Overheating issue with towing

[Ksnau]

I got a 2024 clipper 9000 ROK which weighs about 1,575 lb dry and loaded with water and my stuff it's a little over 1900 and what I noticed when I picked it up from Utah was going up any kind of Hill if I tried to go faster than like 55 or tried to pass someone and you know not really give it the beans but you know accelerate it would overheat pretty quickly but if you let off the gas it would go right back down to normal temperature very fast like 30 seconds a minute and so it doesn't seem like it's overloading the cooling system. As much as what I've seen is it's getting into a full boost at like 2,000 RPM.

So what I'm thinking is the first problem is that I'm at low RPM so the water pump isn't spinning as fast to circulate the cooling fast enough to shed the heat through the radiator.

Also, because I'm basically at full boost, that means those turbos are getting cooled by the engine's coolant And so it's adding a lot more heat into that system. And so when you let off the turbos aren't putting all that heat in anymore and that's why the system can recover so fast.

I was trying to figure out a way to prevent this from happening or at least make it a little better. And my first thought was I've been running 87 cuz I'm cheap and the car runs fine with 87 without the trailer And even with it under normal driving it does fine. But on any kind of Hill is where you'll see it start to overheat if you try to go faster than like 55 or you try to pass or just even drive normal. But for this trip by the way I live in Phoenix and I usually travel up to Flagstaff So this is pretty much all happening on the i-17. It's pretty much all mountains. There's a three or four big long hill sections that are a big incline percentage like there's signs that say 6% on some of them. I think one of them might even be more than that. I can't remember. so they're definitely difficult for towing and it's Arizona and I'm doing this in the summer for most of it was it's starting to cool off now but until I get far up North it's still in the '90s if not the low 100s during the day so it's been very hot. Although I do try to drive at night when I can.

So anyways on this trip with the 91 octane cuz we don't get that sweet 93 Dyno juice that y'all do out east, it actually was a lot smoother and it only raise the temp gauge one extra bar on a really gnarly Hill and I don't let it get to the full overheating where it it goes to the red. But normally my car runs with four bars on the temperature gauge and only once whenever I tried to pass someone or I did pass someone and it took a very long time and I had to stay in it for a very long time and it was that really steep long Hill before you get to Flagstaff did it go from four to five bars on the temperature? And I didn't even let off. I just let back on the gas to where I was barely pressing it. And luckily by that time I was able to get over in the right lane and it recovered in about a minute maybe less. And so basically it seems like if you're going to tow, it's worth it to put the higher octane gas in and that seemed to help. It doesn't fix the problem but it does help.

Whenever I do my next trip what I plan on doing is I'm going to go back to 87 but now I have a heritage limited which is like a Badlands. So I have the shifters on the steering wheel to manually control the gears. What I'm going to try to do because this thing wants to just stay around 2,000 RPM of the time towing which is fine in a way because it gets full power at like 2,000 RPM is. I'm going to force the transmission to stay in higher RPMs like $3,500 or something so that that water pump is spinning faster and see if that helps at all. I know there's not a lot of people towing with these, but for those that are I'd love to get your input. I have never had a trailer or a boat or anything so this is the first time I've ever towed. So this is all new to me. So anyone's input who is experienced and very knowledgeable about this. I would love to have your input and please not not Google people who can go on at Google. What people with real experience you know? If you want to comment on what you think that's fine but if you're going to say something that you know please please have experience behind it cuz I would love to get thoughts.

Also, when I was looking around online it looks like this is kind of a known issue with the f-150s too, so it's not just ours. It's because of the inco boost setup. It seems like with those tiny turbos and how they get into full boost at super low RPMs or that's my theory and that seems to be a lot of other people's theories too.

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[magicbus]

I used to have to downshift my diesel motorhome on long upgrades or it would overheat. Unless I missed it I didn't catch what BS model you have. If it's the BL you should have manual shifter control. Also, I don't remember why, but I thought the tow rating for a BS is 1500#, even though it is a class 3 hitch.

 

[MoFoCo]

I use sport mode when towing sometimes, keeps the transmission in a lower gear and improves engine braking.

 

[hellb0y]

Dear gosh I stopped reading mid-stream…

get ChatGPT to rewrite this for you.

 

[KidWiff]

I would also have the dealer check to make sure the grille shutters are working properly. (If your model is equipped with them… I know the 3cyl. has them)

If you’re running hotter, all the time, perhaps the shutters are stuck in the closed position and restricting airflow to the radiator

 

[V8 Yankee]

Here is my take after 45 years of towing. First don't scrimp on fuel when towing. Use the best grade you can find and the highest octane. That is the simple fact, it is much more detailed when you get into the subject of fuel. As far as overheating goes; aluminum hates heat, expansion of everything aluminum is much greater than iron. Heat kills so do everything with that in mind. And passing while towing has to be done very selectively, never on a hill unless you have plenty of time to make the pass without getting into the throttle and always downshift.

And as mentioned always use Sport Mode when you pass or, have a strong headwind, or are pulling up a grade. Sport Mode is made not only for fun but is necessary when towing, use it. If you are on the flat and level and have a tailwind Normal Mode will do but watch your speed. If you are trying to keep up with 70 mph traffic then you are asking for problems. You seem to very careful and watching the temp guage like you do is great, little adjustments in throttle and speed make a big difference.

Sometimes it's easy to forget you have a trailer behind you so driving slower is not really a habit unless conditions are perfect. I drive slower and stay to the right and pull over if traffic builds up behind me, it's a habit for me. It sounds like your trailer is a perfect match for the little Bronco but it's still a trailer and you don't have 400 hp to help pull it down the road. I evny you, those ROKs are perfect for the Bronco but take it easy and enjoy the scenery. Your Bronco will be happy. Post a picture of your setup, I like those mini campers and really want to see what they look like behind the little bronco.

 

[beaudointl]

I got a 2024 clipper 9000 ROK which weighs about 1,575 lb dry and loaded with water in my stuff. I think it's a little over 1900 and what I noticed when I picked it up from Utah was going up any kind of Hill if I tried to go faster than like 55 or tried to pass someone and you know not really give it the beans but you know accelerate the car would overheat pretty quickly but if you let off the gas it would go right back down to normal temperature very fast like 30 seconds a minute and so it doesn't seem like it's overloading the cooling system. As much as what I've seen is it's getting into a full boost at like 2,000 RPM.

So what I'm thinking is the first problem. I'm at low RPM so the water pump isn't spinning as fast to circulate the cooling fast enough to shed the heat through the radiator.

Also, because I'm basically at full boost, that means those turboss are either are getting are cooled by the engine's. And so when you let off the turbos aren't putting all that heat in and that's why the system can recover so fast.

I was trying to figure out a way to prevent this from happening or at least make it a little better. And my first thought was I've been running 87 cuz I'm cheap and the car runs fine with 87. But for this trip by the way I live in Phoenix and I usually travel up to Flagstaff. It's pretty much all mountains. There's a three or four big long kill sections that are big incline so they're definitely difficult for towing and it's Arizona and I'm doing this in the summer so it's been very hot. Although I do try to drive at night when I can.

So anyways on this trip with the 91 octane cuz we don't get that sweet 93 Dyno juice that y'all do out east, it actually was a lot smoother and it only I don't let it get to the full overheating where it it goes to the red but only once. Normally my car runs with four bars on the temperature gauge and only once whenever I tried to pass someone or I did pass someone and it took a very long time and I had to stay in it for a very long time. Did it go from four to five bars on the temperature? And I didn't even let off. I just let back on the gas to where I was barely pressing it. And luckily by that time I was able to get over in the right lane and it were covered almost immediately. And so basically it seems like if you're going to tow, it's worth it to put the higher octane gas in and that seemed to help. It doesn't fix the problem but it does help.

Whenever I do my next trip what I plan on doing is I'm going to go back to 87 but now I have a heritage limited which is like a Badlands. So I have the shifters on the steering wheel to manually control the gears. What I'm going to try to do because this thing wants to just stay around 2,000 RPM of the time towing which is fine in a way because it gets full power at like 2,000 RPM is. I'm going to force the transmission to stay in higher RPMs like $3,500 or something so that that water pump is spinning faster and see if that helps at all. I know there's not a lot of people towing with these, but for those that are I'd love to get your input. I have never had a trailer or a boat or anything so this is the first time I've ever towed. So this is all new to me. So anyone's input who is experienced and very knowledgeable about this. I would love to have your input and please not not Google people who can go on at Google. What people with real experience you know? If you want to comment on what you think that's fine but if you're going to say something that you know please please have experience behind it cuz I would love to get thoughts.

Also, when I was looking around online it looks like this is kind of a known issue with the f-150s too, so it's not just ours. It's because of the inco boost setup. It seems like with those tiny turbos and how they get into full boost at super low RPMs or that's my theory and that seems to be a lot of other people's theories too.

I think you are either at or over the towing limit. Now it does tie better than you might think but when you are at or over max weight, you'll need to maybe keep it in sport mode to keep the RPM up and reduce speed a bit. What engine 1.5 or 2.0?

 

[wireman]

See this.

 

[sajohnson]

I got a 2024 clipper 9000 ROKgghing the which weighs about 1,575 lb dry and loaded with water in my stuff. I think it's a little over 1900 and what I noticed when I picked it up from Utah was going up any kind of Hill if I tried to go faster than like 55 or tried to pass someone and you know not really give it the beans but you know accelerate the car would overheat pretty quickly but if you let off the gas it would go right back down to normal temperature very fast like 30 seconds a minute and so it doesn't seem like it's overloading the cooling system. As much as what I've seen is it's getting into a full boost at like 2,000 RPM.

So what I'm thinking is the first problem. I'm at low RPM so the water pump isn't spinning as fast to circulate the cooling fast enough to shed the heat through the radiator.

Also, because I'm basically at full boost, that means those turboss are either are getting are cooled by the engine's. And so when you let off the turbos aren't putting all that heat in and that's why the system can recover so fast.

I was trying to figure out a way to prevent this from happening or at least make it a little better. And my first thought was I've been running 87 cuz I'm cheap and the car runs fine with 87. But for this trip by the way I live in Phoenix and I usually travel up to Flagstaff. It's pretty much all mountains. There's a three or four big long kill sections that are big incline so they're definitely difficult for towing and it's Arizona and I'm doing this in the summer so it's been very hot. Although I do try to drive at night when I can.

So anyways on this trip with the 91 octane cuz we don't get that sweet 93 Dyno juice that y'all do out east, it actually was a lot smoother and it only I don't let it get to the full overheating where it it goes to the red but only once. Normally my car runs with four bars on the temperature gauge and only once whenever I tried to pass someone or I did pass someone and it took a very long time and I had to stay in it for a very long time. Did it go from four to five bars on the temperature? And I didn't even let off. I just let back on the gas to where I was barely pressing it. And luckily by that time I was able to get over in the right lane and it were covered almost immediately. And so basically it seems like if you're going to tow, it's worth it to put the higher octane gas in and that seemed to help. It doesn't fix the problem but it does help.

Whenever I do my next trip what I plan on doing is I'm going to go back to 87 but now I have a heritage limited which is like a Badlands. So I have the shifters on the steering wheel to manually control the gears. What I'm going to try to do because this thing wants to just stay around 2,000 RPM of the time towing which is fine in a way because it gets full power at like 2,000 RPM is. I'm going to force the transmission to stay in higher RPMs like $3,500 or something so that that water pump is spinning faster and see if that helps at all. I know there's not a lot of people towing with these, but for those that are I'd love to get your input. I have never had a trailer or a boat or anything so this is the first time I've ever towed. So this is all new to me. So anyone's input who is experienced and very knowledgeable about this. I would love to have your input and please not not Google people who can go on at Google. What people with real experience you know? If you want to comment on what you think that's fine but if you're going to say something that you know please please have experience behind it cuz I would love to get thoughts.

Also, when I was looking around online it looks like this is kind of a known issue with the f-150s too, so it's not just ours. It's because of the inco boost setup. It seems like with those tiny turbos and how they get into full boost at super low RPMs or that's my theory and that seems to be a lot of other people's theories too.

You might consider weighing the trailer fully loaded. It's very easy to underestimate the weight of added cargo. It's a common problem. I've done it with our RV. It adds up quickly.

Also, I see that it has a relatively large frontal area:
https://coachmenrv.com/clipper-9000-series-&-12000-series

That will create a lot of drag at higher speeds. Years ago we had a Toyota Truck. We were using it to haul some kitchen cabinets. Very little weight, but one of them was tall and stuck up above the cab. We got on the highway and I noticed the truck would not go over ~60 mph with the pedal floored -- just from the wind resistance of that one cabinet.

I'd definitely stick with premium fuel and use the paddle shifters to keep the rpms up, as you mentioned.

 

[NMhunter]

My F-250 Superduty has a tow mode that shifts earlier and stays in a lower gear longer. My understanding is that Sport mode does the same. That hill up to Flagstaff is long and steep. It is a challenge for any trailer. Higher octane may help, and is recommended. You are close to the limit on weight.

I just looked up Heritage Limited and it says its a 1.5L. That is a 5800' climb with a tiny little engine. Draft a semi on the way up.

Defiinitely stay in lower gears when you go back down to keep your brakes from overheating and failing.

 

[Ksnau]

No, that's a common mistake. The heritage is based on the big bend and has the 1.5. I have the heritage limited which is based on the Badlands and has the 2 L. It's basically a Badlands with a special paint job and wheels and then it just has every option like I have the copilot plus the sunroof, the heated seats, leather seats and all that. But it's also Badlands so I do have the 2 L And it came with the towing package stock. So it is rated for 2200 lb. But what I've read online is you don't actually want to get up to that rating. You usually want to stay like 10% under it which I am.

I did a trip this weekend just with premium and it helped immensely. The temp did still go up to five dots when I tried to pass on this really gnarly Hill by camp Verde but with the premium it was actually letting me go higher in the Rev range to at least $2,500 and three grand And that was actually the only time that I went over the normal Ford Temp rating. So I was going to try the manual shifters next time with 87 but honestly at this point I'm just going to use premium every time I tow. But I will try sport mode next time because yeah it does keep it in gear a lot longer and that'll basically do what I wanted to do with the manual shifters.

Just a personal note, I hate shifting an automatic with those manual shifters. It just feels weird to me. I love manual transmissions but it's like for some reason without the clutch being there it just feels weird to me but putting it in sport will hopefully do the same thing.

I did actually weigh the trailer with everything in it at this truck gas station place because I thought I was more like 1,800 lb and I'm actually a little over 19 so it is under the weight limit and this one is actually only 7 ft and 4 in tall so it only sticks about a foot higher than my car so there's not too much wind resistance. And it actually is almost the exact same width as the baby bronco. So only the tires for the trailer stick out a little more. Now. The air conditioning unit on the driver side does stick out but that's only like a square foot of area and honestly I'm thinking about taking it off if I can find a way to make sure it's sealed up right because I can't even use the air conditioner because I always camp out in the middle of nowhere and I haven't put an inverter on yet. And even if I do I don't think I could run the AC for very long and I have the 9000 ROK not the 12000 ROK. I wanted the 12,000 but they just didn't have any units when I was ready to buy. And it's a good thing because those things weigh like 2,150 pounds empty and so with all my stuff and 27 gallons of water it would have weighed almost 400 lb. More than that And that would definitely have more frontal area that wasn't covered by my car because it's like 2 ft wider and it's another foot taller but the 9000 isn't bad. I really like it. I think it's the best trailer for its weight and and class. If you just need something with a bed and a refrigerator and stuff that can get you out of the weather and not weigh a lot. Like if I ever go back to a full size bronco I'll definitely if I can afford it go up to a 12,000 just cuz it would be super nice to be able to stand up inside of there (The 12,000 I believe is 5 ft 10 in inside so it's still not tall enough for some people but it is for me and that's all I care about ) and that one just has a little more room. Cuz with the 9 000 when you pull out the bed extension from the couch there's only like 4 in between it and the wall and then you still have like a little area because it has the table at the end of the couch where some of them don't. So there literally wouldn't be any extra room on the other ones but still it's only like two or three square feet. But anyways I do still love it. And I think the price I got mine at was worth it because the 9000 that I got had an MSRP of $21,000 something so out the door they would have wanted $2,700 in other fees and then tax title and tag was like $2,300 so it would have been another $5,000. So $26,000 that's way too much but I got mine for $16,300 out the door and mine actually came with the optional rooftop tent which I sold to my buddy because it was breaking the mounts and was about to fall off and I didn't want it anyways. So really in a sense I got mine for $15,100.

But back to the towing, the the premium helped immensely and I'll put another comment whenever I take it out next time and put it in sport and see if that seems to help it out even more.

Also for the break comment this thing actually like still stops almost as fast as it does stock. I got a to concha. I forget the name of it but it's a proportional trailer brake controller and it has a bunch of different settings on it and over the past couple trips I've been able to get the settings to dial in where it stops really well and I've never had a time where it felt like it was overheating the brakes or anything. But you know even when I'm going fast downhill I never go faster than 75. I might go like 77 or 78 to get all speed up for a hill but that's it and I always try to leave a huge gap. People drive way too close to each other these days. But yeah. Thanks for the tip but it does seem like as of right now knock on wood. The brakes are doing good and they're working fine to this trailer

If you made it this far, I will say I apologize for my bad writing. I do all this through my phone's voice recognition and it sucks donkey balls and I just always forget to go back and check it afterwards but I pretty much got what I wanted from the comments and it sounds like I was on the right track so thank you all so much I really appreciate it.

Also if any of you want to get a trailer like this or honestly almost any trailer nowadays since they all have trailer brakes so you have to have a seven pin brake controller. I actually made a post about how I did mine. It's not the best post for instructions cuz I'm just too lazy to take the time to really write it out good but it should have the details you need in there and tell you where I did the wires and if you ever have any questions you can always message me and if you're in Phoenix I can actually show you in person

 

[Mark S.]

My F-250 Superduty has a tow mode that shifts earlier

I think you meant it shifts later.

but honestly at this point I'm just going to use premium every time I tow.

This is the way. Your owners manual clearly states the performance improvements available with the use of premium fuel will be most evident when towing in the heat.

 

[Dadio]

Hi Sean, if I understand the key points in your original post here .. you are pulling a Clipper 9000 travel trailer with your Bronco Sport Heritage edition (1.5 dragon + 2,000 lb towing capacity), and you experience coolant overheating on your trips in Arizona while passing vehicles going uphill.

As an old experienced trailer hauler , I agree with the advice from others who have responded here. You are no doubt at the limit of your Broncos towing capability , and you seem to be trying to drive it like you have an F250.

1. Consider the total loaded weight of your rig plus what you have on board the BS.
2. Water is very heavy, 8.3 lbs per gallon. consider filling the fresh water tanks at your destination, and empty the tanks before heading home.
3. Consider lightweight dishes and other items to reduce cargo weight.
4. Reset your speed expectations, sorry to say but 55-60 would be a safe speed limit with this rig. You may need to drive like an “old man” when your RV is hitched Up.
5. The transmission will also be working very hard and potentially overheating consider one of those “ScanGuage” monitors the give you real time monitoring of transmission and cooling temps.
6. Use sport mode

Hope this helps. !

 

[kshaw]

FORSCAN has several options that you can activate for towing. I haven't seen a lot of documentation on what they do though.

 

[xm41907]

A few key things here that I think need clarifying.

1. You say you have the Heritage Limited but your profile says a 2022 bronco sport. the Heritage packages were introduced with the 2023 models. You also mention having the tow package. Was that factory or did you install a third party tow package? For all models, a third party hitch is limited to only 1500lbs. If you do have the 2023 Heritage Limited with the factory tow package, then 2200lbs is your limit. It seems like that's what you have but double checking.

2. How did you weigh your trailer? Was it just some random scale at a truck stop or did you have it weighed by someone that knows what they are doing? The dry weight plus a full water tank is going to weigh over 1750.


What else do you have on it? Assuming #1 is true you shouldn't be putting more than 80-85% of the capacity. which in this case would be 1760-1870lbs. That's basically the dry weight plus water, so adding anything else to it is inside that grey area between 80-85%, which is likely why you're seeing the results you're seeing. You're tapped out, or possibly a bit over. I would first recommend getting it weighed again from somewhere else and see if they pull the same as your first weighing.

Lastly, even if you're in the 80-85% range, you are pulling a significantly heavy load and it will impact the vehicles driving substantially. If you're within the recommended weight then you should be safe and not dealing with overheating like you are. Check to make sure your coolant system is all in good working order. The tow package should have come with an auxiliary cooler. it's possible this wasn't installed for some reason.

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