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Upgrade Radiator or CAC for towing?

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46K views 49 replies 19 participants last post by  Boosted2012  
#1 ·
I recently bought a 2013 f-150 screw ecoboost xlt with max tow, 3.55 gear ratio, 6.5 ft bed with 145,000 miles on the clock to replace my 2002 silverado 2500HD 8.1L. The ride in this truck is so nice! I live in the Salt Lake Valley (Utah) and I've been up Parleys Canyon (6% grade) a couple of times with my travel trailer (7500 lbs max gvwr, dry weight of 3600). This thing has tons of power, but overheats while pulling up the canyon... The first time it overheated I wasn't paying attention to the gauges and warped one of my exhaust manifolds :mad: that was an expensive repair... the transmission didn't heat up at all though. The second time i shifted down to 3rd to keep rpms up and kept a much closer eye on my gauges. The transmission got hot (3/4 of the way to red) along with the coolant but I kept it out of limp mode. I ended up crawling up the last part at about 20 mph behind a semi... I later read that I probably should have locked out 5th and 6th, leave it in drive, and tried to maintain 55mph. I'll try that next time I go up that canyon. I also want to monitor the air intake temp 1 and 2 to see if the CAC is getting heat soaked...

I did find that there was a ton of dead bugs and dirt on my a/c condenser and my intercooler. I was careful and vacuumed most of that stuff off using a shop vac and water. I do have the TSB flap over the intercooler which I plan on removing, and drilling a weap hole.

Anyways I've been looking for someone that has installed the freakoboost radiator upgrade (2011-2014 F150 3.5L EcoBoost Full-Race Freakoboost Radiator Upgrade FR-RAD_ECO) and if it actually helped with coolant temperatures? Will a radiator be enough to solve my overheating problems or would I be better off spending $700 on an upgraded CAC? Would both upgrades be in vain and I'm stuck with an overheating truck? It would be nice to maintain 60mph while towing grades... especially because the truck has the power to do so!
 
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#44 ·
These trucks do get warm. I still feel 150 is too high though... I'll probably get the cac next - the stock ones do appear to be junk. When I do get a new CAC it will be a Mishimoto - they are cheaper but I really like the air diverts to help direct the air where it needs to go - and it will fit in the stock location.

While I'm saving up in the meantime I may buy a cheap universal window wiper pump off ebay and spray the cac with distilled water when I tow up hills - it should help

Here is a graph of my tow. Near the end is where I was parking. The middle is where I was going up the steep parts of the road
 
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#45 · (Edited)
BoostCamping13 said:
While I'm saving up in the meantime I may buy a cheap universal window wiper pump off ebay and spray the cac with distilled water when I tow up hills - it should help
Click to expand...
You'll probably find that this setup wont help much. You need high pressure and fine nozzles for a very fine mist (just like a water/meth system).

The idea behind evaporative cooling is you want the water to evaporate off the surface. A window washer setup will just flood the rad surface.

I don't tow yet (will be soon) but already have a w/m setup and see high ECT during prolonged uphill climbs (Coquihalla pass):

The kit i have has a provision for a second stage which i plan on starting with 2 100ml/min nozzles spraying in front of the rad.
 

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#47 ·
Yep, keep an eye out in the classifieds for a used one.

There are also a few company's that have a sctrach n dent sales section. I picked up my Wagner for half price this way. To be honest I couldn't even find a flaw in the one I got, thing looked brand new.

Also, go grab some mesh screen from your local hardware store. Make a bug screen for your rad & CAC. Best investment I've done yet. No bent fins or caked in bug guts.

When I was searching around the net I did see that one guy managed to use some kind of mist hose. Sort of the type you would set up in your back yard or patio to keep cool. Might be worth a try if you could put something similar together on the cheap.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
 
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M
#48 ·
Are the second gen eco have better Cacs? I'm guessing so based on all the issues the first gen that was covered during the revamp. One of these days, I'll swap but I am going to have a warranty on this truck for a long time if not forever.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
#49 ·
They do a better job of curbing the water ingestion issues because the outlet pipe draws from the very bottom of the cac, whereas the previous can had an inch or two below for water to pool. Not much of a better job cooling though.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
 
B
#50 ·
I did the freakoboost radiator upgrade over winter because i had the exact same experience you did last summer. Unfortunately the radiator didnt help much
 
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