I have been having trouble with my 1999 f-150 (5.4). If I pull anything it runs hot. The temp gauge is above 3/4..... I have cleaned the rad, just did oil change.... Any sugestions?

 

Do you have any type of auxillary cooling for the transmission? The trans is also cooled by the radiator. Also if your truck has A.C. check the condenser in front of the radiator, it may be full of dirt and bugs. Are you getting any spark knock(detonation)? Detonation can cause overheating under load.

 

I am getting a little spark knock(detonation)? I also took this thing through a mudbog a few weeks ago but since then have cleaned it. I have allways had temperature problems when pulling...... The truck has headders,cat-back exhaust,helix power tower,super-chip.

 

Ford did offer a 2 core radiator option in 1999. Is your current radiator a 1 core or 2 core radiator? If this has been a ongoing problem maybe the 2 core radiator may solve your problem. Go to www.advance-auto.com and look at the pictures of both. When you had your old radiator cleaned were the tanks removed and the cores rodded out? If not it may still have corrosion in it.

 

the problem of heating up only occurs when I tow something. Even if the something I am towing is small the gyuage still begins to climb as I make the engine work. The problem is mostly on hills but with the weight I am pulling there should be no frikkin problem.

 

I haven't seen anyone else talk about thermostat.

 

What is the chip tunning for?
Is the fan clutch working right?
Is the trans slipping?
Is the thermostat opening all the way?
Is the radiatior flow capacity up to spec?
Somewhere here is the answer.

If the chip tunning is for performance, that's the first place I would be concerned with. Take it out and see what happens. There should be no pinging under pulling. Should never pull with a performance tune, only a towing tune.
The rest is all investigation.

I pull a total weight over 11,000 with not a hint of overheating in a screw and 4.6 engine with 3.55 gear, no chip tunning, stock exhaust, all stock except large capacity trans cooler to keep resonable trans life..

 

I forget what year but ford f ed up and didnt put HD radiators in some of there truck. They let you either come in for the better one or they gave you a check. Maybe you have a poopy radiator.

 

anyone know what year? I spent an hour cleaning the rad and air-cond' conden... both were quite filthy and am also going to replace the thermostat...

I will keep you all posted...

thanx...Mike

 

I agree with Bluegrass. I don't know what type of tuner or superchip your using, but if it isn't from Troyer Performance, you should contact them and get a towing tune. It will help you out considerably. I had a hypertech reprogrammer and just driving down the road on the 93 octane tune running 93 octane, I would get some spark knock, once I changed to the Troyer tuner it went away. Hope this helps.