Triton V10 overheating while towing

ChadO · 10-12-2020, 01:46 PM

I have a 2001 Adventurer with a Ford Triton V10 that has about 45K miles on her. I've been towing my Jeep Wrangler (about 3000 lbs with the top off, 3400 lbs with top on). This weight should be towed easily, I think, but I'm overheating.

I've replace the thermostat (195 F) and verified the engine fan is functional. From all the threads I've read and research, its like there is another fan that kicks in when I get hot. Is there a secondary fan? If so, where is it and how do I go about checking it's function?

Thanks in advance!
Chad O.

**creativepart** · 10-12-2020, 02:06 PM

Have you pressure tested the cooling system? Flushed the cooling system? Cleaned the radiator? How's the water pump? Any fluid leaking?

You know all the things you'd do to an overheating car.

tderonne · 10-12-2020, 02:36 PM

1 single fan. Clutched. Clutch locks up (it ROARS) when airflow across it gets hot. Something like 210° water temp.

How do you know it's working?

What are you calling "overheating"?

al1florida · 10-12-2020, 05:03 PM

I bet you have a clogged radiator. It is about 20 years old since the chassis was most likely built in 2000 for a 2001 RV.

Or a mentioned by others, when the temp gets up to about 205* to 210* the fan will kick in with a big roar. If you don't heat the roaring fan, maybe the fan
clutch is bad.

My experience with my 2005 Class C and 2006 Class A with the V10 is that it is hard to get them to over about 215 degrees. Also I really could hear the engine cooling fan when it kicks in.

ChadO · 10-13-2020, 08:47 AM

Thanks for the pointers! All I can say for sure is there is no fluid leak.

I can see the radiator motor fan working when I start the engine. Is there another fan? She's hit 260...

tderonne · 10-13-2020, 09:21 AM

Fan will spin anytime the engine is running. It won’t move much air until the clutch locks up. Sounds like that’s not happening. Could be a bad clutch, or as mentioned, a clogged radiator.

Separately, but related, I added an air dam to mine under the radiator. Made the fan run MUCH less often. Used to come on driving down the highway on an 80° day. Only comes on going slower up steep grades now.

DavidM · 10-13-2020, 10:50 AM

Yes as noted above, the fan spins a little all of the time due to hydraulic drag in the clutch whether it is engaged or not. But if the engine begins to overheat, say 210 or greater and the fan isn't roaring, then most likely you have a bad fan clutch.

David

AJMike · 10-13-2020, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChadO

I have a 2001 Adventurer with a Ford Triton V10 that has about 45K miles on her. I've been towing my Jeep Wrangler (about 3000 lbs with the top off, 3400 lbs with top on). This weight should be towed easily, I think, but I'm overheating.

I am not sure where you got the weights for a Jeep Wrangler but unless it is very old I think it weighs more than what you think. In fact if a relatively new Jeep Wrangler weighed 3400 pounds with the top on I would have bought one as a toad when we were looking for a new car, but the dealer gave the weight of more than 4000 pounds, and that was for the 2 door model. Google gives the weight of a Jeep Wrangler as about 4000-4450 pounds, although it does not give a specific model. Wikipedia gives it's weight as 3,760–4,340 pounds. The Jeep official web page gives the weight of the Sport model as 3970 pounds.

I would not think any of those ranges would be too much for a Class A with the V10 but I do think the weight is more than you believe. Unless I am missing something.

DavidM · 10-13-2020, 03:15 PM

Many have reported that towing a toad drops the MPG on the Ford V10 from maybe 8 to 6-7. That isn't enough extra hp to overheat that engine, assuming the cooling system is working ok.

David

glen361 · 10-18-2020, 04:28 PM

Hi, not sure if this helps your situation, but I have a 2016 Winnebago Cambria, with the Ford V10. I’m towing a 2017 Jeep Wrangler, 2-door, weight around 4500+, (bunch of stuff in it). I have ODB2 reader installed, and get constant read outs of coolant temp, transmission temp and oil temperatures. I have been towing it from NC, to WI, and then west to Oregon. On the steeper grades and warmer outside temperatures, 70-80’s My coolant temp raises to the 220-230 range on the climb, but once on top or on the down hill returns to the normal temp of 199-205 range.

Maybe your isn’t actually over heating, but heating up then, returning to normal operating tamp. I guess if its constantly at an “overheated” temp then there could be an issue.

(Ps by no means what so ever I am not too mechanically inclined)

Glen

Jbuntin · 10-18-2020, 05:47 PM

Can you describe your air dam? I have the same issue of the fan coming on with air temps of 80F or so.

2005 Winnebago Voyage on Workhorse chassis

NeilV · 10-18-2020, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChadO

Thanks for the pointers! All I can say for sure is there is no fluid leak.

I can see the radiator motor fan working when I start the engine. Is there another fan? She's hit 260...

There may be a set of electric fans for the in-dash air conditioning too. The fan clutch should cause the engine fan to roar like an airplane about to take off when you first start the engine and then quiet down however as the engine temperature exceeds the fan clutches cut-in temperature you should hear it roar to life when the clutch engages. If the engine is indeed hitting 260 degrees then you should be able to hear the fan roar to life as it engages. If its not roaring when the engine is that hot then its just free wheeling and not really cooling anything.

The F53 is considered in a Severe Service application when used for a Motor Home and as such the coolant needs to be flushed and replaced every 2 years or you can have overheating problems. This also holds true for the brake fluid. Both need to be flushed out and replaced every 2 years regardless of the miles driven or hours the engine was run.

If you can't verify that the flushes are up to date then you really need to zero set that part of the maintenance schedule and take care of those services. You may want to consider adding Water Wetter or Lucas Super Coolant Additive to the new coolant as these products do work quite well at increasing the efficiency of thermal transfer both in the water jacket and radiator.

I have towed a Saturn VUE in 100+ degree temps up and down most of the East Coast Mountain Ranges without overheating my 2001 Adventurer 35U on the F53.

Of course I do not try to drive at over 65 mph since neither the vehicle or the tires are designed for that type of use. Note that most motor home tires are only tested for 10 minutes at their rated speed of 75 MPH at moderate temperatures with some tested for an hour so even when new they are not tested for sustained 75 MPH use. As the tires age they become more susceptible to heat saturation from high speed usage so its good to consider that when you new to motor homes. What type of speeds are you trying to maintain?

Rick 99037 · 10-19-2020, 06:14 AM

I assume you've visually inspected the radiator, AC radiator and transmission radiators for any clogging debris. A low or medium power, power washer can be helpful if needed. One of you mentioned the potential for a clogged radiator, a word on that.
Antifreeze does not wear out, but it's additives do. And chemically, antifreeze is a corrosive without them. So replacement of what looks like perfectly good antifreeze protects the inside of the cooling system from chemical corrosion. In a car or pickup, you can often look down the radiator cap hole, and see if it looks cruddy. Motorhomes, often with long snaked filler tubes prevent such an observation, but a ph test strip can reveal a dangerous shift in chemical ph. But if it's old enough just change it. It's cheap insurance.
If your cooling system does become clogged, restricted, less efficient, taking the radiator to a radiator shop is an important option. They will boil it out, then desolder one end of the radiator, and then push rods through each coolant passageway. This is called Rodding Out.
Then the end is resoldered back on, and it is pressure tested. Not all radiators can be reconditioned in this way because the copper tubes may have been corroded and eroded away by chemical corrosion, leaving tubes too thin to be dependable. That's when you can develop pin holes in the tubes. If that's you, your only choice is to replace the radiator. And I would always go new, to be sure I got a fresh start. There's just to much labor removing the typical motorhome radiator, to pay for doing it twice.
If your radiator has lost cooling efficiency, it sounds young enough to be a great candidate for roding out.

Joe Howard · 10-19-2020, 06:14 AM

My 2006 Sightseer began overheating on a recent trip a couple of weeks ago. To locate the leak the truck shop had to pressure test the cooling system. The 'culprit' was a small hole in the heater hose near the heater core. This was a leak that could have taken a long time to find without the pressure test.

tderonne · 10-19-2020, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilV

There may be a set of electric fans for the in-dash air conditioning too.

No, there is not. One fan, engine driven.

NeilV · 10-21-2020, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tderonne

No, there is not. One fan, engine driven.

Its been a while since I looked to verify this on my 2001 Adventurer 35U on the F53. I was planning on checking the next time I was in the storage lot which is why I did not say there definitely were electric fans and only gave it a may be.

Kent · 10-22-2020, 08:37 PM

You know when the clutch fan spins up because it sounds like the roar of a plane passing overhead. If that sound is not heard when the engine “overheats” the fan is not functioning properly.

DryCreek · 10-25-2020, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJMike

I am not sure where you got the weights for a Jeep Wrangler but unless it is very old I think it weighs more than what you think. In fact if a relatively new Jeep Wrangler weighed 3400 pounds with the top on I would have bought one as a toad when we were looking for a new car, but the dealer gave the weight of more than 4000 pounds, and that was for the 2 door model. Google gives the weight of a Jeep Wrangler as about 4000-4450 pounds, although it does not give a specific model. Wikipedia gives it's weight as 3,760–4,340 pounds. The Jeep official web page gives the weight of the Sport model as 3970 pounds.

I would not think any of those ranges would be too much for a Class A with the V10 but I do think the weight is more than you believe. Unless I am missing something.

Our 1995 Jeep Wrangler YJ weighs 3200 lbs.
Our 2011 Jeep Wrangler JK (Sahara) weighs 4350 with a hardtop.

Both pull just fine behind a 2006 Sightseer 29R.