Sounds like you need to look into getting a tranny cooler, especially consider it if you plan on doing more hauling in the future. Keeping it cool will certainly prolong the lifespan of it for sure, in addition to regular maintenance with transmission fluid and filter changes. While this truck is very capable of hauling, to do it regularly however it will certainly use some upgrades to make sure it stays reliable IMHO, starting with a tranny cooler.

As for the temp gauge, you need to understand that the gauge is not precise in it's measurement, as long as you're not pegging in the hot limit, you should be alright. Trust me, the dash will warn you if you get too hot via the dash readout, especially if you're running A/C, as it will shut it off if it nears overheating along with an audible "ding ding ding". As me how I know... *sigh* (stupid aftermarket water pump, that thing bled coolant out of my truck like a stuck pig when it went after almost a month of install, it's Duralast or AC Delco for me here on out) My recent experience with a spectacular water pump failure scared the crap out of me, but at least it gave me a good audible warning via the dash and chimes when it failed.

Anyway, hope this helps, good luck!

 

x2 on the trans cooler and a scangauge for piece of mind. the Ultra is around $75 and the scanguage around $150 or used from CL or ebay ... this is from my old 3.5L with the 180* t-stat as a reference.

 

If you have an 04 or 05 truck, the thermostat you installed (or had installed) is a hotter thermostat than what was removed. Therefore it WILL read hotter on the gauge because it is hotter.

I always suggest an OBD reader to display the actual coolant temperature. Mine runs 220-225 in town with ambient temps over 100 and driving in city traffic running Air Conditioning.
Under 'normal' conditions the temp of my truck is 188 or so. With A/C it will hang out around 196. On my 2008, the needle sits about 5/8" up with the OEM hotter thermostat. So it will be even higher on the gauge if you have the 05/06 model year with a newer model thermostat as your gauge is not calibrated identically to what the newer model truck is.

You also have not specified the trailer weight -which could very well be too heavy for your truck making the tiny motor labor a lot which will of course increase engine temperature.

 

21 ft Shawnee rver boat with a 20hp merc. So the truck is way under the recommended weight.

Never got the ding ding ding for too hot.

Did find one reason, talked to the mechanic and he said they are bad for collapsing the lower radiator hose .

Well the gauge was never calibrated from the factory.

 

Collapsing the lower radiator hose? That's a new one for me... I'm the second owner of my truck with over 150k on the clock, so far that hasn't happened with mine and I'm on my second T-stat.(180F unit) Me and my dad replaced it to boot, maybe I've been fortunate? *shrugs*

As I sort of explained before in my previous post, FWIW I don't think any of the thermostat gauges are "calibrated", they only have a certain "range", with the newer 195F T-stats running the engine hotter than the original 180F T-stats.(as 08Canyon sorta explained) The reason behind this as I understand it is for better emissions on the newer trucks, as per GM. For those of us in the south however, (like ME) the original 180F unit is preferred as the 100F summer days here can make the truck run like a dog with the A/C on due to the aluminum engine being prone to heat soak.(and I have a black truck to top it off, haha)

So yea, if you have a 195F T-stat installed, I highly encourage you to find a 180F T-stat and get that put in to give you some peace of mind Arkie.

Hope this helps, good luck!

 

Also, when refilling the coolant system you need to make sure there are no air pockets. If the truck is on the slightest incline (nose up) you can get an air pocket on the back side of the cylinder head.

One of the few things I like by design on most german cars is they have a bleeder valve within the coolant system to prevent these issue.

 

Soft lower radiator hose, yep it was collapsing. dont know if that was all the problem but part of it. I had forgotten some of the older cars would do that also. thats why the older ones had springs in the lower hose.

 

Probably a bad fan clutch, if there is any hint of fluid leakage from the shaft seal it is junk. I have pulled up to 5,000# with my '04 I-5 in 100+F temps over California's "I-5 Grapevine" and other pass's without any overheating issues. You might also want to look at adding a trans cooler, mine is a 5-spd manual so I don't have an issue there.
If you must buy a fan clutch don't use anything but an OEM AC/DELCO which are about $90. from Rock Auto. In an emergency you can always remove the fan clutch, drill two pilot holes from the front most of the way thru, & install a couple of 1/4" or 5/16" self threading bolts to lock-up the fluid clutch. This is an old circle track trick we used to reliably cool disposable "factory stock" race cars.

 

taken today, my 2012 with a 192*/195*? t-state ...

 

The gauge position between an early model year with upgraded thermostat can't accurately be compared to a new model as the gauges are not equally calibrated.

 

Mine received a new water pump and thermostat last year.

Gauge went from around the half mark to in between half and third (closer to 3rd with A/C).


Only thing I noticed is now my clutch fan kicks on way more.. although.. I may just need a new fan (or convert to electric).

 

Running a 50/50 mix? Switch it to 60% water 40% antifreeze.

 

Pre-mixed is what went back in (Dexcool).

My old ZR2 Blazer was switched over to regular green coolant when it got a new radiator. Is there any issues with changing our Collys to green?

 

Both are based upon the same propylene glycol but Dex-Cool uses different inhibitors & claims to have a longer useful life. Its probably best with GM vehicles stick with the Dex-Cool while under warrantee. My home fleet includes GMC, Honda, & several ZX-3 Fords all on the same wally-world green.

 

Ok still doing the hot thing.

Had some problems had a mechanic repair them was fine for a day. So I bought a large reader that has mulitfuction.

NOw if you have a problem it tells you what it it is right? Yep Clear the codes and the SOB runs fine. lights still off and its been three days.

Weird.

 

50/50 is just that 50/50 not 60/40 is that OBAMAS new bs math?

Who is the jerk that invented the hose clamps, total crap the old style screw clamps never failed guess today mechanics have to just buy more tools to do the same work.

Yes the lower hose at 10 years old was soft and when you revved the motor it collapsed like the old days when motors were big and tougher than hell.

 

Pulled my 6X14 box trailer to San Angelo TExas and back to the Ozarks.

I did add Royal purples water wetter, to the coolant, cant say it helped but the truck was constant on the temp gauge. No overheating and it was hot last week.

 

My 05 runs hot like that with an aftermarket thermostat. I just accepted it is going to run hot pulling a 6x12 enclosed trailer with a 60, 36, and 21" Exmarks and another cookie hundred pounds in hand helds blowers, tools and fluids.

I have efans as well.