[mike Crawford]

If I drive my pickup around home it is fine .
If I drive it up hills that are very steep or long hills like the mountains of W.V. it will get over the 100 degrees Celsius going up the hill or mountain and then drop back too the hundred when going down hill .
This is running empty .. No trailer or camper etc .
Is there any bigger rads available ..
Any trucks I have looked at have the same size rad as mine .Even 305 and 350 four wheel drive .Any help would be nice .Maybe It has some thing to do with timing or maybe the cam is worn out ,

[RWENUTS]

Do you have a real gauge or just the factory one?
What thermostat?
What rad cap rating?
Do you have a thermo fan?
How hot does it really get?

[mike Crawford]

Factory gauges
Thermostat is one put in a local garage .
Rad cap is original
Clutch fan .

How hot does it get >>>>
Went to the states via port Huron
It was July 01st week end and the line up to get across the border was three hours .
It was sitting idling in traffic and slowly got hotter and hotter .
the gauge got close to the red mark
I had too pull over and let it cool down.
I sat for two hours on the side of the road
Once it was cool and the traffic was not so not bad ; I got over the bridge and it was fine as long as I was driving .
On the return home it also starting heating in the line up at the border ,
Once I got on top of the bridge I shut the motor off ; And as the traffic moved I let it roll down the bridge ; motor off and using the brakes as each car moved through the crossing .
By the time I got to the crossing it was back down to the 100 .
I drove 5 hours home and all was fine .
Then I went to W.V. and drove 12 hours without issues .
Once I started to go up long hills ; two- three and four miles long it would start to heat up past the 100 mark ..then as the hill would go down for a few miles it would go back down too the 100 degrees , It seemed to not like to pull hard or it would heat up .

[DoubleVision]

How many miles are on it?

[RWENUTS]

You need to check a few things.
1. Exactly what thermostat is in it. You probably need a 160 or 180 degree one.
2. Is your rad full of coolant?
3. Do you have air flow thru the rad? Hold a piece of paper in front of it. Paper should get sucked onto the rad.
4. Check what rad cap is rated at. The pressure will be stamped on it. Put on a new one.
5. Is the overflow/return canister on the rad there and working. Must have coolant in it. Has a cold and hot level marked on it.
6. Do you have a 50/50 mix of coolant in it?

[mike Crawford]

Will have to check the thermostat, Was instated by the local garage .
Rad is full of coolant. Reservoir is there and has coolant in it .
It is full to the "" fill cool line "" and is 50- 50 mix .
Will put a new rad cap on .

As for the mileage. This truck has another motor installed.
So I am not 100% sure of the mileage on the motor .
But it goes over 1500 km without adding oil .. Does not smoke and runs good and smooth .
If you never took it to the big hills or set in idling traffic for long periods of time you would never know there was anything wrong .
It does lack a bit of power when you hit the big hills but you would expect a six cylinder to have a little less jam than a eight.

But I guess my next question is this ..
Will high miles make the motor run warm .
Can a worn cam and lifters make a motor run warm.
Can some thing be wrong with the clutch fan ..
Can tire size make the truck run warm .
I have 30.5 -15 tires on the rear

[RWENUTS]

Check the airflow like I suggested with a piece of paper. Could well be your fan as indicated by heating up in slow traffic.
One more thought. Do you have a fan shroud?

[mike Crawford]

yes I have a shroud .
I was told there is a bigger rad ; But the rad is off a v-8
And a v-8 should have a shorter shroud .
I think I will have the garage do a compression test .
If it is high miles it should show some loss of compression