ramffml
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2019
- Posts
- 2,868
- Reaction score
- 5,314
- Location
- ramforum
- Ram Year
- 2019
- Engine
- hemi 5.7
I remember discussing this with a few members here and I was pretty adamant that it wouldn't fix my hot-while-towing issue. I think it was in the synthetic oil thread. Anyway, my position was/is, that if the oil is reaching 230+ degrees and starting to heat up pretty bad beyond that, then Ram wouldn't be as silly as to program the shutters to be closed at those temps to save MPG so I feel its safe to assume the shutters would be wide open at those temps. Therefore it would be pointless to physically remove them.
My curiosity was killing me, and after reading more threads on this topic I gave in to the little red guy whispering on my sholder. I removed all the slats except for the middle and bottom rows. This is a 5th gen, didn't even need to pull the grill off, just the black plastic cover on top.
The results while running unloaded on the freeway on a hot 34 degree day?
- Coolant: used to be at 96, now it runs more often at 94 but still reaches 96 at times
- Transmission: no change, hovers around 80
- Oil: used to be at 106, now it runs at 102
So basically I dropped 4 degrees. But the bigger test is yet to come, what does towing do? Can I keep it under 120 (250 F) easier? These slats were a pain to remove and I had to bend the snot out of them to get them out, I doubt I will go through the process of putting them in the cold Canadian winters, so for better or worse they're out permanently.
At this point I don't know yet what I proved or didn't prove. My issue was never temps unloaded, but my issue was always keeping temps lower while towing.
I do want to try a thermostat next, and after that I want to try either remote filter relocation (bonus points here for easier service and running bigger filters) or a proper oil cooler.
My curiosity was killing me, and after reading more threads on this topic I gave in to the little red guy whispering on my sholder. I removed all the slats except for the middle and bottom rows. This is a 5th gen, didn't even need to pull the grill off, just the black plastic cover on top.
The results while running unloaded on the freeway on a hot 34 degree day?
- Coolant: used to be at 96, now it runs more often at 94 but still reaches 96 at times
- Transmission: no change, hovers around 80
- Oil: used to be at 106, now it runs at 102
So basically I dropped 4 degrees. But the bigger test is yet to come, what does towing do? Can I keep it under 120 (250 F) easier? These slats were a pain to remove and I had to bend the snot out of them to get them out, I doubt I will go through the process of putting them in the cold Canadian winters, so for better or worse they're out permanently.
At this point I don't know yet what I proved or didn't prove. My issue was never temps unloaded, but my issue was always keeping temps lower while towing.
I do want to try a thermostat next, and after that I want to try either remote filter relocation (bonus points here for easier service and running bigger filters) or a proper oil cooler.