I have a 99 F-150 4x4 w/4.6l engine. I have a 3" body lift and an eliptical grille from trenz. I have noticed that here in Bakersfield where in the summer the temp is easily at 100 degrees that when I am towing or going up a long grade the the truck gets a little on the warm side. Not overheating persay but more than I would like to see it at. What is a good way to get that temperature back down. As soon as I turn off the air and turn the heater on it comes back down. I have checked the radiator it is full and when I drained it last look very clean. I have not changed the thermostat yet, is that a problem on these? More curious than anything. Curious if the lift could be causing this and if I went to an electric fan would that help. Dual set up of course.

Thanks

Bob

 

you said that you tow. does the truck have the towing package?

do you have a real temp gauge to see how high it is really going? a little spike while towing is normal.

now I have a 99 5.4 with the tow package and I tow a lot and my temp gauge never moves.

 

Yes, the lift is causing this.
When you lifted the body, the radiator went up with it. Now the fan is not aligned with the radiator.

 

The first thing I would ask you is to define what you think HOT is? Give us some real temperatures to work with. If you have a stock thermostat it should start opening around 180 degrees and be at full open at around 190 + or - a few degrees. The only thing the the thermostat is to do is block or restrict the coolant flow until the engine reaches the warm up set point. It is the job of the radiator and the fan to keep the engine from exceeding the operating temp of the engine. Now that being said. The first to check is to see if the thermostat is going to full open. The second thing to check is for any thing restricting the coolant flow and air flow though the radiator. I use a pressure washer to clean my radiator of all the bugs and dirt at the begining of each summer. If you still have a problem with overheating, the solution is to put a bigger radiator or bigger fan or both in the truck. ( A bigger radiator would be one with more passes).

I would get a real reading of my coolant temperature. If you're not over 220 degrees F, you're not running hot.