09dreamer

Hi all,

You all might want to read this review if you are thinking of taking your '09 F-150 through some heavy mud. Sounds like there may be some overheating issues...

http://autos.canada.com/news/story.h...8c69e38681&p=7

spydyrwyr

Eh, no big deal to me. Not exactly a news flash that heavy mud can clog up a radiator which results in overheating. Similarly, nothing new that mud can gum up an alternator and result in charging issues.

I had a 95 F-150 that I took through some deep stuff, had overheating and charging issues. Took alternator apart, cleaned, re-assembled, and had no issues. I sprayed the radiator out at the car wash, thought it was clean (it looked it) and still had issues. Pulled the radiator the next day and sprayed BUCKETS of mud out of it even thought it looked clean through the grill. After that, no problems ever again.

09dreamer

What you say is true, but I have had my Titan in very heavy mud since day 1 - never truly had a good cleaning from below, but never have had the engine overheat whatsoever. This is bad news for someone like me looking at getting an FX4 and who goes in the rough stuff through construction sites nearly every day...

My explorers never had overheating issues either... both of them off-roaded hard too

Attached is a typical day for me at work...

spydyrwyr

gotcha... i wish i was riding through that stuff to work everyday. that being said, the deep mud i was talking about makes the entire truck, everything (hood, roof, side windows) except for the tailgate covered in mud.

Just a side note to consider, hopefully it'll put your mind at ease a bit. I read a similar article where they were driving a tester, demo F-150. They said that that demo truck had been through TONS of off road trials, mud bogs, etc. and they hadn't done too much to clean it up or maintain it. I imagine it would be about the same for this one. I think you'll be completely fine (with any truck for that matter) unless you're getting mud over the hoodline consistently. Just my $.02

09dreamer

Thanks! I hope you are right. I want to be a Ford believer once more.

BTW I have been through mud as you described, just maybe not on a daily basis... Many days my truck is more brown than black. It does however make work more tolerable during those days... Nothing like power-sliding yourself around a job site. I just hope the F-150 traction control doesnt intervene... still trying to get feedback on that..

Anyway thanks for your input.