Gen2 Raptor Overheating

[pearlygates59]

Hi all

This morning I took my 2017 Gen2 out for a blast in the sand dunes - I live in the Middle East. Air temp was around 25°C.
I drive pretty hard, in Desert Mode, manual, and often will be redlining the engine on steep dune climbs.
I've driven this way a lot - yes, I know, not great for the engine but up until recently never had an issue.
Today my engine temp rapidly shot up whenever I did any hard driving - as soon as I stopped it returned to normal. Also a burnt rubber smell coming from the engine bay! Nothing sinister seen by visual inspection and the truck seemed totally fine for the hour's journey back home.
My fellow drivers were in pretty much stock FJ Cruisers and Jeep Wranglers. No overheating issues for them despite them driving just as hard as me.
I ended the drive pretty quick as my truck kept defaulting to low power mode after high temp warnings were triggered.
So - questions are:
1. I don't think there's a fundamental issue with the truck; if the thermostat was broken it wouldn't cool back down quickly like it did every time, but any ideas as to any other faults would be welcome.
2. Are there any upgrades I could do fairly cheaply to mitigate this issue?
I beat the **** out of my Raptor - I drive it hard in the desert like it was designed to be driven but this overheating is new, and I'd like to get it sorted somehow.
Many thanks

 

[FordTechOne]

If it didn’t overheat while driving it the same way under the same conditions previously, it sounds like something is wrong. Did you verify the coolant was full? Were the radiator and charge air cooler fans on high speed when the temperature was rising?

 

[pearlygates59]

Just checked the coolant now and it's on minimum so probably needs a top up. Fans appear to be working fine.
I think it was maybe just a particularly aggressive driving day. I might replace the thermostat with the SPD upgrade and see if that makes much difference too.

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Post some pics of your truck in the dunes while you are at it.

 

[pearlygates59]

 

[pearlygates59]

0630 this morning.

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

i would also check the radiator fins to make sure they are clean. i had the same issue with my gen 1. i would rally up a mountainside road and had no issues for a long time. then one night i overheated and the following nights the same. part of the problem was my radiator had mud inbetween the fins. mud acts like an insulator so it got hot very quick. you might have a dirty radiator. i used a pressure washer and cleaned both sides of the radiator

 

[New recaros]

Add silicone anti foam. Can be found at any auto parts store. Comes u set names like, Redline, Ice etc.. Also, A change of antifreeze will replenish the additives in the system. But as someone stated, clean the radiator use low pressure water and spray straight at radiator. Fin damage can occur with high pressure and at an angled spray