Active Grill Shutter Delete - Was I wrong?

[ramffml]

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.

 

[Yardbird]

The water and oil temps are going to be regulated by the thermostat in the engine, as long as you are getting decent air flow, and everything is working right.

When pulling, or in slow traffic on a hot day is when you will notice the difference in temps. You may still see some hot temps, since you probably only removed half the shutters. You will still have hot spots behind the remaining ones.

I only left the top and bottom ones, and noticed an improvement immediately. I don't like seeing 210+ oil temps and water temps. Heat breaks down oil. I also don't want a very fast heat up from cold of the engine. I would rather all the components expand at a slower rate.

That's just me. On two several hour trips since removing the slats, my water will just touch 199, the thermostat will open, drop to 194, level out and slowly climb back to 199, according to if I'm pulling a hill or on somewhat flat ground. That is normal operating of a thermostat. Oil and trans temps are cooler, but track up and down with the water.

This engine still warms up faster than anything I have owned.

Don't know if removing them hurt fuel mileage, for I never drove it on a trip before removing the slats.

Yesterday's trip ended up being 22.5 mpg, with lots of 75+ speeds, quite a few hills, and some in town driving. That's from the meter, which, each time I have checked it, had been around 1/2 mile per gallon low.

Will not put them back at all.

I think some of the heat problem is the design of the grills on certain trucks. Mine is honeycomb, with lots of air flow through it. Some of these trucks with the slatted grills look to not have enough air flow through them. Maybe not, just my observation from a distance, not a really close inspection.

 

[clay282]

I pulled several rows of the AGS with my Gen 4 and it helped overall cooling and didn't impact my fuel economy. I didn't worry about towing because I remember reading somewhere, part of the truck changes it makes when you hit the tow button is = the grill shutters STAY open, once it hits the basic operating temperature.

My understanding was, there is a temperature range the systems knows. There is a bottom and top range. Shutters are closed and they don't open until it hits the high end of the temp range allowed. The truck follows this guideline UNLESS the tow / haul button is pressed. Once that button is pressed and the truck reaches the bottom temp of its temp range, the shutters open and stay open.

 

[Yardbird]

Thanks for the info on the tow/haul button. Didn't know that. Still learning on these trucks.

I wish there was a button to keep the truck in 8th longer. Any pressure on the accelerator and it hops right out into 7th.

7th takes more throttle to change down to 6th, and it takes a good bit of throttle to get 6th to downshift to 5th.

I would like to be able to keep enough throttle in 8th to top a small hill without downshifting. As is, it either shifts out of 8th when using enough throttle to maintain speed, or the truck stays in 8th, and drops enough speed for it to shift out on its own.

I really wish the +/- was a manual mode instead of gear limiter. As is, 8th is pretty much useless in rolling hills with a V6, 3.21, and 20" tires.

 

[PoMansRam]

It's been awhile since I poked around the AGS threads, but don't they stay open when the a/c is on?

I always 'assumed' any warm weather towing, when you've got the a/c on make AGS removal a moot point.

 

[Yardbird]

I'm not sure about shutters and A/C.

I do know mine was well over 200 with the A/C on while pulling a hill at around 45 mph right after I got it.

Took shutters off a couple of days later. Been up same hill several times since, under same conditions. I think 196 is as high as I've seen since.

I've not seen 200 deg since I removed them, even when pulling a very steep hill/mountain a couple of weeks ago with the A/C on. 199 seems to be tops now.

 

[theclassic]

Active Grill Shutter "Partial Removal" Temperatures

Hello all. I am well aware that this information is already on other threads. After reading them the few threads that had some good info I decided to post my findings here and what I did. I figured the more places the info can be found the better. The truck New 2021 Ram 1500 Classic, 5.7l...

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