ML builds an old truck

[Monsterlover]

Overheating has been further diagnosed. It's not an air flow problem, at least not entirely.

It's a liquid flow issue.

For fun I hose clamped a meat probe on the aluminum tubes in the bed that are the radiator inlet and outlet.

At idle with the thermostat open the inlet is hotter than the outlet, by a small amount.

When I'm driving the flow is reversing/stagnating/slowing down. There radiator OUTLET is like 30° hotter than the inlet.

Further research on trophy and drift trucks with bed mounted radiators show they all use high GPM coolant pumps to overcome the tubing to and from the radiator as well as the vertical distance up into it.

I'll be installing a 55gpm inline booster pump on Friday. Hoping this helps things. I don't see how it can hurt.

[Monsterlover]

Well, spent all day putting this pump in. It has definitely helped but the truck still runs hot.

Possible that there is still some trapped air in the system.

In the meantime we have decided to test the air temp where it's entering the radiator to see if it's continually increasing in temp.

My radiator outlet is still hotter than the inlet and we're wondering if it's actually picking up heat vs rejecting it.

Time to gather more data.