Lower radiator hose replacement

[andrew50300]

This morning I noticed my lower radiator hose was leaking. It was the short one that comes out of the water pump. I just replaced it, but I'm not sure how long its going to last. The replacement hose I got from autozone had a little more bend in it than the actual angle between the two pipes, and to replace it without having to pull off the water pump and doing everything involved with that I ended up cutting about three quarters of an inch off of that pipe it goes into above the oil filter and doing some extensive trimming to the hose itself. Has anyone else ever replaced just the hose without turning it into a huge job? The Ex is a 97 with the V8.

 

[mbruffey]

:scratch: Lower Bypass Hose. This thread is a little stale, but I'll start it up again.

1997 5.0

I nearly had a conniption when I changed this hose, which I think is properly called the lower bypass hose. I ended up trimming a LOT of material off the replacement hose--hardly anything sticks out beyond the hose clamps. But I have had it on several years now with no problems. I am going to try to replace it again, however, since I am doing the lower intake requiring a system drain, since it has been installed for several years, and since this hose can fail with pretty unpleasant consequences.

There MUST be a better way.

Boiling. Some threads here mention boiling the replacement part to enhance flexibility. I thought of that after the fact. Who has actually done this? Results?

Trimming. Some mention trimming the fittings. That sounds scary to me. Do I really want to do that?

Fitting Removal. As I recall (have not poked head under there again yet to study it) one fitting is water pump. Yuk! BUT I seem to recall that the other fitting appeared possible to remove, but for some reason I decided against it at the time. Is it possible/feasible to remove and reinstall the non-water-pump fitting? Anyone tried that?

Mark