Help finding the replacment part no. for a coolant tube???

[1997Ranger]

I see -- that does make a lot of sense. In my case it is not that bad though since I'm only capping the intake and I don't think it holds as much as the heater core.

I think here people do it quite regularly and do not run the heater core.. Besides, if the car is that old that the heater core is bad, the car is probably running close to on it's last legs and no one wants to pour $ into a sinking ship...

[Tbars4]

...i have replaced heater cores in probably every vehicle i have owned...this is a common item for replacement and that is why they generally cost 20-25 bucks new...and normally they last 5-10 years depending on how well you maintain your vehicle...they are probably the weakest link in your cooling system and that is why they require a 5-10 year replacement...this does in no way mean your vehicle is on it's last legs...
...the replacement for your vehicle is quite pricey for a limited lifetime warranty, 53 bucks...

[1997Ranger]

Originally Posted by tbars4

...i have replaced heater cores in probably every vehicle i have owned...this is a common item for replacement and that is why they generally cost 20-25 bucks new...and normally they last 5-10 years depending on how well you maintain your vehicle...they are probably the weakest link in your cooling system and that is why they require a 5-10 year replacement...this does in no way mean your vehicle is on it's last legs...
...the replacement for your vehicle is quite pricey for a limited lifetime warranty, 53 bucks...

It might cost you $25 in parts, but how much in time? Labor is the most expensive part, and for those who do not have the knowledge or skill, they have to pay a mechanic to do it. What does the book say? I just called a shop here the other day and they said their hourly rate is $110 an hour. At that price I'm sure someone paying a mechanic to do the work is going to cost a lot more than $25.

A lot of non-mechanically inclined people tend to replace their car every 10 years or so (my guess is that this is the average where I live and probably even then a long time to keep a car). This is because if they have to pay a mechanic to change the alternator, water pump, brakes, shocks, it can easily add up to thousands of dollars...

When I say a vehicle is on it's last legs, I mean from the standpoint of a non-mechanically inclined person who is stuck with the repair bills from mechanics on an older car... These people usually don't have the time or skills to absorb the labor cost in repairing older vehicles...

I'm sorta in the middle. I'll usually spend the time to learn about and work on my own vehcile as a hobby, but this car in querstion is a company vehicle and I don't have the time to be working on all the fleet vehicles so when we look at the trade off in getting rid of an old truck vs. paying a mechanic to repair, many times it is better to buy new. Not to mention a new truck is a tax shelter to a business as it can be depreciated but an old truck is not...

Actually, on this truck I am trying to repair it myself, if it was simple enough. But if it is going to take more than 30 mins or so, I would probably just hire it out (or get rid of it if it was going to cost an arm and a leg to fix). That was the reason for the post, I was hoping someone would have a quick and or easy answer and maybe it was something simple I wasn't aware of...

Obviously plugging it is pretty simple to do. I am looking at cost vs. benefit here, and if I can do it myself for free, I'd rather cap it (and it is not really needed) than pay a mechanic $300 or so to try and fix it the "right" way... It has 110k miles and honsestly, I don't really see it lasting more than 150k, and I think I would choose to buy new rather than keep fixing it at that point... I'd say based on local standards it's doing quite well since it is about 10 years old and we haven't replaced it yet... I think I got enough use out of this one so that's why I don't see needing to spend too much time or $ trying to fix it the "right way"...

Knowing that the life of this truck is probably nearing it's end for our use anyway, I would not choose to keep investing a lot of time and $ in it... But that's just me..

[Tbars4]

...a heater core replacement at the very most, for someone who never has done anything meachanically, should take about 1 1/2 - 2 hours...by the time you bypass the heater core you already spent 1/2 hour...
...a lot of people would refer you to pick up a haynes manual or chiltons manual for about 19 dollars for any vehicle you own...say 54 bucks for your heater core and 5-10 bucks anti freeze at most...83 bucks total for your first repair...say another 17 for the nipple, total of 100 bucks thats quite a bit of savings..there is a wealth of information in those books and even more on here to show you how to do these simple repairs...

..as for the explorer's and rangers, 200k-250k miles is not unusual at all...my ranger is 160k and my explorer is about 190k...i paid 2300 for my ranger a little over year ago and i have been offered double that for it in the last couple months ...the repairs i did to it i was quoted the cheapest at 1500 bucks...it cost me 160 bucks in parts and i get a full write off on them and 1340 dollars never left my pocket....i am not a mechanic but i learned a long time ago the mathematics of vehicles...

...as for write off's on a new vehicle, it don't add up...you lose 3-5 thousand as soon as you drive it off the lot...then depreciate it over the few years you have it, add the interest of the loan and normal vehicle maintenance??? that can be very costly...

...trust me, if you don't want to work on your vehicle no problem...just be assured, if you do want to, there are plenty of people here that would be more than glad to give you some help when you are interested...btw, there is a used parts dealer on here who is incredible and there are alot of people here who wind up doing their own repairs after they find out it is not that hard and how much money they can save...that is only part of what this great forum is all about...

[1997Ranger]

Originally Posted by tbars4

...a heater core replacement at the very most, for someone who never has done anything meachanically, should take about 1 1/2 - 2 hours...by the time you bypass the heater core you already spent 1/2 hour...
...a lot of people would refer you to pick up a haynes manual or chiltons manual for about 19 dollars for any vehicle you own...say 54 bucks for your heater core and 5-10 bucks anti freeze at most...83 bucks total for your first repair...say another 17 for the nipple, total of 100 bucks thats quite a bit of savings..there is a wealth of information in those books and even more on here to show you how to do these simple repairs...

..as for the explorer's and rangers, 200k-250k miles is not unusual at all...my ranger is 160k and my explorer is about 190k...i paid 2300 for my ranger a little over year ago and i have been offered double that for it in the last couple months ...the repairs i did to it i was quoted the cheapest at 1500 bucks...it cost me 160 bucks in parts and i get a full write off on them and 1340 dollars never left my pocket....i am not a mechanic but i learned a long time ago the mathematics of vehicles...

...as for write off's on a new vehicle, it don't add up...you lose 3-5 thousand as soon as you drive it off the lot...then depreciate it over the few years you have it, add the interest of the loan and normal vehicle maintenance??? that can be very costly...

...trust me, if you don't want to work on your vehicle no problem...just be assured, if you do want to, there are plenty of people here that would be more than glad to give you some help when you are interested...btw, there is a used parts dealer on here who is incredible and there are alot of people here who wind up doing their own repairs after they find out it is not that hard and how much money they can save...that is only part of what this great forum is all about...

Hey, no problem. I totally understand where you are coming from. IF I had all the time to work on 6 or 7 vehicles, I would. But it gets quite tedious when they are not your cars and you have to track all the mainteance of each and every one. Imagine if you had to do all the maintenance on all of your friends or relatives car and keep track of everyhing. I'm sure you would help them save $ but at some point it becomes more of a chore than a hobby if you're not fully retired, but instead hold an unrelated full time job.

When I do repair my own vehicle it is for a hobby and I agree that you save a lot of $ when you do it yourself.

But a lot of people and businesses don't have the $ or time (as I've said before). Heck, I even know some doctors and dentists who are in totally different lines of work and have no clue as mechanical things are concerned, and their thinking is to dump the car after the 5yr warranty is up, to avoid paying huge repair bills from the dealer (I'm talking expensive bmw's here). Even if you're reliant on the ford dealer, I'm sure repair bills can get easily out of hand. I understand both lines of thought as I do hold a professional degree and had a previous white collar background, but I grew up with a wrench and am handy around the garage as well and also in a blue collar field at the moment due to family obligations.

In short what I'm saying is I have enough time to track my own vehicle and fix it when it needs fixing. But when it comes to the company vehicle which is not mine but someone else drives, I put in as little effort as possible, and would hire out since it is not my job to be working on it.

However, since I do know a thing or 2 about cars, I will try to fix it if it is easy enough to try to save the company a little $, which is what I did here. When it came to the clutch, I hired out. It was expensive, and I'm sure I could've done it myself if I had the time and the right tools. But again, if it's not my car that I drive on a daily basis, I'm less motivated to take the time because for all I know the guy driving it could be abusing it too and just undoing the work I did. With my car I know the history, how I drive, so I'm willing to treat it like a king or queen and do all the work on it and do it right.. With this ranger it's more of a favor I'm doing for someone else and not my car...

By the way, I believe the tax write off doesn't include deprecation, but I'm not sure. I'm not an accountant. But I always thought they took the cost you bought it for and over the life of the vehicle or the first 5 years or some fixed time frame will end up giving you tax deductions in the amount of the entire cost of the vehicle. (again, this is my understanding for business, not personal deductions in the US).

[Tbars4]

...since you say you are in the middle of the pacific somewhere, i am limited to the information as we have here in the states...
...and again, good luck on your project ...

[Maniak]

I don't see this causing any big issue (since your not in a cold climate)

You aren't chaning air flow for the emisions system.
You aren't removing the heater core circuit.
You are removing the running of coolant through intake manfiold which would normally warm the manifold.

The heater lines will still be running to the heater. The only thing you should be doing is removing the "T" that was already in the heater hose that let you run some of the heater water through the intake. Replace the T with a coupler and put the coupler where the T was. You could also just run a small hose between the two Ts that are already in line.

As I see it, you will have a slightly cooler intake manifold now which mean it will take it longer to warm up the intake charge but unless your in a cold climate I don't see it causing any short term issue.

It is something you should eventually fix, but I don't believe you need to "rush" to fix it.

~Mark

[RangerX]

So, what island are you on? Just wondering...