Climbing over the Rockies

Hi,

Your radiator is sitting just behind the rear tires. Be sure to wash it once in a while. Even municipal busses require washing the radiator every 90 days (well they run 2 shifts of 8 hours, 7 days a week) and they never see a interstate highway or many hills.

Yes our mountains are much higher than what you see back east. I know a friend was in a town in Virginia, and he asked about the 'Mountains'. A lady proudly stated that their highest mountain was something like 4200' elevation. He said that the pass from Los Angeles to Victorville is 6500' and that is the pass between the mountains!

The highest mountain that you can take your motorhome on is Pikes Peak, at 14,070 feet. Yet I would recommend taking a car or rental car up that mountain. It is the highest paved roadway in the United States. They have a race to the top each summer. It is just west of Colorado Springs.

Have a great time out west. I hope that you have a chance to visit Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite NP. They are both wonderful!

Fred.

Just slow down, gear down, and enjoy the scenery. Once I was in the western mountain country I never went back east again.

Your gauges will tell you when you need to slow down. If the temps start getting too hot, back off. If the temps stay steady, you are not doing any harm to your engine.

It's a diesel, you can't "push it hard."

Down shift and watch your temps. I go west every year to visit family. The mountains are taller but the grades are more gentle for the most part. We have 6or 7 and sometimes even 10 percent but only for a couple miles while you have longer stretches and higher altitudes out west. That means the radiator is getting less air across it at high altitude. The turbo will cram air in to the engine till you are about 10k feet and higher then that the engine will start to make less power but the heat will continues to increase. So gear down and watch the temps and have a great trip. Not is not a huge issue to slow down climbing either and only go 45 if that keeps the temps down. I know I pulled out of Rapid City and hit the mountains and it was 110 that day. Two DPs were on the side of the road overheated. I know I kept my engine temps down and had no issue. Did the same trip a few months later at 45 degrees and hammered up the mountain at full throttle.

I have a sweet spot of about 1850 RPMs I allow my engine to run 1500 -2200 in the mountains that means I gear down at 1500 and do not rev beyond 2200. The speed is what it is I will always make it up the mountain I have never won a race of any kind in the MH so if 35 is the speed then that is what we will go. Once I took this attitude I never had another overheating problem.

2000 RPM at WOT (wide open throttle) is NOT a problem for your engine. As long as you do not overheat, you are just fine.

And, as already mentioned, check the FRONT of your CAC (Charge Air Cooler) to make sure it is clean. Blockage here WILL lead to overheating. This is accessed from the bedroom/closet. Look inside the fan shroud and verify that the perimeter, particularly the lower perimeter is as clean as the center (the blades sling the dirt to the perimeter).

"The Eisenhower Tunnel remains the highest vehicular tunnel in the United States." " The tunnel carries Interstate 70 under the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. With a maximum elevation of 11,158 ft."

Our RED easily went up & over last Fall.

Brett

I wash my radiator about 2 times each year. I usually use simple green and I have at times uses dawn. I heat up the engine and spray the cleaner on from the inside and let it sit a while. I wash it out from the outside with the hottest water my water heater will give me after I turned it up to the hottest setting. I have a power sprayer I can turn down to a low enough setting that will not hurt the fins and that seems to work well with this hot water. I repeat this process till I see no more dirt coming out. It is really hard to see down past the fan from the inside and see those bottom corners to see if they are clean.

Ken

n4hwl wrote:
Brett

I wash my radiator about 2 times each year. I usually use simple green and I have at times uses dawn. I heat up the engine and spray the cleaner on from the inside and let it sit a while. I wash it out from the outside with the hottest water my water heater will give me after I turned it up to the hottest setting. I have a power sprayer I can turn down to a low enough setting that will not hurt the fins and that seems to work well with this hot water. I repeat this process till I see no more dirt coming out. It is really hard to see down past the fan from the inside and see those bottom corners to see if they are clean.

Ken

I hope you mean Simple Green Extreme. The regular Simple Green is not to be used on aluminum and if you let it sit on the surfaces for more than 10 minutes, and did not rinse it off 100% out of all cracks and crevices, it will start to corrode the aluminum fins in your radiator.
From the factory FAQ section:
The aqueous-base and alkalinity of Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner can accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, contact times for unprotected or unpainted aluminum surfaces should be kept as brief as the job will allow - never for more than 10 minutes. Large cleaning jobs should be conducted in smaller-area stages to achieve lower contact time. Rinsing after cleaning should always be extremely thorough - paying special attention to flush out cracks and crevices to remove all Simple Green product residues. Unfinished, uncoated or unpainted aluminum cleaned with Simple Green products should receive some sort of protectant after cleaning to prevent oxidation.