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Engine Heated Up During Hilly Towing

midlifecrisis

midlifecrisis

Charter Member
SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2002
Messages
3,580
Location
New Jersey - Exit 5
Last week I was pulling my 2400 lb camper up a 7-8% grade about a mile long. I monitored the engine temperature gauge and noticed it shot up from 200 degrees to almost 250 degrees by the time I hit the top. On the down side of the hill, the temperature quickly returned to 200 degrees.

Is this normal operation or is there a potential problem? I never noticed this occuring when towing with my minivan on hills.
 
Midlife

That does seem to be a quick jump in a very short amount of time without a huge load.... valid concern

I would be interested in what the experts such as Gand have to say about your problem.
 
Sorry folks, not a tower, but that seems like a very big jump, what was the speed on the up pull, what gear was it in?

I would be concerned with that big a jump in temp.
 
This is normal. Check the owner's manual page 2-108:

If you are pulling a load or going up hills, it is normal for the temperature to fluctuate and approach the 250 F (122 C) mark. If the gage reaches the 260 F (125 C) mark, it indicates that the cooling system is working beyond its capacity.

Hope this helps.
 
And so sayeth the Book of Avalanche, Chapeter 2, versus 108.

"...and if thoust are pulling a mighty load and cometh upon a mountain, lest not thy heart hang heavy when thy temperature gauge riseth to 250 for this is how it should be and shall be until the end of all time. Lest not your faith in me waiver as you climb up to new heights and lest not your burdens worry you. Yea I am not offended by thee in my sight unless thy temperature gauge shall riseth more to 260 and I am ignored. For low if thy temperature gauge should rise beyond the rivers will boil, steam will errupt, and geysers of brightly colored fluid will flow forth from me..."

So sayeth the Book of Avalanche...
 
Does this mean I can loose the "newbie" category?

I logon almost everyday (except week-ends) and I have learned a lot more from all of you compare to what I have provided. I don't post often (this is my fifth post!), but I have tried to make it count as much as possible.

This site is fantastic. and I agree with you gandolphxx, I learn something everyday. People are great, and I would hope some day I will get to meet some of you.

I have considered going to the Wild West 2002 cruise since I will be on vacation during that period. But given that I live in the province of Qu?bec, I just could not convince my wife and kids to actually take such a trip with our trailer!

Some other time maybe!

 
Chief said:
And so sayeth the Book of Avalanche, Chapeter 2, versus 108.

"...and if thoust are pulling a mighty load and cometh upon a mountain, lest not thy heart hang heavy when thy temperature gauge riseth to 250 for this is how it should be and shall be until the end of all time. ?Lest not your faith in me waiver as you climb up to new heights and lest not your burdens worry you. ?Yea I am not offended by thee in my sight unless thy temperature gauge shall riseth more to 260 and I am ignored. ?For low if thy temperature gauge should rise beyond the rivers will boil, steam will errupt, and geysers of brightly colored fluid will flow forth from me..."

So sayeth the Book of Avalanche...
Click to expand...
LMAO , Chief!!! ;D
 
Chief

I was wondering why we don't see you on line much on Sunday's - I now understand you have a Sunday job :)

That was very good - LOL
 
Thanks for the info everyone. I am relieved to know that my cylinder heads and manifolds aren't going to spontaneously combust while towing up hills. It was just one more situation where I should have read first before asking questions. As my hero Homer Simpson says every episode: "D'ohhh!!"

Chief - that was an absolutely hilarious translation from the manual. Will you be translating any more of the manual? Then it might be fun to read!
 
I have a '91 5.7L light duty 2500 4.10 gears that had over heating problems. It has the tow package with the tranny cooler and it overheated (260F and boiling over) going up to the mountains here in California towing a 7500 lb toy box with the AC on. The factory radiator is an aluminum one row (pretty wide row). I replaced it with a 4 row brass radiator and it hasen't exceeded 210F yet, even under the same conditions.

When I get my 2500 Avalanche I am going to swap radiators if it looks like the 2500 has a similar radiator to the truck stock radiator.
 
Gstreak, I had the 93 version of your truck. I went through 4 heater cores and a radiator. I couldn't find a brass radiator or heater core to save my life! I'll bet that cost you a piece of change!
 
Good info to know given the upcoming summer camping season. My tent camper (plus other summer toys) isn't all that heavy, but the climb up I-70 to the Eisenhower tunnel at 11,000 feet here in Colorado could be a bit taxing. Now the Av by itself did the trip with no problems on several ski trips - 75-80 mph all the way, but adding a trailer and summer heat and the A/C on will make it more interesting.

Hey midlife - you don't by chance have a tranny temp gauge on that Z-71 do you? Curious as to how your tranny did on that trip if you do. I swapped clusters to get this feature - a nice add-on.
 
Nope - no tranny temp gauge, although I was kind of wondering about the tranny as well. I installed an auxiliary tranny cooler on my last 2 vehicles prior to the Av. I was so excited when I bought the Av and didn't have to add a tranny cooler or a trailer hitch! Of course, those were two things that went in to the plus column when deciding to buy the Av. The plus column so outweighed the negative column that it almost tipped over my Av when I bought it. :love:
 
Chief- ROFLMAO. I had to show my wife that one! (y)

Steelheadchaser- $291 delivered to my front door from Auto Radiator Outlet in the SF bay area. I hope it fits the Avalanche.

(One more post to "regular"dom.) :love:
 
Holy Avacrap Chief, that is THE BEST Holy translation of the Avalanche bible that I have ever heard.

You are truly blessed ;D ;D


I have seen the light and it is bright. Very very bright. :cool: Brighter then Silverstars. Oh Wait, those are my HID's.
 
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