Radiator

[crazykid1994]

does anyone know of a larger radiator for the 1500s? Double row? Or if the radiators from the heavy duty’s fit the 1500? This Florida heat is racking my temps up to 206 on long highway drives with a 190 tstat and stock clutch fan with ac fan on as well... ags is pulled and I had the same issue last year with the stock tstat as well. Looking to do the mech fan delete but these temps are freaking me out. It hits 206 and drops back to 203

 

[LeesEvoX]

Have you done a coolant change?

I'm in the same boat being in Houston. I was seeing 210-216 with the stock tstat.

I still have the stock tstat but after a full coolant change/flush. And some proper coolant. I touch 203, but as soon as the tstat opens drops back down to 195-199.

These past few weeks have been crazy hot/humid. And I'm seeing higher temps. Coolant us almost a year old.

This time around I wanna find some good coolant, and do more than the crappy 50/50 pre mix.

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[Rado]

Will be following I hate the temps mine runs at

 

[crazykid1994]

My trucks a 2017 built end of 16. Coolant is only 2.5 years old. Don’t think that’s the problem. It’s just freaking hot. Hitting mid 90s plus 86% humidity level today had real feel if 103. Looking like a bad summer. This weather is right now at 8 o’clock tonight....

 

[blackbetty14]

Your temps are fine. Nothing wrong with anything below 220, at 240 you got problems and a warped head.

If you want to lower temps you need to lower the temperature differential. The radiator and motor want to even put the temp and find a balance. If your 190
Tstat actually opens at 190, I don’t believe it does as every Tstat I’ve ever tested opens later than advertised. A 160 started to crack open at 170, a 180
Cracked open at 185 etc. cracking open and open is usually within 5-10*F so u can calculate it. If the radiator has a 190*F inlet temp then you will see a 10*F cross temp to the output side (other side) as that’s the best aluminum radiators can do and that means 180*F is going back to the motor. That means your engine is hotter than 190 because it’s transferring the heat to the coolant. So say your balance differential is 200*F with a 190 tstat. The only way to Decrease overall temp of the balance differential is to lower the radiator temp or open the coolant temp Tstat sooner. But there are limitations of radiator efficiency and capacity etc. First I would
Test Tstat operating temp cracking and fully open. Then you need to program the fan and verify temps. If you can’t maintain the 5-10*F range that the Tstat goes from closed to open then you can increase efficiency in the rad by increasing size or rows (efficiency and capacity). The stock radiators large single core radiator is very efficient for a single row and should have no issue keeping temps below 200*F but some engines just don’t want to run cooler and takes more work.

 

[crazykid1994]

Your temps are fine. Nothing wrong with anything below 220, at 240 you got problems and a warped head.

If you want to lower temps you need to lower the temperature differential. The radiator and motor want to even put the temp and find a balance. If your 190
Tstat actually opens at 190, I don’t believe it does as every Tstat I’ve ever tested opens later than advertised. A 160 started to crack open at 170, a 180
Cracked open at 185 etc. cracking open and open is usually within 5-10*F so u can calculate it. If the radiator has a 190*F inlet temp then you will see a 10*F cross temp to the output side (other side) as that’s the best aluminum radiators can do and that means 180*F is going back to the motor. That means your engine is hotter than 190 because it’s transferring the heat to the coolant. So say your balance differential is 200*F with a 190 tstat. The only way to Decrease overall temp of the balance differential is to lower the radiator temp or open the coolant temp Tstat sooner. But there are limitations of radiator efficiency and capacity etc. First I would
Test Tstat operating temp cracking and fully open. Then you need to program the fan and verify temps. If you can’t maintain the 5-10*F range that the Tstat goes from closed to open then you can increase efficiency in the rad by increasing size or rows (efficiency and capacity). The stock radiators large single core radiator is very efficient for a single row and should have no issue keeping temps below 200*F but some engines just don’t want to run cooler and takes more work.

I fully agree and understand. But I am leaning towards larger radiator for cooling efficiency. I have found during cooler ambient temps say upper 70s to mid 80s my truck has no problem maintaining 192° solid but now that we are experiencing low to mid 90s my temps are climbing which would lead me to believe that is the limitations of the factory setup. I am by no way nervous about the temp hitting 206° as factory with the 203° tstat and ags installed I saw constant temps around 215° to 218° on longer drives

 

[crash68]

If I remember correctly, the EcoDiesel radiator has a higher fin density than the Hemi version but doesn't use a conventional radiator cap(it has a degas bottle). The HD truck radiator is taller than the 1500s, you would have to do some fab work to mount and support it.
As someone else stated, I wouldn't worry about the temps unless you start breaking the 220-230 range, all the newer vehicles run a lot warmer.
Towing 8K lbs in 85°-90°F temps I was in the 215°-220°F coolant, 230°-240°F oil but the transmission didn't break 200°F. The EcoD uses an 850watt electric cooling fan(same as the Gen5 trucks), unlike mechanical fan of the Hemi which should more more air.

 

[madweazl]

Your temps are fine. Nothing wrong with anything below 220, at 240 you got problems and a warped head.

At 240°? A lot of people that tow would be in trouble...

 

[madweazl]

Double post

 

[Elevated 2013]

I put a 180 thermostat in my 1500 and tuned the electric fan to come on at 180 and deleted my mechanical fan altogether. I also just did a coolant flush and when I filled it up I added a bottle of Redline Water Wetter. I’ve found that it really helps, unlike the Royal Purple version of it. I kept my fan shroud though to focus the air towards the engine. My engine hardly goes over 205 coolant temp or oil temp and we’ve had similar heat and humidity as you. Like the other guys have said, as long as it doesn’t push 230 and it does cool off at times, you’re fine. I know why you want to do a radiator swap and have done many for the same reason, but so far I’m satisfied with mine. You could check to make sure there’s nothing between your radiator and ac condenser and clean out the fins to get all of the dirt out to help its efficiency a little more. I’m looking for some time to do that as well.


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[Hemi395]

Your temps are fine. Nothing wrong with anything below 220, at 240 you got problems and a warped head.

If you want to lower temps you need to lower the temperature differential. The radiator and motor want to even put the temp and find a balance. If your 190
Tstat actually opens at 190, I don’t believe it does as every Tstat I’ve ever tested opens later than advertised. A 160 started to crack open at 170, a 180
Cracked open at 185 etc. cracking open and open is usually within 5-10*F so u can calculate it. If the radiator has a 190*F inlet temp then you will see a 10*F cross temp to the output side (other side) as that’s the best aluminum radiators can do and that means 180*F is going back to the motor. That means your engine is hotter than 190 because it’s transferring the heat to the coolant. So say your balance differential is 200*F with a 190 tstat. The only way to Decrease overall temp of the balance differential is to lower the radiator temp or open the coolant temp Tstat sooner. But there are limitations of radiator efficiency and capacity etc. First I would
Test Tstat operating temp cracking and fully open. Then you need to program the fan and verify temps. If you can’t maintain the 5-10*F range that the Tstat goes from closed to open then you can increase efficiency in the rad by increasing size or rows (efficiency and capacity). The stock radiators large single core radiator is very efficient for a single row and should have no issue keeping temps below 200*F but some engines just don’t want to run cooler and takes more work.

^^Great info here

 

[blackbetty14]

I fully agree and understand. But I am leaning towards larger radiator for cooling efficiency. I have found during cooler ambient temps say upper 70s to mid 80s my truck has no problem maintaining 192° solid but now that we are experiencing low to mid 90s my temps are climbing which would lead me to believe that is the limitations of the factory setup. I am by no way nervous about the temp hitting 206° as factory with the 203° tstat and ags installed I saw constant temps around 215° to 218° on longer drives

Larger radiator actually decreases airflow (efficiency to an extent) due to higher fin count, and added tubes. Which in turn increases static pressure which drops the CFM that the fans can pull air through the radiator. But there is no real way around with without increasing overall radiator size and keeping a single 1-1.25” single core. If you plan to upgrade look for a dual 1” or dual 1.25” core rads which are much better than cheap Chinese 3-4 core with only 1/2”-5/8” cores. Cheap brands like champion come to mind. Good brands like HOWE, griffin, Afco and be cool come to mind. I personally like HOWE and AFCO and run them on my 600+hp turbo motors.

You might not get much out of a radiator swap due to ambient temps and humidity. My turbo LS runs a AFCO 31x19 and has dual 1” cores, I run a 160t stat and I run 70/30 distilled water/coolant with wetter and have the best dual Spal fans in a shroud and I still get 190 temps in the summer 90+. In cooler 60-70*F I can get temps as low as 165-170. My waterpump is also a high flow with a billet impeller which doubles flow below 3k and I still can’t get temps to my commanded temp with my fans set a 180/170 and 190/180 in a 2 speed config.

If I were you I would be testing the Tstat or dropping the temp on that and matching fan activation to Tstat open temps. I don’t feel that the stock ram rad is undersized for 500hp. I think your ambient temps are raising the temperature differential. Since ambient is much higher the baseline for the radiator temp is much higher, even if you increase the capacity your still stuck with the higher ambient which will affect the larger rad the same way. Decreasing the Tstat temp will more than likely result in the same temps but just a slower up to temp speed.

If you decide to upgrade the rad post your results.

 

[blackbetty14]

If I remember correctly, the EcoDiesel radiator has a higher fin density than the Hemi version but doesn't use a conventional radiator cap(it has a degas bottle). The HD truck radiator is taller than the 1500s, you would have to do some fab work to mount and support it.
As someone else stated, I wouldn't worry about the temps unless you start breaking the 220-230 range, all the newer vehicles run a lot warmer.
Towing 8K lbs in 85°-90°F temps I was in the 215°-220°F coolant, 230°-240°F oil but the transmission didn't break 200°F. The EcoD uses an 850watt electric cooling fan(same as the Gen5 trucks), unlike mechanical fan of the Hemi which should more more air.

My 18 has the 850w fan, it’s the AC fan and it’s in conjunction with the mechanical fan.

 

[blackbetty14]

At 240°? A lot of people that tow would be in trouble...

240 is the beginning of being a problem. If I hit 240 I would pull over. 50/50 mix and 250 is when steam is created with a 16lb cap, once pushed out of the cap it becomes easier to create steam and it just keeps going. Remember coolant temps around the chambers and cylinders is hotter than what the sensor sees. I wouldn’t be comfortable with 240, and aluminum heads are more susceptible/sensitive to warping than iron heads.

 

[pacofortacos]

does anyone know of a larger radiator for the 1500s? Double row? Or if the radiators from the heavy duty’s fit the 1500? This Florida heat is racking my temps up to 206 on long highway drives with a 190 tstat and stock clutch fan with ac fan on as well... ags is pulled and I had the same issue last year with the stock tstat as well. Looking to do the mech fan delete but these temps are freaking me out. It hits 206 and drops back to 203

Which grille do you have?
The Big Horn/sport grille is limited on air flow, which caused me to run a bit warmer in 95+ deg and humid florida weather.
Honeycomb flows much more air and will keep the temps down.

 

[crash68]

My 18 has the 850w fan, it’s the AC fan and it’s in conjunction with the mechanical fan.

I doubt it's an 850w fan just for your AC. They can draw up to 71 amps, are fully variable PWM controlled and have a 100 amp fuse right off the battery. The 850w fan is the only one and used for all the engine and AC cooling on the EcoD and the Gen5 trucks.

The AC cooling fan on your truck is probably 1 or 2 speed and only needs to provide cooling air when the vehicle is stationary or moving slowly

 

[crazykid1994]

Open mesh. Yea I’m aware the sport grilles don’t flow as well. I had the honeycombs but swapped for these when I did the ags delete. I’m going to have to agree with blackBetty on it being the temp differential due to the ambient air temps. It’s super ridiculously hot and in the sun my truck display says around 105-108° I’m possibly looking at swapping the factory mech fan for another electric fan with a stand-alone pwm module over the existing factory electric ac fan so I would have dual electric fans

 

[pacofortacos]

Those temps really don't hurt anything though.
I actually just towed my boat to the Keys and back with my 2016 and my temps were similar - actually did it with just the stock electric fan, the clutch fan was in the bed and a stock tstat.

Since the AC was on, the temps pretty much stayed in the 203-210 area.
When I had the 190 stat in, the temps were still in the 195-210 area - depending on a few factors.

When I had the Big Horn grille on (last year), the temps wouldn't come down below 210 with the electric AND clutch fan on (190 stat) when the ambient temps went over 95 deg and high humidity.

Is it possible you have the antifreeze concentration a bit too concentrated?

You do still have the stock fan shroud on, right?

 

[HammerHead]

I fully agree and understand. But I am leaning towards larger radiator for cooling efficiency. I have found during cooler ambient temps say upper 70s to mid 80s my truck has no problem maintaining 192° solid but now that we are experiencing low to mid 90s my temps are climbing which would lead me to believe that is the limitations of the factory setup. I am by no way nervous about the temp hitting 206° as factory with the 203° tstat and ags installed I saw constant temps around 215° to 218° on longer drives

Just change the Tstat to a 180; no reason to swap radiators. I’m in Georgia and my old 5.7 loved the 180. Everything under hood was happy.

 

[crazykid1994]

Those temps really don't hurt anything though.
I actually just towed my boat to the Keys and back with my 2016 and my temps were similar - actually did it with just the stock electric fan, the clutch fan was in the bed and a stock tstat.

Since the AC was on, the temps pretty much stayed in the 203-210 area.
When I had the 190 stat in, the temps were still in the 195-210 area - depending on a few factors.

When I had the Big Horn grille on (last year), the temps wouldn't come down below 210 with the electric AND clutch fan on (190 stat) when the ambient temps went over 95 deg and high humidity.

Is it possible you have the antifreeze concentration a bit too concentrated?

You do still have the stock fan shroud on, right?

Stock clutch fan and shroud. Yes. Also never did anything with the factory radiator fluid drained enough to swap the tstat to a 190 and poured it back in. I don’t trust running only the stock ac fan due to the ambient temps down here currently