Jump to content

Over Heating

Larry Rinehart
 Share

Recommended Posts

Larry Rinehart Enthusiast

Larry Rinehart

Posted
Posted

My 2003 Sierra HD crew cab pickup overheats when I pull my toy hauler, especially in hilly terrain. I bought the truck new, have take care of it, and it only has 80,000 miles on the odometer. I pull a small toy hauler with motorcycle in the back. It overheats on hills and when going slow in traffic. And, the AC only works well when I’m traveling at highway speeds. The engine is solid, always changed oil at 3k and it never uses a drop of oil. My question is: can I do anything to fix the overheating problem, bigger radiator, etc? I’ve had the current radiator flushed and refilled accordin

hiking_mike Enthusiast

hiking_mike

Posted
Posted

I have a pair 07 2500's. I started noticing the transmissions would get close to the max of what I felt confortable with.

We opened up the 'stack" or I mean We removed the radiator. What I first noticed is that the holes in the various devices as air passes through get smaller and smaller. The radiator is last, and has smallest, AC condnsor is largest.

So bugs and debris wil pass through condensor, intercooler, then in to the radiator, where they get stuck and block air flow.

Removing the radiator on both trucks, i noticed a lot of dead bugs, road grime, and debris.  So using a lot  degreasor and water hose, it took some effort to clean the raditor. I also u sed a power washer on low pressure making sure not to do a "sweeping action" in order to keep from messing up the fins.

Then spraying what was left in the truck, the intercooler and condensor from back to frount, this cleand the intercooler and condensor, and transmission cooler.

This made a HUGE difference in transmission and engine temps. I took a 7,000 camper all the way to Key West in July -August time frame.

I went from having to slow down to about 60 and lots of stops to allow wverything to cool off to having no issues at all.

  • Like 1
hiking_mike Enthusiast

hiking_mike

Posted
Posted

Make sure your transmission is in Tow Mode, I noticed in heavy traffic, and one time I forgot to activate and was suprssed how hot the transmission got so quickly. I have had to repalce the little push button that goes on the shift lever, as the wire shorted out.

Removing the radiator was not too difficult. kind of a tight fit getting out. 

newdude Senior Enthusiast

newdude

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Larry Rinehart said:

My 2003 Sierra HD crew cab pickup overheats when I pull my toy hauler, especially in hilly terrain. I bought the truck new, have take care of it, and it only has 80,000 miles on the odometer. I pull a small toy hauler with motorcycle in the back. It overheats on hills and when going slow in traffic. And, the AC only works well when I’m traveling at highway speeds. The engine is solid, always changed oil at 3k and it never uses a drop of oil. My question is: can I do anything to fix the overheating problem, bigger radiator, etc? I’ve had the current radiator flushed and refilled accordin

 

 

Fan clutch bad?  I seem to recall a string of these in the 01-07 range that had overheat issues due to bad fan clutches.  If it can't engage and ramp up the fan speed, its not going to pull in extra air across the radiator in lower speed driving.  

Edited by newdude
  • Like 1
Larry Rinehart Enthusiast

Larry Rinehart

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the helpful replies. I cleaned the bugs from the radiator today, only to find there are four radiators of varying size. The biggest and closest to the fan is the engine coolant, directly in front of it, and slightly smaller, is what I assume to be the transmission radiator. In front if that and much smaller is a radiator of unknown purpose. Off to the side and even smaller is the power steering radiator. Interesting. I will take the truck to the shop to have the fan clutch checked. And yes, I always tow in tow mode. Again, thank you all for the help. Larry Rinehart

vucelick Enthusiast

vucelick

Posted
Posted (edited)

In addition to above posts check thermostat, and make sure the water pump is functioning properly.  Have you always run dexcool antifreeze?  I remember initially dexcool was not comptible with other coolants, leading to corrosion and seal issues.

Edited by vucelick
newdude Senior Enthusiast

newdude

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, Larry Rinehart said:

Thanks for the helpful replies. I cleaned the bugs from the radiator today, only to find there are four radiators of varying size. The biggest and closest to the fan is the engine coolant, directly in front of it, and slightly smaller, is what I assume to be the transmission radiator. In front if that and much smaller is a radiator of unknown purpose. Off to the side and even smaller is the power steering radiator. Interesting. I will take the truck to the shop to have the fan clutch checked. And yes, I always tow in tow mode. Again, thank you all for the help. Larry Rinehart

 

 

Looking at the grille of the truck, the vertical mounted one on the driver's side is power steering, the rectangle in the middle on that "A" brace is transmission, behind that is the AC condenser and then last is the radiator.  

hiking_mike Enthusiast

hiking_mike

Posted
Posted

If you watch your transmission temp guage, I believe about 185 you should begin to hear the fan clutch engage until the temp drops. Forgive me, since I removed the radiator and cleaned, I dont have the issues I used to and forgot the temps it used to kick in.

You may hear the fan clutch on a cool damp morning for a few minutes or so. 

As for the cooling "stack" its nickname is called stack sometimes due to all the cooling devices mounted in succession. 

It the "radiator looking thing" is your intercooler. This cools the turbo charged airflow before it goes into intake of the engine. .

The only way to really clan the radiator is to remove it. You are not going to really blow water from back towards the  front very well at all.

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Atlas
      Wow I'm in a pickle. (Broke down truck) and a story.

      By Atlas · Posted

      Any joy with this truck seems to be short-lived.   The CEL for P0172 ("bank 1" too rich) is now "intermittent".   I'm not sure where to check, or re-check, and my energy to keep chasing problems with junk is wearing thin. The P0172 seems to set as I'm coming to a stop, completely off the throttle, when fully warm. At least, that's what it's done the 3? times it's set.   Everything appears normal on the scanner EXCEPT long term fuel trim. There's only one bank on this vehicle because it's an OBD 1.5 with only one upstream O2 sensor. At idle, it's around -16.4% and will dip to -18% occasionally at idle or off-throttle. LTFT approaches 0 when throttle is held at 2500rpm. Short term appears normal, much closer to zero all the time. The LTFT tells me the engine is running rich at idle but compensating at higher load. But, why?   The EVAP purge valve doesn't appear to be leaking/sucking fuel vapor continuously. Is it sticking just as I come to a stop and the engine is choking on fuel vapor and sets the P0172? But that doesn't explain the persistently negative LTFT. Disconnecting the purge valve doesn't seem to make any difference.   I suppose that leaves another dang issue with the fuel injector. A leaking fuel pressure regulator, a new leak in the spider, or a leaking fuel injector/poppet valve I didn't see, or a small crack in one of the spider legs.   The vacuum line leading to the fuel pressure regulator doesn't have raw fuel in it. It doesn't even smell like fuel when it's pulled off, not until you suck air through it, then you can tell it leads to a fuel component. I'd consider that normal? Nothing is signaling this is a FPR issue from the outside, at least.   The oil smells like fuel but it's not building volume. I've noticed most oil in most engines smells like fuel to some degree so it's hard to say if the smell is an issue or not. Or if the engine just still smells like fuel because the crankcase was full of it a few hundred miles ago. But it's been changed twice since that original issue of the leaking fuel line dumping fuel into the intake.   Patience is running very thin. Every win seems to be accompanied by two steps backwards, or another issue that leads to removing at least the top half of the intake manifold. Enough! LOL
    • Chuck FB
      Tire pressure for 37s

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      First off you mentioned "Toyo Says" and then gave the pressures 45/50, was this some person at the tire shop that pulled those numbers out of his head ?   Now of course I can't know your exact axle weights front and rear, however I have much the same pickup as yourself other than not knowing your starting weight as per the pounds the truck rolled out of the factory at due to the options yours did or didn't come with or what you have added beyond the extra tire weight. The correct way to know 100% where a person is at is by weighing each axle with the typical weight the vehicle is driven with and that means taking into account passengers and making sure you figure in a full tank of fuel and a little grace for whatever you may put in the bed "groceries" !    I am looking at and not that it really matters as all the tire companies use the same charts anyway, but I am looking at the comprehensive Toyo tire chart in the section that your tire falls under and I know it sounds confusing but your tire is not an LT metric tire like your factory tire but instead because its a standard inch measured tire its under a different category called an LT floatation series tire. That makes a difference as LT metric tires they don't want to see run below 35 psi at highway speed where as with the LT floatation series it can be run down to 25 psi on the highway as long as the weight on the said size of tire is agreeable with or less than that minimum 25 psi. It blows many people away that how is this physically possible, an empty truck for one thing and larger tires with the same size wheel diameter have a lot more air volume so they can carry the same weight as the smaller tire with less air pressure.    So my truck, I have the stock 275/65R20 wheels and tires and I have a bit of weight in the box with a bak flip cover and a rubber bed mat and some tools and spare gas. The front of my gas truck weighs a bit more than some trucks of the similar spec due to double batteries and alternators. However with full fuel and just me in the truck I am weighted such that I can run 40 front and 35 rear and so that is what I have done since day one.    If I base your truck at or slightly below the weight of my truck, in theory with your tires going by the tire chart you might be right around a minimum of 30 pounds front and 25 pounds rear. Of course that would hit pretty much minimum cold inflation pressure one could run with that tire size and a near empty truck. If you have access to an accurate weigh scale to do individual front and rear axle weights I would suggest you do that and make sure your topped up with fuel and whatever else in the truck before you weigh it and then you will have a great starting point to work off of and figure out what your bare minimum pressures are you can safely run. If you do much in the way of hot weather high speed driving, bumping up a bit for a safety margin is never a bad idea but just depends on what type of driving you do. I will include the Toyo chart and the floatation series sizes start on page 31. Without a doubt at these pressures I am speculating at minimum wise for your truck, it would most certainly ride very different then it did when you were using 55 lb front and rear.     https://www.toyotires.com/media/pxcjubjs/application_of_load_inflation_tables_20200723.pdf
    • Snowcamo
      Possible lifter tick after DOD delete

      By Snowcamo · Posted

      Take an automotive stethoscope to the vacuum pump. Iirc those tick as well. 
    • rdonarski
      Towing In Loose Gravel

      By rdonarski · Posted

      This landing is worse than most. Patchy blacktop with washouts, soft gravel/sand at bottom that washes out with every heavy rain. I tell everyone to put it in 4WD. A lot of them think they can pull out their trailer in 2WD. They end up digging a hole and then putting it in 4WD.  The lake is a pristine lake and has a lot of money on it. There are several wake boats and lot of large tritoons. The people with the money don't want it improved because they don't want more traffic.    Boat Landing 1.jfif Boat Landing 2.jfif Boat Landing 3.jfif
    • PBNB
      Tire pressure for 37s

      By PBNB · Posted

      How wide are your rims?   Toyo specs 8.5-10.0-11.0 inches. My thought would be rim might be pulling the tire inwards creating a center that is more pronounced.    I also noticed that the spec sheet says max 65psi. So you could be right lowering the pressure to ~40 psi. 

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...