pdxgeek
Active Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2019
- Messages
- 56
- Reaction score
- 23
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 16 PIU EB
16 Focus RS
So, my upper radiator hose has a small tear in it I noticed last week. Not leaking yet, but about to go on a small roadtrip and figured if anything, they will be in the car with me if I don't have time to install before I leave. So I began researching...
A cautionary note: When they say "this part" replaces "that part", don't believe them. It doesn't seem to mean what you think it means generally. Maybe it replaced the part in a newer year or something, but most of the time during this process, the old part number looked nothing like the new part (and wouldn't even fit in the same spot in some cases).
For example, here is what my upper hose looks like:
Now let's take a look at Rock Auto:
2016 FORD POLICE INTERCEPTOR UTILITY 3.5L V6 Turbocharged Radiator Upper Hose | RockAuto
Ok, there are like 6 options there, and one of them matches. THERE ARE 3 MOTORCRAFT NUMBERS.... Lets look at the first one....
Uhh, that's not even close....
KM5350.... No pictures... Anywhere on the internet.
KM5402.... OK this looks close, but I cant see the bend on the y-split... but assuming its likely correct since its the last Motorcraft option.... but wait... "w/o Power Take Off Unit" is listed by that last one. KM5350 says "Trans power take off provision". So now we have to investigate that.
I now take a look at the remaining 3 non-OEM options.... and they all look like my current upper pipe. I cant see the curve on KM5402 above, but it looks pretty much identical to the 3 listed "WITH Power Take off" . So we have 6 listings, 4 of which say power take off and one that says implicitly without power take off, and 1 that is completely wrong. Of the 5 that may be correct, 4 have pictures, 1 has no pictures anywhere, and the one that says without that only has one picture online (sites use the same picture i posted above).
I take a stab in the dark and grabbed one of the 3 that look like my hose and say w/ power take off, since the one without is the outlier, and it looks the same anyways.
Now... here comes the fun part... the lower radiator hose. Which is two separate pieces with separate part numbers.
2016 FORD POLICE INTERCEPTOR UTILITY 3.5L V6 Turbocharged Radiator Lower Hose | RockAuto
First we have the upper portion of the lower radiator hose, the connector to the engine, which interlocks with the lower portion of the lower radiator hose.
Two have a male ends, and 3 have female ends. For my car, the female connector to engine is the correct hose.
Next we have the lower portion of the lower pipe, and here is where everything goes to hell.
6 unique options. SIX. 4 of which are PRETTY close to each other, but are not the same.
Mine has 3 unique features that all need to be met:
First these two are easy to eliminate:
listed "without engine oil cooler", missing all three features.
Male end, but missing barbs and y-split. Listed without power take off prep.
The next 4.... What a cluster of REALLY close looking parts.
First contestant:
Hey, this looks kind of close.... except its missing the male connector on the end.
Second contestant:
Hey that also looks close.... except its missing the two barbs that feel the PTU or transmission (likely PTU).
Third contestant:
Hey, the barbs are back, and the male connector is there, but no y-split for I think the oil cooler.
And finally, our fourth contestant:
Holy crap. Its the one. It matches all 3 requirements. And of course its the most expensive one and there are no non-OEM choices.
So, whats the take away here?
Well... the upper radiator pipe is mildly annoying but easy to figure out. The lower pipe.... well... between the two pieces you need, the two upper section options and the 6 lower sections, there are TWELVE possible combinations you can potentially make, and only one of those 12 is correct.
I had to make multiple trips out to the PIU to make sure which features were there and were not there on the hose since its not like you can take picture of the entire pipe without removing several other items. My take away is trust your eyes, triple check pictures of a part number from different sources to make sure they are correct.
Oh, ask the dealership I can hear you saying. Completely useless for the most part. Their system shows the generic base cooling system as a diagram. Those are the long hoses with no attachments or molded sections above. They gave me the wrong part numbers multiple times. Plus the hoses through them were twice as expensive.
This may not be the case for everyone, as mine is a newer ecoboost model after a model revision, but I wanted to share this experience with you all just as a heads up since some of you with newer models might not have reached this point yet with your hoses going bad.
A cautionary note: When they say "this part" replaces "that part", don't believe them. It doesn't seem to mean what you think it means generally. Maybe it replaced the part in a newer year or something, but most of the time during this process, the old part number looked nothing like the new part (and wouldn't even fit in the same spot in some cases).
For example, here is what my upper hose looks like:
Now let's take a look at Rock Auto:
2016 FORD POLICE INTERCEPTOR UTILITY 3.5L V6 Turbocharged Radiator Upper Hose | RockAuto
Ok, there are like 6 options there, and one of them matches. THERE ARE 3 MOTORCRAFT NUMBERS.... Lets look at the first one....
Uhh, that's not even close....
KM5350.... No pictures... Anywhere on the internet.
KM5402.... OK this looks close, but I cant see the bend on the y-split... but assuming its likely correct since its the last Motorcraft option.... but wait... "w/o Power Take Off Unit" is listed by that last one. KM5350 says "Trans power take off provision". So now we have to investigate that.
I now take a look at the remaining 3 non-OEM options.... and they all look like my current upper pipe. I cant see the curve on KM5402 above, but it looks pretty much identical to the 3 listed "WITH Power Take off" . So we have 6 listings, 4 of which say power take off and one that says implicitly without power take off, and 1 that is completely wrong. Of the 5 that may be correct, 4 have pictures, 1 has no pictures anywhere, and the one that says without that only has one picture online (sites use the same picture i posted above).
I take a stab in the dark and grabbed one of the 3 that look like my hose and say w/ power take off, since the one without is the outlier, and it looks the same anyways.
Now... here comes the fun part... the lower radiator hose. Which is two separate pieces with separate part numbers.
2016 FORD POLICE INTERCEPTOR UTILITY 3.5L V6 Turbocharged Radiator Lower Hose | RockAuto
First we have the upper portion of the lower radiator hose, the connector to the engine, which interlocks with the lower portion of the lower radiator hose.
Two have a male ends, and 3 have female ends. For my car, the female connector to engine is the correct hose.
Next we have the lower portion of the lower pipe, and here is where everything goes to hell.
6 unique options. SIX. 4 of which are PRETTY close to each other, but are not the same.
Mine has 3 unique features that all need to be met:
- a y-split midway on the pipe
- two downward facing barbs for tranny or PTU
- a male interlocking connector on the end to meet the "connector to engine" hose.
First these two are easy to eliminate:
listed "without engine oil cooler", missing all three features.
Male end, but missing barbs and y-split. Listed without power take off prep.
The next 4.... What a cluster of REALLY close looking parts.
First contestant:
Hey, this looks kind of close.... except its missing the male connector on the end.
Second contestant:
Hey that also looks close.... except its missing the two barbs that feel the PTU or transmission (likely PTU).
Third contestant:
Hey, the barbs are back, and the male connector is there, but no y-split for I think the oil cooler.
And finally, our fourth contestant:
Holy crap. Its the one. It matches all 3 requirements. And of course its the most expensive one and there are no non-OEM choices.
So, whats the take away here?
Well... the upper radiator pipe is mildly annoying but easy to figure out. The lower pipe.... well... between the two pieces you need, the two upper section options and the 6 lower sections, there are TWELVE possible combinations you can potentially make, and only one of those 12 is correct.
I had to make multiple trips out to the PIU to make sure which features were there and were not there on the hose since its not like you can take picture of the entire pipe without removing several other items. My take away is trust your eyes, triple check pictures of a part number from different sources to make sure they are correct.
Oh, ask the dealership I can hear you saying. Completely useless for the most part. Their system shows the generic base cooling system as a diagram. Those are the long hoses with no attachments or molded sections above. They gave me the wrong part numbers multiple times. Plus the hoses through them were twice as expensive.
This may not be the case for everyone, as mine is a newer ecoboost model after a model revision, but I wanted to share this experience with you all just as a heads up since some of you with newer models might not have reached this point yet with your hoses going bad.
