The driver of the farm workers’ bus involved in the crash on the M5 last year got 6? years. He continued driving a vehicle he knew was likely to come to a halt.
If you are determined to ignore the advice that as the driver you will be the person responsible for any resulting incident then, as said turn the heater on full and choose a gear which allows the engine to rev freely and at the same time ease off on the throttle so that the engine could accelerate if you pressed harder.
cav551:
The driver of the farm workers’ bus involved in the crash on the M5 last year got 6? years. He continued driving a vehicle he knew was likely to come to a halt.If you are determined to ignore the advice that as the driver you will be the person responsible for any resulting incident then, as said turn the heater on full and choose a gear which allows the engine to rev freely and at the same time ease off on the throttle so that the engine could accelerate if you pressed harder.
from motorway speed traffic you will do a good few yards even if the thing conks out, you will coast with time to get over to the left verge or h/s unlike the numpty that was sat in the overtaking lane on the w/b a50 this afternoon!
some folk are to stupid to drive even after passing a test!
Moose:
cav551:
The driver of the farm workers’ bus involved in the crash on the M5 last year got 6? years. He continued driving a vehicle he knew was likely to come to a halt.If you are determined to ignore the advice that as the driver you will be the person responsible for any resulting incident then, as said turn the heater on full and choose a gear which allows the engine to rev freely and at the same time ease off on the throttle so that the engine could accelerate if you pressed harder.
from motorway speed traffic you will do a good few yards even if the thing conks out, you will coast with time to get over to the left verge or h/s unlike the numpty that was sat in the overtaking lane on the w/b a50 this afternoon!
some folk are to stupid to drive even after passing a test!
Correction - some folk are just stupid! 
Winseer:
Running the blowers on hot with the windows open helps - seriously!
it works great, we do this with the drifting, though we aint allowed to open the windows fully so it gets a tad hot inside the car…especialy in this weather
Cleaning between the cores with a compressor is a good idea, but be careful using a jetwash. If the vehicle isnt used to pulling a trailer in summer, it will get hotter, but I would certainly have a look at it before leaving the flatlands for the hills of ■■■■■■■ 
A lot of vehicles over heat in summer due to dust and winter salt and other items that get trapped between the rad and inter cooler or stick to spilt oil on them,by putting my heater on when climbing the steepest hills in Derbyshire the temp stays at 80 and the engine fan doesn’t need to cut in ,if I didn’t do this the temp would be over 90 with the fan roaring .
As has been said above, blow the rad out with air but if using a power washer be careful because it can bend all the fins on the rad. They are delicate enough. Another thing you could do as a temporary solver for this trip is to remove the thermostat. It wint do any harm to the engine and will get you down and back with no problems.
3 bolts on the top of the engine where the top rad hose connects to. I would be checking it anyway to see if its stuck closed.
If a vehicle has a removable thermostat, then when this is removed, the coolant is forced around in a longer loop, and therefore becomes harder to overheat. The thermostat being present only seems to help a seriously cold engine quickly warm up on cars I’ve had. I dunno how much similarity there is on trucks though I must admit.
What I’m getting at of course is the idea that you could remove the damned thin in March, and not worry about putting it back until November… 
The thermostats will, when closed, keep the coolant flowing inside the engine, when open they allow the coolant to flow through the radiator too which cools it down, when this not enough, the fan kicks in, however, if the thermostats are locked in the closed position the fan will have little effect, it will force air past the engine, but it’s main function is to increase the airflow through the radiator, not to cool the engine.
The simple way to check a thermostat is to drop it in boiling water or put it in a fridge. It should open in boiling water and close in a fridge, if it doesn’t, throw it in a skip and get a new one.
newmercman:
The thermostats will, when closed, keep the coolant flowing inside the engine, when open they allow the coolant to flow through the radiator too which cools it down, when this not enough, the fan kicks in, however, if the thermostats are locked in the closed position the fan will have little effect, it will force air past the engine, but it’s main function is to increase the airflow through the radiator, not to cool the engine.The simple way to check a thermostat is to drop it in boiling water or put it in a fridge. It should open in boiling water and close in a fridge, if it doesn’t, throw it in a skip and get a new one.
Well you learn something new every day. I didn’t know that’s what happened. Very well explained for a layman like me!
If you are carrying animals long distances in hot weather then don’t even think about setting out in a vehicle that you have any mechanical doubts about.
Either get it fixed, or get a vehicle that is up to the job.
That said, any 7.5 t truck with a loaded trailer on is going to get hotter than usual in this weather…that’s OK…it’s only if the thing overheats that you have a problem…there’s a big difference between hotter than usual (say 95 rather than 84 C) and going over 120 C and the thing boiling up.
The latter situation is quite dangerous. It will take ages for the cooling system to cool down enough for you to be able to safely top it up, and you may have to bleed it through.
All the time, the animals will be getting hotter and hotter…
Thanks for the tips.
Giving the rad a bit of a clean is something I’ll try to arrange prior to departure.
As many people have suggested, I suspect the extra heat is part and parcel of working hard and not so hot that it is in danger of boiling over, but it is reassuring to know of ways to prevent keep the temperature rise within reason.
Thanks again
Drain the coolant, flush it through with hosepipe.
Get some of that central heating flushing liquid from your local plumbing supplies - add a litre to your header tank and run with fresh water for a couple days.
Drain it down and watch the crap fly out.
While your at it clean the fins on your rad and check the thermostat.
I wouldnt take anything out that i know may not get me home especially if carrying animals.
Simples travel at night when its cooler ( you could be the dark horse) 
Heater on full and run engine as near to max rated rpm as possible.
Ok engine is burning more fuel so producing more heat but the cooling fan is turning faster and blowing more cool air through the rad but more important is that the water pump is moving the coolant much more efficiently at high rpm from around the cylinder head into the radiator matrix where it can disperse the excess heat to atmosphere.
Thats why stationary diesels eg generators or pumps run at near max rated rpm to stabilse coolant and therfore head temperatures.
Bking:
Heater on full and run engine as near to max rated rpm as possible.Ok engine is burning more fuel so producing more heat but the cooling fan is turning faster and blowing more cool air through the rad but more important is that the water pump is moving the coolant much more efficiently at high rpm from around the cylinder head into the radiator matrix where it can disperse the excess heat to atmosphere.
Thats why stationary diesels eg generators or pumps run at near max rated rpm to stabilse coolant and therfore head temperatures.
I tried explaining this to my transport manager recently, he simply couldn’t understand it… Sometimes I wonder about people 
Dipper_Dave:
Could also try running the engine hot and seeing if the cooling fan kicks in, perhaps check the thermostat as well.If it only got to just a smidgen above normal this may not have been enough to trigger the fan.
The old Cargo worked with a constantly moving fan, not the thermostatic type your alluding to. (And why Ford designed a vehicle with an engine tilted at 45 degrees, God only knows.)
Removing the rad won’t be difficult, and as has been suggested, washing gently with a jet wash, and then backflushing it. I would then add new coolant, as it hasn’t been said when it was last replaced.
Done it on many a car, and while the truck rad is bigger, the principle will be the same. Allow around half a day to do properly, and not rush it.
Ken.
Another problem with using a steam cleaner on the rad on most (but not all vehicles) is that the crap then just gets trapped between the intercooler matrix and the radiator core and on newer vehicles it has to pass through the condensor for the air con.
Once took an Iveco Eurotech radiator out to steam the core and a bloody wasps nest was between the cooler and the rad.Funny buzzing noise,had a look and ran like hell.Bad buggers them little yellow and black beasts,specialy when they get wet!
To clean a core proper you got to split the cooler and the rad.
Have we established whether this is a FORD Cargo or an IVECO cargo? I seem to recall changing plenty of rotten or furred up Ford rads back when they were an everyday fleet motor. If it is a Ford does it still have a fan cowling? it’ll run hot without one. Also think the Ford had a viscous fan, which needs to work, but it was a long time ago.
I remember locking the viscous fan in on a Volvo that struggled a bit, a 10mm spanner was all you needed. We had just gone up to 36tonne and I was running up Scotch a lot. Kills the fuel consumption though. 
