2007 radiator removal

[pb3]

fire488, what brand radiator did you purchase? ford/ motorcraft or other?

 

[Fire488]

I'm not sure as I threw the box out, but the new one does not have any "fomoco" written on it anywhere and the plastic upper section is slightly different. I guess it was aftermarket. The vehicle is running slightly cooler now as well.

 

[BigBlockRanger]

Doing this swap this evening on my wife's 2007 Mountaineer. Got my radiator from Rockauto. Glad to find a thread about it and the trans line issues.

 

[Fire488]

Doing this swap this evening on my wife's 2007 Mountaineer. Got my radiator from Rockauto. Glad to find a thread about it and the trans line issues.

I could not get the trans lines to release with the tool from Autozone. I did however spin the fittings out of the radiator and then replace the o-rings on them with the new ones. I added some thread sealer from CAT that is impervious to fuel and oils and tightened the fittings down and hoped for the best. Started the vehicle up and there are still no leaks today.

 

[BigBlockRanger]

Mine would not release at all. In fact, they still have not. haha This was a problematic swap to say the least.

We were about to leave town on a 1300+ mile trip.

The radiator I purchased ended up having the 2006 style fittings, but the difference really did not register with me until after the stock radiator was out.

The lines would not release, no way no how, so I unscrewed the fittings. The hope was to get them into a position that would allow me to work on them easier. No dice. Was running out of day light so I went ahead and installed the radiator and everything else.

I mulled over several options to make it all work, but time was certainly not on my side. I thought of just swapping the fittings, but the threads were different from one radiator to the other. I elected to take a tubing cutter and cut off the existing cooler line ends, and use 1/2" brass compression fittings to put a hose barb in their place. In order to finish and make this thing reliable for the trip I installed a 16" x 10" external cooler and bypassed the stock cooler altogether.

It worked fine and we saw air temps of 102+ degrees and it never missed a beat, so I believe I will just leave it with the external cooler and forget about it.

What. A. Pain.

 

[bobward737]

Just finished the job myself today. Thanks to BeerMan, I was able to get this done. His write up is superb. Here is my report:

BIG PICTURE:
The radiator is held in place by the plastic housing on the side. Two "fingers" fit into two channels on each side of the radiator about halfway up. The condenser sits in the plastic frame of the radiator. When everything is unbolted and drained, you lift the radiator out of the two side mounts and then remove the two bolts that connect the condenser to the radiator frame. Then you pry the condenser away from the radiator before lifting the radiator completely out.

PROBLEMS
Even with the 1/2" flare tool, I could not get the tranny cooler lines out of the couplings. I discovered that the dealership on the last two radiator changes had the same problem and just removed the entire coupling and screwed IT into the new radiator. 170K / 10 years of rust, corrosion, etc... I tried for 3 hours to get the lines to release to no avail.

WHAT WORKED!
There is a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HmbuV4yCWo
that details a 2006-10 radiator replacement very well. without this I could not have done it. The Haynes manual was utterly worthless for this job.

GARAGE FLOOR MECHANIC?
You'll want to jack up the front end to get off the air deflectors, lower shroud, tranny cooler lines and lower radiator hose. Most of those things require both hands at once.

GETTING THE RADIATOR OUT
Once the condenser is out of the way, you have to horse it up - seriously. On the 4.0 the air box intake will give a little. Move the radiator to the left to get the finger past the ABS module, then back to the right to get that finger past the airbox. Horse it up, she'll come.

LEAVE THE FAN IN
On the 4.0, I was able (as others) to get everything out without taking the fan out.

4.6? TAKE THE AIR INTAKE OUT

IN CLOSING
This is a doable job for most of us. Take your time, lay out the bolts in order as you removed them. As a garage floor mechanic with a basic socket set, it took me 6 hours work time. The Ford garage wanted 4 hours labor or $320! That's $53 an hour for my time. Not bad. That video made it very clear on the order and challenges.

 

[Len Thornton]

This forum was invaluable in my recent replacement on my '07 X. (185K miles) Let me just say this: There's a special place in hell for the engineers who designed the clips and fasteners relating to this removal. From the way the top and bottom shrouds lock, to the hidden radiator rail bolts, and the different sized transmission cooler fittings, the replacement was way more tedious than it had any right to be.

I was able to re-use the existing transmission fittings, but discovered that the transmission cooler just floats around in the lower tank, and if you don't have the transmission fittings nice and tight, coolant will shoot out near them. Got my replacement radiator at AutoZone for $178 with a coupon.

The next day, no doubt due to the system getting up to full pressure again, the lower thermostat housing sprung a leak. What a mess! Floods the top of the engine with coolant. Awaiting that part from Amazon. Big disparity in the pricing on this, and some don't come with a replacement sensor.

 

[07EddyB]

I replaced mine in my 07 V8 a few months ago. From releasing the trans cooler fittings to actually getting the radiator out and back in was one challenge after another. Having done it, I could probably do it again fairly easily. But there is a steep learning curb on this job.
Congrats.

 

[lunghd]

Ok - I acknowledge that this is an ancient thread... but I wanted to say THANK YOU! to all who contributed to it.

I'm in the middle of swapping my 2006's plastic radiator out for an all aluminum one & the tips for the little things not mentioned by Mephistopheles (ie: "Haynes"/"Chilton's AND the factory manual) given in this thread are invaluable. That applies especially to the tranny cooler fittings. (Warning: many aftermarket rads have a different thread pitch for this fitting!)

I opted for an all aluminum rad after reading about everyone else dealing with the 'radiator-of-the-month club' replacements. Same for thermostat housing. Why do it more than once just because some dingleberry engineer at FoMoCo has never laid hands on a wrench in his life?

 

[Explorer_PL]

This is also a good thread with pictures and part #'s.

What is the best place to get a radiator for 2006 v8

So at 149,300 miles I see a coolant dripping from my original radiator. I think it is the radiator, as the hoses are good, and I see the green staff at the bottom of the rad. I have read pages of the radiator posts in here, and the biggest concern I see is (besides getting it out around the...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[94Eddie]

One other thing I will mention is to replace the OEM 20 psi radiator cap with a 16 psi part. Many here have done this with no issues. I am one of them and so far I have seen no fluctuations in temperature as a result. Running at 16 psi reduces the strain on the cooling system by 20%. IMO, the high failure rate of radiators and other cooliing system components in 4th gen Explorers/Mountaineers is due in large part to the 20 psi operating pressure. I use the cap linked below.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C5HRYK/?tag=serious-20