2008 overheating h3 alpha

[alphascott]

My h3 alpha has 75k miles on it with 35 tires
During summer time temps it overheats when climbing grades any grade, with ambient temps of 75 to 110
It never really blows off but looses power if Im towing the 4wheelers I have to stop
I did some research an found the tranny is the couse and a tranny cooler is the solution

I live on the western slop of Colorado and this is a deal breaker and I cant believe that GM is that inept

Before I put a cooler in it , does this really work

Thanks much for any help

 

[06 H3]

First off welcome from so cal!

When you say it overheats how high does the needle climb? As for trans you may be overheating it and not even know. In the summer I could pull my trans up to 240 all the time and had no clue until I used a scangauge to read out my trans temps. I put in a cooler to help.

If its your coolant maybe your thermostat is stuck closed or fan clutch is going out.

 

[cgalpha08]

Welcome

I heard a cooler helps...I haven't done it to mine yet...make sure your radiator is clean both front and back. I had an over heating problem and that was the cause for me. As for transmission temps I do not know what they were

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[Best4x4]

Alpha's run warmer due to the extra heat under the hood. I'd test the OEM fan clutch, and drain n flush the coolant. I'd also recommend the Royal Purple "Ice" coolant additive. My alpha with an ARB Bumper, and winch runs around 193-215 depending on the weather and road conditions. My alpha is running the pcm of nc electric fan.

My wife's with a 3.7L, runs from 195 to 212 and that's after a new radiator, water pump, thermostat, coolant, and fan clutch. It was running extremely cool when I bought it like 168-186, but after all the work it basically sits right at the middle of the temp gauge.

 

[3Hummers]

My Alpha routinely hits the 3/4 mark in warmer weather and does lose a little power.

 

[cgalpha08]

I'll post up how it changed when I head to Florida next week

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[Best4x4]

I was down in FL during the holidays, temps were 195-212 (212 was sitting in traffic leaving disney). Out on the open road cruising at 70-75 it was 195-205 via my scanguage II.

I had an external cooler on my wife's 3.7 and it didn't unlock the torque converter as fast and I didn't care for that. With the silla radiator it's back to the stock setup.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I've never had a problem with them overheating when everything is working right.... of course, there are issues to check:
1) do an exhaust gas test on your anti-freeze, a blown head gasket will always cause overheating
2) make sure you're running the correct anti-freeze/water combination
3) normal temp is 212
4) make certain your radiator is fine - the orange anti-freeze they put into these cars can plug a radiator (don't change from orange because it's the only one designed for an all aluminum system) - certainly do a flush on the system
5) loaded, at high altitude with the a/c on will tax a system
6) what was said prior - the clutch fan - make sure it works (you should hear it come on when it starts to get warm)
7) check for leaks in the water pump - air in the system will cause overheating as well (check the weep hole - mine needed a new one at 100k).
8) make sure there's nothing between the a/c cooler and the radiator - depending where you live, lots of crap can get between the two coolers and flat stop the air from getting out.
9) you didn't mention if you have additional skid plates, but if you do - ask yourself, can air get out easier than in?
10) tune ups - generally not applicable with computer controlled motors, but if someone put a tune into your H3 and "forgot" or just didn't put a lower temp thermostat - you'll have problems
11) thermostats stuck open can also cause overheating problems because they let the fluid flow too fast past the internals in the motor.

okay, so once you've tried all of those things - transmission coolers are a double-edged sword. They tend to work too well, and the trans never gets up to temp and they don't really put that much heat into the system because all the "cooler" is is a tube that runs down the inside of the radiator housing... there's just not that much surface to release heat.

But you're in luck, the a#1 best way to cool a motor is an oil cooler - and the Alphas have a boss on the side of the motor (above the filter) that would take a GM factory cooler-lines. buy the lines, put a cooler on the lower air-inlet and you're in business. To give you an idea of how much they cool - I had trouble with a turbo motor making too much heat, and nothing worked to bring the temps down - until I put an oil cooler on; then I had the reverse problem. The cooler was 6"x12" and it dropped the temps 30-40 degrees.