Our family voyage from AZ to AB and back, and a couple issues our 6.0 SMB had

[Czar308]

Originally Posted by ndubes

Issue 1: TFT Sensor code P0731 went off while we were in SLC. I called around to every Ford dealer and all of them were more than a week booked out, great!
....
They tried the TFT sensor replacement with the same results, then had to wait a day to get a new PCM in ($$$), which didn't work either. Finally they decided to replace the entire engine wiring harness ($$) and that worked

Dealing with the transmission wiring harness issue right now too. Had been on a FTE thread here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...2006-e350.html
About 135K on mine. Do you know which harness the dealership swapped? There is one that sits on the transmission and at least one more over the motor to the PCM. I just pulled the trans harness (easy to get to) and about to start bench testing. What did the harness cost if you don't mind me asking? Hope the dealer kept the PCM and not charge you for something you did not need...

Also, what are people using to wrap the harnesses with? It already has that aluminized sleeve around the harness. Is this in addition to, or as a replacement? If I have to pull the engine harness, I want wrap it up before putting a new one in. Only want to do this once!

[ndubes]

Originally Posted by Czar308

Dealing with the transmission wiring harness issue right now too. Had been on a FTE thread here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...2006-e350.html
About 135K on mine. Do you know which harness the dealership swapped? There is one that sits on the transmission and at least one more over the motor to the PCM. I just pulled the trans harness (easy to get to) and about to start bench testing. What did the harness cost if you don't mind me asking? Hope the dealer kept the PCM and not charge you for something you did not need...

Also, what are people using to wrap the harnesses with? It already has that aluminized sleeve around the harness. Is this in addition to, or as a replacement? If I have to pull the engine harness, I want wrap it up before putting a new one in. Only want to do this once!

Man over the course of that month long trip I seem to have misplaced that receipt, and was too frazzled to remember but if I had to guess it's the one over the motor that gets hotter? I know that it was about about a $250 part, but between that and the new sensors and all the time they spent troubleshooting we were in it for about $950. Fortunately they didn't force us to pay for a new PCM - they had gotten an aftermarket one from NAPA (able to get it quicker) that they were able to return. Had it been a Ford part they said we would have had to purchase it. I'll let you know if I can locate that receipt or put a call in to the dealer to confirm.

Also curious to hear how people are wrapping the harness, with the heat in those engines this seems like a great idea. Wiring issues are a major pain, I had an old Toyota FJ40 that I eventually got tired of troubleshooting and ended up completely rewiring! And that was a really simple vehicle compared to these vans obviously

[WinstonSmith]

Did all the upgrades, did early preventive maintenance...still broke down and left us stranded periodically - actually a couple times per year. It was the nature of that 6.0. It was definitely a high maintenance vehicle on the Ford side.

Bulletproofed
Hood vents
Under bumper air scoop
Hydroboost
Fan
Thermostat
Tune
Heat shielding/wrap on exhaust manifold
Etc...
Etc...



The final upgrade I made that fixed the high temperature issue was to upgrade the Starcool condenser fan. I put in a much larger very high flow fan with a on/off switch in the cab. I picked up the parts from Jegs. I had to make some mods to fit the fan behind the grill and make a sort of directional shroud. Even if you don’t have the starcool you could add the fan as a supplement. I never had issues again. Under extreme load when I would see the temps coming up I just turned on the fan and all was well.

[boat guy]

In a totally unrelated venue I had a heat problem with a manual brake system for towing a Jeep behind a motorhome. It was a bowden wire type mechanical system (outer housing and inner wire) that failed 4 times within a year. Engine heat caused the outer housing to swell seizing the inner wire. I wrapped the 5th replacement cable with triple wraps of simple aluminum foil then 'crunched' it together by hand so the foil was about 3/4" of loose insulation. That was 3 years ago and no issues since. Using aluminum foil means you don't have to dissemble the harness and run a heat sleeve over it. Just do a 3" or so overlap between foil sections and you should be good to go.

[ndubes]

I've got the van into my buddy's shop now for some of this work. Decided to go there vs. one of the big diesel shops in town because he's more apt to let me use parts that folks on the forums here have recommended. Going to be installing the mitsumoto low-temp thermostat, a couple of auxiliary cooling fans on a switch, and also exploring a completely new radiator. I'm pouring through some threads on here now as we speak, a lot of people recommending the performance radiator aluminum versions. Little bit nervous about aluminum getting damaged by a rock or something but hoping with the aux fans and stuff in front that it will be well protected. Also have a billet grille that I think should help.

We're also going to install a better transmission cooler, I already have the 6.4 pan installed but the transmission still definitely got hot in the hotter temps and steeper grades. Won't be towing anymore (sold our trailer and we are adding a CCV pop-top) but I think keeping that transmission cooler is a good idea, and a simple enough modification too.

Not sure how accessible the wiring harness is now, but if we can we will wrap that too.

I'll post again when everything is done to let you know how temps are looking, although its now 80 in phoenix vs 110, so I might not really know how effective this all is until next summer!

[carringb]

FYI - the stock radiator is an aluminum core already. When we refer to an "Aluminum radiator" we really mean welded aluminum end-tanks, vs the OEM crimped-on plastic end tanks. So both have the same resistance to puncturing the core, but the aluminum end-tanks are much more resilient to shaking and vibrations, which can cause the crimps to loosen up and shoot the plastic end-tank off the core. There's not really a cooling advantage. It's mostly for durability.

Besides, a rock would have to go through your AC condenser, intercooler, transmission cooler and maybe even power steering cooler first. You'd be well into "file a comprehensive claim" territory at that point....

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by ndubes

I'll post again when everything is done to let you know how temps are looking, although its now 80 in phoenix vs 110, so I might not really know how effective this all is until next summer!

Was hoping you would provide an update - curious to see how the temps are managed after your work is completed (especially the results when you activate the added fan(s) - and please share Pic's of this setup)

Do you also intend to implement a tuner that activates the fan earlier? or are you holding off to see how the recent works addresses your Temps?

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by ndubes

... Also have a billet grille that I think should help.

It is my understanding that while a billet grill is stronger and may help protect a radiator against a rock, a billet grill also permits less air flow and therefore could negatively affect cooling. This is my understanding, but I also have no objective evidence to back it up.


Herb

[ndubes]

Apologies for the delay in my reply, for some reason the alerts for new posts didn't come to my email anymore and as I logged in to the thread tonight I see there were a few more since I last looked.

Anyway, I finally got the van back from my buddy's shop. I had him do quite a bit, and he says I owe him for chiropractic bills since that big sliminess bumper made everything a bit more difficult than it had to be! Here's what we did:

1. replaced the OEM radiator with a performance radiator all-aluminum version. I thought this was "preventative maintenance" until we got it out and did find that there was some hairline cracking on those plastic crimped-on end tanks so I'm glad we did!

2. Since we had the radiator out we also replaced the fan clutch with a new OEM one.

3. Also put in a nice 10" electric fan (with a toggle switch in the cab) in front of the radiator and transmission cooler. I wanted to put in a bigger transmission cooler but we couldn't find a way to get a bigger one in there without doing some serious surgery to the front end, so I am hoping that the electric fan helps both coolant and transmission temps. I like that billet grill less and less every time we're in that engine bay... but I'd like to find something better than the OEM one to go back to too. The fan is very quiet actually, you absolutely can't hear it over the sound of the diesel engine.

4. Also replaced the thermostat with the low-temp matsumoto (thank you Twoxentrix!)
5. Got a tune from 5-star to kick the fan on at lower temps but have not yet loaded the tune. I'm curious to try this out so I can a) hear if the fan is any quieter and b) if it makes a difference with temps

As far as the results... well, that will have to wait probably, it's hard to tell now that it's "winter". It was 110 in Phoenix and I was towing when I was reaching those higher (~240F at grade) temps. Now it's like 70 for the high, and we got rid of our trailer. I will certainly post results next summer, but to me all of this stuff can only help so why not just get it all done? At this point with almost 200k miles on it, and only 10k of those miles mine, I am going to assume that if I haven't replaced it, it's got 200k miles on it and replacing it can't be a bad idea.

In the meantime while weather is nice I'm on to making some changes to the interior (separate threads so I won't sidetrack this one) - putting in an L-Track system for seating, getting a CCV pop-top, shore power, solar, etc. I'm finally starting to understand all the jokes on this forum about not ever adding up your receipts! Thanks all for your help! Love this forum

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by ndubes

3. Also put in a nice 10" electric fan (with a toggle switch in the cab) in front of the radiator and transmission cooler. I wanted to put in a bigger transmission cooler but we couldn't find a way to get a bigger one in there without doing some serious surgery to the front end, so I am hoping that the electric fan helps both coolant and transmission temps. I like that billet grill less and less every time we're in that engine bay... but I'd like to find something better than the OEM one to go back to too. The fan is very quiet actually, you absolutely can't hear it over the sound of the diesel engine.

Looking forward to hearing about your results. If and when you get a chance, would you mind posting a Pic or two of the 10" auxiliary fan - I'm interested in how this was done. Thanks!