Towing Question

[tphford]

Last week I towed my father in laws enclosed trailer with a side by side in it. All was well within the 9K towing limit of my 2017 Limited with tow package. This is the first time I have towed this trailer. My own trailer is a 7x14 that I put my own RZR on and never had any issues. Well this time with my father in laws enclosed trailer I got an engine overheat warning once on the 4 hour drive. it chimed just for a second and then went away. The temperature outside was in the mid 90's and yes it did happen on some long sloping hills in I-15 here in Utah. I switched over the dash view to see my engine temperature and watched it for the next hour. As expected it would rise on the long sloping hills and then go back to normal on the level or downhill slope. It never warned me again after that time and I've never had this happen before.

Other than checking my coolant level and ideas or is this normal? I'm kind of a newb so go easy.

Thanks!

 

[11henrs]

You should invest in a monitor to watch actual numbers. For water temp trans temp and other vital things. If your towing and the dash tells you you’re too hot usually it’s way past time to back off. Just my opinion from experience.


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[tphford]

Thanks for the reply. Should it do this though? Seems like it shouldn’t get too hot or is it normal because it was hot outside, we have the AC blasting and going up hills?

 

[11henrs]

It doesn’t help that it’s really hot+trailer(drag)+uphill+a/c and keeping speed it will eventually overtake the cooling capacity with the so much load over time. It the fact that it comes back down shows it’s working hard. But you need to get a monitor or some kind so you can see when temps get to 210-215 not once they get to 225-230. You start to run out of time and options at that point.


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[yamfanboi827]

I used to have this problem in the family's old 4Runners (wayyyy back in the day). Once we made the move to the expeditions and they're big V8's (i've got a 2010), this was never an issue. We tow in the summer out to laughlin in 115+ degree heat, up and down hills along the 40 in CA. That said, I'm only towing about 28-2900 lbs on my worst day. So I'm not working it as hard as you are.

I picked up a bluetooth OBD reader, and it gives me more information than I could ever want. I agree that those are a good idea to have. I'd imagine that as long as those upper end temps aren't sustained, that you're probably fine. Did the truck feel/sound/behave any different?

 

[inmanlanier]

tphford - With today's designs, there is no margin left on anything. My guess is that Ford sized the radiator to just the right amount of cooling for the design - IMHO you are likely right at the towing limit. Weight is one factor on load, but wind drag is another - and you just added a large load with that enclosed trailer. A large square box is about as bad a drag that you can get.

Is your 7 X 14 trailer enclosed? I'm guessing not since you didn't experience this with that trailer. The drag increase from an open trailer to an enclosed trailer can be significant. What speed were you traveling?

 

[rdlangston13]

What gear, speed, and engine speed were you running? In prolonged high boost situations like long uphill graded it may benefit you to down shift to a lower gear to get the rpms up and the boost down. Once those turbos start building a lot of boost the engine temps will climb quickly.


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[AllBoostNoEco]

Last week I towed my father in laws enclosed trailer with a side by side in it. All was well within the 9K towing limit of my 2017 Limited with tow package. This is the first time I have towed this trailer. My own trailer is a 7x14 that I put my own RZR on and never had any issues. Well this time with my father in laws enclosed trailer I got an engine overheat warning once on the 4 hour drive. it chimed just for a second and then went away. The temperature outside was in the mid 90's and yes it did happen on some long sloping hills in I-15 here in Utah. I switched over the dash view to see my engine temperature and watched it for the next hour. As expected it would rise on the long sloping hills and then go back to normal on the level or downhill slope. It never warned me again after that time and I've never had this happen before.

Other than checking my coolant level and ideas or is this normal? I'm kind of a newb so go easy.

Thanks!

The increasing temps on uphills is normal. Increasing to the point where you get a warning is not, in my experience. I also don’t consider a single warning to be overly concerning. If I had it happen twice during a drive, I’d slow down, but not after one time and it coming right back down.
My 8.5x20 enclosed car trailer has never produced an overly hot engine at 8,500 pounds loaded weight. Trans temps hold around the 210 mark on flat ground at 70 mph, and gets as high as 225 on uphills (computer downshifting as low as 3rd to maintain speed), whether it’s 75 or 95 degrees outside. I don’t know the actual engine temp, because I didn’t have my data logger hooked up any of the times I have towed this, but have never received a warning about engine temp. This applies to both my stock 2WD Plat and my previously owned lifted 4WD on 35s with a custom non-tow tune.

 

[Michael McC]

Make sure you tow in manual. Choose your gear. Shifting heats things up.

 

[MAC1]

A little late to the party here, but I haul a 8.5X24 enclosed ATC trailer with loaded weight @ 7500, no cooling issues in the last 3 years.