Chevy Express 1500 radiator/cooling help sought

[goin camping]

Vehicle is a 2003 Chevy AWD 1500 Express van 5.3 engine.

Problem is when towing my 4,400 pound trailer up long grades the needle moves into the red.

What can be done to improve the engine cooling on this van?

Guys, I appreciate the suggestions so far but we live, camp and explore in there Mojave desert. Really like to get suggestions on increasing the cooling capacity.

 

[ahlgringo]

First thing I would do is change out coolant and clean your radiator. Amazing how much/many overheats are from dirty coolant and plugged radiators. Obviously also make sure your tstat is functional and not sticking.


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[marret]

I have a similar situation with my 2008 GMC Savana 3500 with 6.0 where pulling long grades towing the engine starts getting hotter. I can control how hot by limiting RPM though. I haven't actually gone into the red, but going through WV and some long grades in SW VA towing 3400 pounds that needle was higher than I wanted. My van is also 9k plus pounds.

My temp gauge will go up 10-20 degrees also when just pulling long grades when it is hot.

What RPMs are you pulling going up the grade? If you haven't, I'd definitely flush the coolant system and make sure the radiator is clean as mentioned by @ahlgringo.

 

[Olle]

You probably have a 2003 year model if you have the 5.3

2002 are the old gen with 5.0 & 5.7

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[goin camping]

You probably have a 2003 year model if you have the 5.3

2002 are the old gen with 5.0 & 5.7

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Thank you. You are correct and the OP changed.

 

[marret]

You might also make sure your clutch fan is working correctly.

 

[40sqft]

I have a 2008 1500 van and I did some part-number cross referencing on Rockauto. I found that the 1-ton diesel van of the same year has a thicker radiator and some radiator baffles that my van doesn't have. That would be a great place to start. Bigger radiator and better airflow are really the only ways to improve capacity. An external trans cooer would take a little load off the system too since it relies on the radiator to cool the trans but I don't think that would make nearly the difference that a larger radiator would make.

 

[goin camping]

I have a 2008 1500 van and I did some part-number cross referencing on Rockauto. I found that the 1-ton diesel van of the same year has a thicker radiator and some radiator baffles that my van doesn't have. That would be a great place to start. Bigger radiator and better airflow are really the only ways to improve capacity. An external trans cooer would take a little load off the system too since it relies on the radiator to cool the trans but I don't think that would make nearly the difference that a larger radiator would make.

Was the 1 ton radiator a direct fit bolt it?

 

[Scotty D]

That is way too much for our 4L60E transmissions to take. You are going to kill that thing, . I know our vans are rated for more than that, but in real life they just cant take it. The 4L60E is the weak link in an otherwise bulletproof drivetrain. I would not tow more than a few thousand pounds at highway speed in the mountains. Even that is not a great idea. The overheating is the least of your worries here.

 

[NatersXJ6]

To a similar point, you can make sure you have an auxiliary transmission cooler dumping heat elsewhere, not only the cooling lines through the radiator.