cooling

dbednarsky · Sep 27, 2013

Hope some of you guys can help.
I live in CT so we have a mix of weather. Last weekend I picked up a plow for my 96 1500 5.9 While driving home with it attached to the front of the truck (highway at about 60mph) the temp was about 68 outside. I noticed the truck was running very hot 240 degrees or so. I figured it was an original radiator etc... w/168K on it. Today I replaced the radiator, upper and lower hoses, water outlet and thermostat. I put a 160 degree failsafe instead of the 195 in it. Is this ok to run during the winter or do I need to have the 195? any thoughts on this??? Thanks All!!

dodge dude94 · Sep 27, 2013

I am surprised you didn't throw a code for the 160. A 160 stat is way too cold for these engines, max. low temp t-stats are 180. And even then sometimes they like to throw codes. Failsafe stats also have a high rate of sticking open, and making the truck run too cold.

Pull out the 160 and put in a 180 or 195 Stant Superstat.

dbednarsky · Sep 27, 2013

so the 160 is too cold for this truck? Even with doing a lot of towing and plowing?

dodge dude94 · Sep 27, 2013

Yep. Especially in the winter. I'd put a 180 in, and if, while plowing, I was still seeing high temps, I'd start looking at the clutch fan.

And make sure you burp the system really well, otherwise it might do bad things and you won't have heat.

Johnn123 · Sep 28, 2013

Put a 195 in. No need for a 180 unless you're running a tuner which requires it. Definitely remove the 160, thats waaaaaaaay to cold!

ParrotHead FA · Sep 28, 2013

If you run the proper tune, you can seriously drop the operating temps of these engines, and get a lot of benefits, like greatly increased engine life, advanced timing for better performance, and increased engine gasket life expectancy, including the plenum gasket. Mine is tuned to lean the fuel mixture at 105 degrees, and my normal operating temp is around 135, but depending on ambient temps can go as low as 120. This keeps the engine really clean, as oil dosent readily break down at the cooler temps if you change it regularly. I can be driving offroad in mud or deep sand, or pulling stumps and hauling wood out of rough terrain on a 90+ degree day, and my truck will still not get over 148 degrees. Same thing in heavy traffic. I'm sure what a lot of these guys have said is probably true of a stock tune though. But I am a firm believer that running things super cool will increase engine life. I have 3 friends who have tuned their trucks like mine to supercool the engine, all 3 are contractors and do a lot of driving and hauling and put a lot of miles on their vehicles, and they have driven over 700,000 miles each before their engines needed any major mechanical repairs. The trucks were 2 dodges and a chevrolet. I have personally driven a couple vehicles that never ran over 140 degrees for well over 300,000 miles before I sold them, and they were still running like new and didn't use a drop of oil. IMHO getting mileage like that out of a vehicle w/o any need of mechanical repair certainly puts the cost of tuning and supercooling them into perspective.
Dave

wingnut · Sep 28, 2013

Summer, big blade in front of radiator, blocking flow at speed. Yes, it will get hot. All the air went over the blade, and the truck. The area in front of the rad at that speed would probably be a low-pressure area. As the air flows over, and under the plow, it could actually create a vacuum in the radiator area at high speeds. Simple aerodynamics.

Johnn123 · Sep 29, 2013

ParrotHead FA said:
If you run the proper tune, you can seriously drop the operating temps of these engines, and get a lot of benefits, like greatly increased engine life, advanced timing for better performance, and increased engine gasket life expectancy, including the plenum gasket. Mine is tuned to lean the fuel mixture at 105 degrees, and my normal operating temp is around 135, but depending on ambient temps can go as low as 120. This keeps the engine really clean, as oil dosent readily break down at the cooler temps if you change it regularly. I can be driving offroad in mud or deep sand, or pulling stumps and hauling wood out of rough terrain on a 90+ degree day, and my truck will still not get over 148 degrees. Same thing in heavy traffic. I'm sure what a lot of these guys have said is probably true of a stock tune though. But I am a firm believer that running things super cool will increase engine life. I have 3 friends who have tuned their trucks like mine to supercool the engine, all 3 are contractors and do a lot of driving and hauling and put a lot of miles on their vehicles, and they have driven over 700,000 miles each before their engines needed any major mechanical repairs. The trucks were 2 dodges and a chevrolet. I have personally driven a couple vehicles that never ran over 140 degrees for well over 300,000 miles before I sold them, and they were still running like new and didn't use a drop of oil. IMHO getting mileage like that out of a vehicle w/o any need of mechanical repair certainly puts the cost of tuning and supercooling them into perspective.
Dave

I'm not saying you can't run them, I'm just saying theres no need to run it that cool... Just leave it factory. If it it increased your engines life they'd set it to that. I run the SCT Hemifever, and the tuning requires a cooler temperture to prevent engine pinging and that is the only reason I run a 180, otherwise I'd leave it stock 195. Your heater actually suffers from it being run so cold as well. Depends alot on location too, you would never want to run an engine that cold in the winter time. Running it that cool in winter won't do anything but shorten your engines life. Maybe in somewhere like Texas where its warm year round, definitely nowhere cold though.

wingnut said:
Summer, big blade in front of radiator, blocking flow at speed. Yes, it will get hot. All the air went over the blade, and the truck. The area in front of the rad at that speed would probably be a low-pressure area. As the air flows over, and under the plow, it could actually create a vacuum in the radiator area at high speeds. Simple aerodynamics.

Yup pretty well that aha.

RamV10 · Sep 29, 2013

wingnut said:
Summer, big blade in front of radiator, blocking flow at speed. Yes, it will get hot. All the air went over the blade, and the truck. The area in front of the rad at that speed would probably be a low-pressure area. As the air flows over, and under the plow, it could actually create a vacuum in the radiator area at high speeds. Simple aerodynamics.

That was my first thought. But running a 150 stat is way too cold. On a stock engine I believe running the OEM stat. These computer vehicles don't run right going colder, unless like said your using a tuner that recommends running a different temp stat.

POST #6 lost me in the second sentence.

ParrotHead FA · Oct 3, 2013

Johnn123 said:
I'm not saying you can't run them, I'm just saying theres no need to run it that cool... Just leave it factory. If it it increased your engines life they'd set it to that. I run the SCT Hemifever, and the tuning requires a cooler temperture to prevent engine pinging and that is the only reason I run a 180, otherwise I'd leave it stock 195. Your heater actually suffers from it being run so cold as well. Depends alot on location too, you would never want to run an engine that cold in the winter time. Running it that cool in winter won't do anything but shorten your engines life. Maybe in somewhere like Texas where its warm year round, definitely nowhere cold though.

Yup pretty well that aha.

Yeah, I'm in south Florida, it rarely gets cooler that 50 degrees overnight. But my thoughts on the engine longevity thing is, they probably don't set engines up to run really cool like that for 2 main reasons... emissions, and, simple economics: why would chrysler want a vehicle to run for 30 years or 450,000 miles when they could get you to buy another one when it wears out at 150,000 miles a year after the loan is paid off?
I have no factual evidence that running super cool increases engine life, only statistical data. It seems every vehicle I've ever had has lasted 300,000 miles or more with no major mechanical repair, and I have never run a thermostat (and, I usually drive everything like Nicholas Cage in Gone in 60 Seconds) and other people's vehicles I have seen that have survived an eyepopping number of miles without breakdown have also been run all or most of their life with no thermostat and the engine running super cool. It's just something my grandfather and my father have always done too, (running no thermostat) and it always seemed everyone they knew bought 2 or 3 new cars to their one.
Dave

dodge dude94 · Oct 3, 2013

Well, at least you could run a high spark advance with no ping.

ParrotHead FA · Oct 5, 2013

Absolutely. I have mine set 4 degrees advance. I can run a 92 octane tune on 89 octane fuel with no pinging with her running below 140 degrees.
Dave

dodge dude94 · Oct 6, 2013

How do you keep the PCM from getting pissed off at you?

cooling

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