Diesel cooling options and ideas

[jeepin48]

To the OP, I applaud you for starting this thread, I too am trying to figure out the same. I traded my 2017 Silverado in for the Diesel Gladiator. I was disappointed a few weeks ago when I go really hot here in Utah pulling a few grades pulling a car hauler with 16' rafts on it. I know I was under the tow capacity but almost overheated towards the top. My friend has the same truck I have and was large part of why I made the jump, now I am concerned I may not be able to tow what I once did and everything I towed should be in the tow limit of the Diesel Gladiator.

I have the same questions you do and hopefully don't regret my decision to get this truck. My background is air cooled VW's and we always add an external oil cooler with a fan to help remove heat. For VWs is all about air flow and getting heat out of the engine.

Were you able to get any data on the grille removed, sorry but this thread got off topic with a T stat fight.

I added Royal Purple Ice/ water wetter into the radiator and am seeing an average of about 7-10 degrees cooler.

Here are my next thought and plans probably in this order, hopefully something positive can come out of this and we can tow without turning the heat on going over passes in the middle of summer.

1. Cutting a few inches off the inner fender or add vents to help get the heat out of the engine bay. I plan this first then might buy inner fender liners that have mesh to move heat.

2. Looking at trying waterless coolant such as https://www.evanscoolant.com/vehicle-types/jeep-off-road/

3. Find a different grille such as https://airdesignusa.com/jeep-wrangler-jl-pro-performance-hexagon-front-grill.html

4. Figure out how to add an external oil cooler with fan to help dissipate heat in another location, maybe under the bed of the truck, etc.

5, find a bigger radiator or same as above but for the coolant in another location.

1. Cutting or removing the inner fender seems like a great way to increase air flow around the engine. It would probably cool the rear sections of the engine the most. I hoped it would help the radiator flow but there are too many other obstructions going from the radiator around the sides of the engine. I may add removing them to my testing as well. Easy and could be a good summer only nondestructive mod.

2. I am personally hesitant to throw additives to the coolant until I am sure it would not effect the longevity of the coolant. After finding that old coolant would chemically eat the head gaskets on some Subaru engines, I am very cautious of introducing anything. To each their own so if you have success please report back.

3. I think the grill could be significant. I have a sport (unbezzeled) grill on the way. If I have to cut it up I will. I hope by removing the grill completely it will tell the story of the grills impact. We are foretasted to have temps in the 80s late this week so I may be able to get some testing done.

4. Engine oil cooler would be great. I see Mishimoto has some but they are marked as universal. If it had a powered fan it would be great. That way it could run under the bed in the back somewhere.
If anyone knows where the OE oil lines are located please chime in. I see a small plate cooler near the rear of the driver side but I can not confirm if it is for oil or trans.

5. It looks like a bigger radiator will be out of the question for some time it looks like you have too many other components mixed in EX. AC, Trans, turbo inter cooler.

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[Pike1892]

2. I am personally hesitant to throw additives to the coolant until I am sure it would not effect the longevity of the coolant. After finding that old coolant would chemically eat the head gaskets on some Subaru engines, I am very cautious of introducing anything. To each their own so if you have success please report back.

It is said to also help with corrosion. It removes the water and coolant mix completely.

I have also looked at getting the Mishimoto trans cooler to help with towing, even though I have one now this seem better. https://www.mishimoto.com/jeep-gladiator-performance-transmission-cooler-2020.html

Looking forward to your results, we are sitting around 100-105 degrees this week.

 

[jeepin48]

To the best of my knowledge this is where the radiator components sit.

From the top there is very little room to let radiator flow pass.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

To the best of my knowledge this is where the radiator components sit.

From the top there is very little room to let radiator flow pass.

I take back what I said about the horns - your diagrams are great! Kudos for really getting down and dirty and detailed with this.
I do have to ask, though - aren't those lights having some impact if you look at those as something that's going to disrupt the air and cause turbulence that may actually divert air up and away instead is leaving the light and going directly into the radiator? IT's not going to flow smoothly over them and right back in.

 

[jeepin48]

I take back what I said about the horns - your diagrams are great! Kudos for really getting down and dirty and detailed with this.
I do have to ask, though - aren't those lights having some impact if you look at those as something that's going to disrupt the air and cause turbulence that may actually divert air up and away instead is leaving the light and going directly into the radiator? IT's not going to flow smoothly over them and right back in.

I am 100% dumping that light bar. That was the best picture I had on hand to write up.

 

[jeepin48]

Is there any purpose for the hood liner and the engine cover beyond noise? If we go with hood vents it might be best to remove both. Any cons?

 

[staying_tuned]

Is there any purpose for the hood liner and the engine cover beyond noise? If we go with hood vents it might be best to remove both. Any cons?

For track days on cars with aluminum hoods, we’d yank both and allow the hood to act as a giant heat sink. This took on at the OEM level to the extent that VAG no longer has hood liners on their RS3 or Golf R. That led to folks being concerned about the hood paint baking but so far so good and it’s been 3 years. Assuming our hood is steel, I bet there would still be a lot of heat mitigation to be had by removing them along with the additional sound deadening rubber bits found throughout the bay. Aside from the front being drastically different on the RAM Eco, it also has far more room for the heat to escape. Ours is in there like a pig in a blanket.

 

[InvertedLogic]

2. Looking at trying waterless coolant such as https://www.evanscoolant.com/vehicle-types/jeep-off-road/

Looking at their data sheet, this stuff has a Thermal Conductivity 2.5x less than that of water. 0.27 W/mK vs 0.67 W/mK. That doesn't seem like a great idea when trying to combat heat issues.

Water is pretty much the best heat conductor/absorber that we have.

 

[CLM]

I put these on recently; I honestly don't know if they do anything to lower temps in the engine compartment, but they looked pretty cool. I put the rears on also and they aren't vented, just solid aluminum, so that makes me think the mesh is for air flow.

 

[Wageslave]

4. Engine oil cooler would be great. I see Mishimoto has some but they are marked as universal. If it had a powered fan it would be great. That way it could run under the bed in the back somewhere.
If anyone knows where the OE oil lines are located please chime in. I see a small plate cooler near the rear of the driver side but I can not confirm if it is for oil or trans.

If it were me, I would probably hook the oil cooler to the return line of the turbo. You wouldn't have as much volume as elsewhere, but you would get the hottest oil in the system into a cooler before it had a chance to return to the block. This would definitely help with the longevity of the oil and keep from putting heat back into an already hot system.

 

[jeepin48]

This is how I will determine where to put hood vents or louvers. The ribbon on the front flapps the fastest so something across the front (scoping back towards the windshield) would draw out the most heat. Up near the windshield you can see it doesn't know what direction to go.

 

[wv_gladiator]

I'd like to see some real heat extractors on the hood.

 

[Pike1892]

I put these on recently; I honestly don't know if they do anything to lower temps in the engine compartment, but they looked pretty cool. I put the rears on also and they aren't vented, just solid aluminum, so that makes me think the mesh is for air flow.

Was this on a diesel? I know the Diesel has a washer tank that interferes and some work and some dont and can be complicated to install. I have been looking at getting these or the smittybuilt.

 

[Pike1892]

Looking at their data sheet, this stuff has a Thermal Conductivity 2.5x less than that of water. 0.27 W/mK vs 0.67 W/mK. That doesn't seem like a great idea when trying to combat heat issues.

Water is pretty much the best heat conductor/absorber that we have.

I think the point of this coolant is that it has a higher boiling point and doesn't start to breakdown like coolant does at higher temps.

My concern is getting the engine runs hotter without boiling over. Coming from an air cooled VW guy more heat in the engine block is not good.

I am not sure how these products work but hopefully somebody can chime in that has used it. Just trying to think of several alternatives.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Looking at their data sheet, this stuff has a Thermal Conductivity 2.5x less than that of water. 0.27 W/mK vs 0.67 W/mK. That doesn't seem like a great idea when trying to combat heat issues.

Water is pretty much the best heat conductor/absorber that we have.

I have a TSB from AMC from I believe it was the 1970s. They were addressing cavitation of the timing cover (which is the back side of the water pump) and other issues related to coolant. They did scientific studies with plain water, a perfect 50/50 mix of water and "antifreeze" and I think some other combo - I'll have to see if I can find it again. Anyway, part of the study was also cooling efficiency.
Their finding was that the 50/50 mix flowed better - there was something like 1.5 gpm more flow than plain water, whatever else they used. Heat removal was better and it prevented damage by cavitation behind the water pump (the timing cover)
It was quite interesting (at least to me - hadn't seem anything other than my text books from college discuss such things until I ran into their study on that TSB)

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