It isn't ready to get to you yet Joe.
Maybe. I found a set of pull off H2 wheels and tires back in January. They are on the Cowdog. Tires are about 50%. There was another set on Craigslist this week. Even better tires. They were in New Braunfels. 98 miles away. Getting them might give me better tires on the Cowdog. But for sure would let me have matching wheels and tires on both m101 trailers and the Cowdog.
We spent all of Friday and most of Saturday in the Houston area with my nephews high school graduation. We got home yesterday afternoon and the guy still had the wheels and tires. Colton was going to be around to come get me with a tow bar if needed,I pulled the 3rd seat and headed out.
92° outside air temp and 120° inside temp. I have the Dakota Digital VHX digital analog gauges. The temp gauge is kind of closely spaced so reading the exact water temperature is difficult for my old eyes going down the road. A quick scan tells me within 10 though. But there is a warning option with the gauges. I reset the coolant warning to 210° Thursday. This will flash the exact temp in numbers where the odometer normally is.
The a/c had pulled down to around 50° at the vent by the time I got on open road. I was blasting along at 70 mph enjoying the great road manners when about 8 miles later the temp warning started flashing. I was right at my first stop of the trip. The warning went away while I waited to pull onto the highway. Nice easy acceleration to speed had 211° flashing. Then 212, 213 a minute later to be followed by 214 and 215. I pulled over and looked under the hood.
All looked good, no leaks, smoke, sounds or smells of overheating. It had cooled down again while I let it idle. Since it was cooling at idle, I decided to keep going. Only 185 miles to home. I tried 65, then 60, then 55 and finally found 50 mph kept the warning away. 60 miles later I was in San Marcos stuck in traffic waiting to get on I-35. I had been able to run 48-52 all the way but any input of power or trying to hold speed on hills had the warning flashing again.
Banks in the turbo packet says to stay below 220°. I personally think 212° is over heating. I don't like it being that hot. My mirror thermometer found in a junk yard by Warthog now said it was 95° outside. I-35 is a lot of long grade rolling hills through this part of the state. I had to stay around 42-44 up hill and just let it coast down the hills. It would start flashing near the top of each one and stop at the bottom.
I have driven the same roads at the exact same speeds in the M715 and M35A2. I always got thumbs up as people passed. M1009 going the same speed 7 years ago on this road had some thumbs up and some other digits raised. No thumbs up to a 383 green Suburban. Just other gestures and angry horn honks. I made it though.
The wheels were good and the tires about the same as what is already on the truck. They will work though. I loaded them up worrying about if the hot engine would start up again. It started like normal much to my relief. Having gone almost 100 miles setting my speed by temperature. I just eased along on home. It seemed there were more down hill going this way though and I was edging closer to 50 most of the time.
I had spent most of the drive so far trying to figure out what was wrong? I kept coming back to IP timing, fan clutch and if I had screwed up going with a single thermostat with the HO water pump. I was thinking IP timing because this engine has a very distinct diesel clatter. More than any other 6.x I own. But it is the only one with a turbo and single exhaust. Maybe I am just hearing things? I was thinking fan clutch because it never locked up even with the engine indicating 215° for a few minutes. But, it cooled down at low power settings so coolant was flowing.
I was very comfortable in a quiet and cool interior for the 5 hour drive to think about this over and over and over. Everything on the truck worked perfectly. The 4l80e had me at 1250 rpm and 45 mph just loafing along. Yet a slight push down would unlock, drop a gear and get the boost climbing. It was pretty enjoyable. The truck drives and handles perfectly. Better that the 2005 Super Duty I used to make all those runs to get it and all the parts the last year or so. I haven't worked all the bugs out of the cruise control yet so my right leg was stuck in the same spot the entire drive. No numb butt, no cramping thigh, no calf ache. I got the seat and interior just like I wanted.
Back to the drive. About half way home I ended up coming in behind a rain squall. The outside temp dropped to 88°. The transmission temperature had never gotten more than 161° at any point. It went down to 155°. The oil temp had been 195° the entire drive. Now it went down to 182°. I started speeding up. 50 and no over heat. 60 and a few warnings. 20 miles from home it was down to 82° out. I was running 65-70 based on speed limits and it stayed below 211°. What the heck?
i also had a very steep hill to climb coming out of Bastrop that is only a mile or so from pretty much a dead stop. The Banks manual says 60 mph steady cruise should show 400° EGT with 1-1.5 psi boost. When I could run 60, I was right at those readings. I wanted to see how the Bastrop hill would get handled if I tried to get up it at the exact speed limit or above. My 396 powered M715 could do it and use a quarter tank of fuel. Nothing I have diesel can do it. Since I had figured out how to control the coolant temp. I hit the throttle at the bottom of the hill. The 4l80e stayed in first until 3,000 rpm and shifter super firm. When I lifted as I was blowing past the speed limit I had 6 psi and 850° EGT. This truck will move! Yes!
I checked everything over once home and found no issues. I started researching online. Fan clutch, thermostat and blocked radiator seem to be the biggest 6.5 overheating causes. I have a new with less than 300 miles thermostat. But, my 1997 or 1998 fan clutch and 20 inch 9 blade metal fan came with a broken engine I bought from NDT. 20 years old and I think 200k miles. It was a "do later" component. I guess it is later. It never locked up.
My cooling stack of oil cooler, transmission cooler, condenser and radiator are all new or redone. That isn't the problem.
The thermostat is confusing though. I remember buying a new 190° unit. I think it wasn't a Delco. I can't find the bill though. Lots of guys with 6.5 trucks go through 3 or 4 thermostats to find one that works at the listed temperature. I didn't test mine. That could be it. Or not.
Or, maybe I don't even have a problem? I mentioned the Dakota Digital gauges. They are analog with a digital display for any ready out of the range I designate. I had the coolant warning at 220° until a few days ago as mentioned. If I hadn't set it to 210° I might not have know of an issue yesterday until maybe too late.
So after church today I reset the warning to 180°. My intent was to see exactly when the thermostat opens by watching it warm up and then drop when it opens the first time. It opened at 203°. According to the digital readout. I used my infrared thermometer on the thermostat housing, cross over pipe, upper hose, sender housing and anything else I could point it at. Nothing over 181°. Most everything was cooler by a bunch.
Maybe I just have a gauge issue? I can't find a way to calibrate the Dakota Digital made sender using the Dakota Digital made wiring into the Dakota Digital brain. I will call them tomorrow. I will research fan clutches more and try to find a Delco 195° thermostat that gets put into boiling water to swap in as well.
Sorry for the long post but with what I saw yesterday I don't think the truck will make it very far this summer as is.
Oh, I was prepared to turn off the a/c and put on full heat if the temp kept climbing. But since it was controllable. I used the trip to test things out.