Engine Temp gets hot when towing

Are you talking about a bunch of dead insects clogging the front of the radiator? Or clogged tubes inside the radiator? Either way I guess would decrease the efficiency. I'll hang some window screen in front of the radiator on all my vehicles a few inches away to catch the insects.

The tubes inside the radiator can certainly get clogged for no apparent reason, had that happen to me a few times. A decent way to check that is have the vehicle on level ground, open the pressure cap (CAREFULLY, of course) and shine a flashlight in there. If any of the tubes have standing coolant in them, those tubes are clogged internally. Of course, you have limited visibility to all the tubes but it's worth a try.

I have the full reverse flush done at least every two years, it's worth the expense IMO. Overheating is a terrible thing for aluminum.

 

In our case it was internally clogged tubes inside the radiator. It's a known issue with Chrysler's long life coolant. It's actually happened on dad's Dakota and on my mom's Jeep Grand Cherokee. I have never heard anything about Toyota's coolant causing this. Bugs blocking airflow through the core would certainly cause the same problem.

The symptoms on the two Chrysler products were the same. They were fine in local driving up to around 85 degrees or so. That's about as hot as we see locally in the summer. On a short drive in higher temps it still wasn't an issue, just ran a little warmer, but not enough to get your attention. Start going out on the highway for a couple of hours and you'd notice it getting warm. Above 90 degrees outside it would be 3/4 to the red. Anything more than that, the AC gets turned off, the heater turned on, slow down to 60MPH and start taking breaks to cool the truck off. This is all without a trailer, that would cause the problem to show up much sooner I'd guess.

 

I know few people who had that happen on older Toyota trucks. Not sure if was caused by Toyota fluid but I would bet its not the case. People put wired coolants and additives that supposed prevent leaks. This usually means there is something in coolant that attaches itself internally to radiator hence the clogs. That and of course too much water in coolant that rusts radiator inside. Bottom line coolant needs to be refreshed regularly.

 

Yup, flush the cooling system regularly. It's worth the $120 for a reverse flush instead of the basic flush.

 

something is definitely wrong. I drove up big cottonwood canyon this afternoon, not towing anything, and the truck was showing 230 on the gauge. guess i might need a trip to the mechanic.

 

Yea, thats definitely not right. Get that looked at ASAP.

 

my mechanic said to wash out the radiator before i do anything. He said if i turn on the heat and the temp goes down, which it does, he said its a radiator issue.

anyone have suggestions for an aftermarket radiator if it comes down to it? I'll be towing again on the first so I'd need something somewhat local or with fast shipping.

 

Just get a oem one.

 

really? i was hoping to get a bigger one...

 

It should work fine with the OEM. Hundreds of members here have them and have no overheating issues.

NAPA used to carry Modine with their NAPA logo on the box. Lifetime warranty and good product. I don't know if that's still the case....

When I worked for Kragen we sold GDI. Also a good product, and I believe it was lifetime warranty too.

Personally, for the time involved trying to clean the old one, I'd have a new one on hand before I even drained the coolant. They can't be THAT much? Been awhile since I did any major repairs on a vehicle, but they used to be $100-200. For the peace of mind I think it's worth just changing it out.

 

i agree. My mechanic just said do that before you spend any money. I think i have an honest mechanic either that or lazy...