Changing Coolant System Flow Path Plus Electric Fan
As many know, I've had an ongoing battle with keeping my 2006 F-550 6.0 Liter engine cool and preventing coolant blow out from the degas bottle at high RPM and temps exceeding 200F. To a recap what has already been done, Bullet Proof Diesel water pump, Mishimoto 185F thermostat, AFE Street Dominator radiator with 3 - 3/4" cores 2-1/4" thick, severe duty fan clutch, Blue wire modification to manually switch fan to lock up for maximum air movement cooling, Adding three auxiliary radiators, one in front of the intercooler after the AC condenser to cool half the coolant diverted to a coolant filter system away from the heater core. I figured since before the filter modification, all the coolant went through the heater core where it received some cooling before returning to the engine, The half of the coolant diverted to the filter was no longer being cooled so I installed a Hayden 1040 turbulent radiator in the grill area as described to cool the diverted coolant as if it still went through the heater core. Next I installed two Hayden 405 transmission coolers to cool and condense any steam created by the engine itself and any cavitation created by the water pump. Coolant now flows to one of the coolers from the top of the engine 3/8 hose connection to the degas bottle input connection but to help distribute flow and pressure, I installed a 3/8 Tee fitting to divert some of the coolant flow to the top of the radiator. The degas bottle output hose that used to flow to the top of the radiator, now flows from the degas bottle, into the second Hayden 405 transmission cooler then down to the customized 1x1x3/4 Tee fitting which I fabricated into a 1x1x3/4x3/8 Tee fitting. The output side of the degas bottle now instead of returning to the top of the radiator, returns directly into the intake of the water pump through the 3/8 fitting I added to the Tee. So far it seems to have made a significant improvement. The degas bottle is given less pressure and more removal. When running, the coolant level in the degas bottle drops and on shutdown, rises back up. that tells me the cooling system is pulling pressure from the degas bottle making a coolant purge less likely. I took the truck with TC loaded for a 50 mile test run on the freeway hitting 70 MPH for a good test also going up long grades to increase temperatures. I never needed to turn on the main fan with the switch as the cooling with the modifications seemed to be holding it's own. The electric fan does help considerably. Another nice thing about the electric fan is, it comes on when the AC compressor is on and has noticeably improved the cooling from the AC system in the truck. I'll be looking forward to that this summer or whenever it gets hot outside. I did get a little coolant purge when it hit 202 degrees at 2400 RPM which for this truck was amazing. This was a very small release, not a full on purge like used to happen before all this work. I can see times where I will still need to turn the main fan on but for the most part, the system worked quite well with added AC bonus. I'll be taking a short trip soon to give everything a good test and get back to y'all on that. That will be in the form of a video.
Hayden 18 inch 1500 CFM electric fan.I had to figure a way to mount the fan as it was unreachable from most angles. I also had to trim the center post to get the fan in the space. It's actually quite solid and secure.View of fan and spare tire mount. A dual fan may have actually fit better and not having interference form the center post as the fans would be to either side. This setup blows directly through the cooler behind the condenser which may be better. I'll keep it in mind if I ever need to replace this fan.This is the modified Tee. you can see how I cut and contoured the 3/8 fitting to be tight to the side wall and not impede flow through the fitting.These are the Hayden 405 coolers. the top one handles the coolant coming up from the top of the engine. You can see the 3/8 Tee where it connects to the input side of the degas bottle and diverts or allows flow to the top of the main radiator. The lower cooler has the line flowing from the degas bottle output to the lower cooler then instead of to the radiator, directs coolant down the the custom 1x1x3/4x3/8 Tee and directly into the water pump intake. This puts both connections of the degas bottle to low pressure intakes to the water pump instead of one high pressure in from the top of the block.This is how it is connected. Heater and degas in from the right 1", 3/4" from the heater core split to filter from side, 3/8" from degas bottle from top, To water pump 1" to the left.That is the custom modified Tee. 1" x 1" x 3/4" x 3/8"
