drover]

I have with my Colorado and other vehicles that if its a damn hot day or if Im really working the engine I just slip into manual and keep the revs at the sweet spot, 2300 rpm on mine, and the temps stay down otherwise the auto will cook the engine coolant.....a dodgy viscous though is always a big problem.......keeping the tranny oil below 100deg keeps the eng temp good......adding an electric fan does work well when lights, winch and stuff restrict air flow but still using manual when working the engine combined with fan really keeps things cool......a recent experiment with a mates ute with winch, light and stuff blocking the flow compared to mine with just the factory bull bar showed a 10 deg difference with us towing in auto, with his extra fan running it kept it down a bit but it was very hot and going manual kept the temps below 100 deg though mine was still running cooler by about 5 deg..........thing is to throw to manual before the temps start to climb it is then easier to maintain than trying to pull it down........ideal to keep tranny temp at or below 100 deg, long runniing over 106 is not good plus it just gets the engine too hot.
Pity rangers don't display tranny temp on dash.

 

[JT76]

I put a scangauge 2 in to monitor temps, never had an issue but nice to know what is going on. Ranger will show engine and tranny temps through the scangauge (need to put a code in to read tranny temps). Would also recommend tranny cooler and bypass the heat exchanger. Our trans sat on 100 not towing and around 106 towing 2 t expanda. New van closer to 3 t and with tranny cooler it’s 90 not towing and 92 to 96 towing.

Split intercooler hose is common, tape and cable ties easy fix but new hose is better then orig. ours split at around 60k new hose looks better.

I’ve yet to see engine temp rise, scangauge shows it sitting around 88-92 and when ever it hits the higher side you see it drop down soon after even while still under load so it’s like the thermostat opens more when it inches up into the low 90s. Same temps towing or not. Gauge on dash is next to useless as by the time you notice it's hot then it’s probably real hot.

 

[Macca_75]

Yeah - I'll have TorquePro running. It has both Trans and radiator temp, but as they are connected it's always the same reading. I have no reference of what it read when the engine shut itself down but have to start somewhere I guess.

Really trying to get it sorted before we head off around Aus. I'm no mechanic and hate the throught of being stranded up north with the family.

 

[Drover]

Since you are dragging a lot of weight around for these vehicles, suspension upgrades are well and good but no one ever upgrades the engine, when I have had the max weights for mine temps and fuel went sky high so a big extra tranny cooler by-passing the radiator cooler along with a fan would be my base line for the it, this will give a better way of keeping temp down for tranny oil and should increase capacity combined with an electric fan for the unit, fitment of a trans oil temp gauge running from the inlet to cooler would give a precise reading, while Torque Pro is a good app, use it myself, some codes need to be added or adjusted for some vehicles..........I would also look at putting a vent in the bonnet to clear engine bay air but this takes a bit of science as you need to find the spot with the low pressure area so it will vent well whilst driving, usually found by sticking some ribbon to the bonnet in various positions to see the air flow.......you might also try removing the plastic engine cover, they usually have insulation under them for sound proofing, all they do is keep the heat in, mainly to look pretty and lowers noise, I have always removed mine and while I never did temp checks, the engine is cleaner and I can see the injectors for early signs of black death occuring but removal must help to get the heat away and of course using the tranny in manual will always help keep temps down when changes are done at the right time, auto's tend to change late causing things to get hot.