2006 explorer radiator

lcbabj said:

Bought a replacement for my '07 Sport Trac today off Amazon. $118.

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Yes amazon seems to have great rates and free shipping on lot's of automotive parts. I prefer spectra premium if motorcraft price is too high, for all the spectra premium stuff I have put in no problems. Make sure you do the pcm update if its a 2006-2007 with a 4.0l.
Here is my video on how to change the radiator for those looking to do it themselves and save a buck.

makuloco2000 said:

Yes amazon seems to have great rates and free shipping on lot's of automotive parts. I prefer spectra premium if motorcraft price is too high, for all the spectra premium stuff I have put in no problems. Make sure you do the pcm update if its a 2006-2007 with a 4.0l.
Here is my video on how to change the radiator for those looking to do it themselves and save a buck.

5HmbuV4yCWo

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Wow, this is great. Thanks!

matsavol said:

Joining the club of leaking radiator. I have 06 with V8 engine. Only 34K miles. Leaks are very small at this time. They are located on the bottom of the radiator in the places that pictures show in early pages of this thread. (Yes, both sides are leaking.)

I ordered some of the leak stop pellets, but not sure if I should try them... Anyone here used the Leak Stop product and fixed it for good?

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Just wanting to provide a follow up for my story: I did indeed add Leak Stop to my coolant and it stopped the leak. I had no issues since.

I have flushed my coolant 2 moths ago with fresh coolant and did not put new leak stop pellets... figured that if it starts leaking I can add them afterwards. To my surprise until today it still has not started leaking!

So it seems that the hairline cracks were plugged with the leak stop product and there has not been any mechanical stress or vibration to break those seals. Needless to say that I'm very happy with my luck.

Leak again, and stop leak again

Second follow up:

Almost a year ago I had my coolant (that contained bars leak stop from previous treatment) flushed. Radiator was holding pretty well until the cold weather returned I noticed the radiator started to leak again. (Very small leaks, just few drops of coolant on the garage floor.) I tried the same fix (leak stop) as before and now a day later I do not see it leaking no more. This time I used Bars Radiator Stop Leak concentrate, which I used about 2/3rd of the bottle.

Just saying that instead of replacing the radiator every time it leaks you may have luck trying a cheaper fix...

EDIT: Noticed today a small puddle of antifreeze on garage floor. After removing the radiator cap there was quite large stop leak fiber clot in it, causing it not work properly and likely overpressurized the system. Therefore I DO NOT recommend using the Bars Radiator Stop Leak concentrate. The Bars leak stop pellets worked fine before and did not cause this problem.

radiator leak

From what i found out on this radiator leaking problem is that it affects the v6 and v8 models from 2006 to 2010. After doing much searching and finding nothing helpful and replacing the radiator twice in 8 months, I found out from my radiator guy that the problem with this vehicle is there is too much flex in the front end and/or not enough isolation of the radiator. When the front of the vehicle flexes it causes torque on the radiator and it cracks or the seals break. Once the weather warms up I'm going to reconfigure how the radiator mounts in the vehicle. If I'm successfull at stopping this crap I'll let everyone know what I've done.

2006 Explorer XLS 4.0

This is a very uncommon issue on the V8.

At this point, however, with the '06-'10 being now 9-5 years old... a failed radiator even on a V8 would not be overly surprising, but definitely not a chronic concern like it has been known to be on the V6 since near new.

TowingExplorer said:

This is a very uncommon issue on the V8.

At this point, however, with the '06-'10 being now 9-5 years old... a failed radiator even on a V8 would not be overly surprising, but definitely not a chronic concern like it has been known to be on the V6 since near new.

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you do know that the they are the same for the V8 and V6 right?

the reason why the V8 "seems" to be more rare is that like 90% of the Explorers sold had the V6. so it will look like its a V6 problem when its really not. just numbers and %

banditxp said:

you do know that the they are the same for the V8 and V6 right?

the reason why the V8 "seems" to be more rare is that like 90% of the Explorers sold had the V6. so it will look like its a V6 problem when its really not. just numbers and %

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Yes, and it is also very likely that the larger engine in the front of the explorer either caused them to beef up the front end frame and/or the different engine mounting made the front more rigid.

Another leak stop fix

My radiator started leaking again and this time I applied half bottle of the bars leaks liquid aluminum radiator and heater core product. After very first drive to get engine up to normal temperature the radiator leak had stopped.

I did open the radiator cap next morning after engine was cooled. There was a large blob of gel like leak stop at the radiator cap. This seems easy to explain since I filled cold radiator with leak stop product and once engine warms up it will push the expanding coolant back to the overflow reservoir, which in this case is mostly 100% of the leak stop product. It is trying to stop the leak to overflow reservoir, which is not a good thing. I cleaned up the goop and drove another day, after which I checked the cap again and now there are no more leak stop goop. So the take away message here is: If you use leak stop product make sure to check your radiator cap the next day to make sure it has not been clogged up!

Further I looked where my radiator leak is and by looking at the residue my leak symptoms looks identical to these pictures:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2752501&postcount=299

The leak is on the top of the radiator close to the driver side mounting bracket. It does seem that the whole radiator weight is supported by only the two top mounting brackets, which are both attached to the top plastic radiator end cap. It does seem the seam between the radiator core and plastic end cap inevitably gives up after various amount of time and driving... Also the fact (?) that V8 engines seem to suffer less of this problem may be due to heavier engine which will reduce the peak G-forces the radiator mounts will be subjected when driving over bumbs? If the radiator mounts were put on the radiator core I suspect we would have a lot less problems.

Another issue is the aluminum radiator core and end caps being different materials: aluminum vs plastic. The constant cooling/heating thermal cycling stress will slowly break the seal due to different thermal expansion.

Personally I think the radiator and mounting method are a major design defect. Because of this I'm reluctant to replace the radiator since it is given that they will keep failing. I'll keep trying the leak stop as long as it works and only then replace the radiator, preferably with a model that is full metal if those exists?

I've tried everything to REALLY like my 07 XLT 4.0...... I drove it 130,000 great miles and had wonderful family memories. But the damn radiator has taken years off of my life.

I understood the common concerns ; too much movement up front.... poor placement upon installation.... aftermarket ones are better..... & I've tried to find a way to make it work. I've installed it per ford specs, I've moved it a 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the fan, I've reinforced the shroud that holds it, I've tried it all......

But this last one (6th) really broke my heart. I've given up. The 07 is no more. I sold it to a friend (no...not enemy) and bought a 2015 XLT.

I can honestly say that I feel relieved. I have freed up hours in my week not having to research radiator repairs and hope that "this one works". The Spectra was the best by far.... it held up the longest; 2 years. The worst was the Ford; I went through 3 in 18 months (all warranty replaced). Every radiator leaked in the EXACT same place... the top seam on the drivers side. Then it would get progressively worse and drip coolant into the fan and spray it all over the water pump and such...

Good luck to you all.... and thanks for the great advice and posts about the 4th generation Explorers...

i know its not the best thing and not good... But mine started leaking at 48K miles little after i bought it. I noticed the leak after i did a coolant flush. So i put some prestone super radiator stop leak in and it worked. Lasted till about 60K miles when it started to leak again so i put another bottle of prestone super radiator stop leak in.
Well im now at 115K miles and still not leaking.

Someday ill replace the Rad. after I do the awesome 3V spark plugs.

Not to revive a year-old thread, but I'm considering purchasing a 2006 Mountaineer. We were second owners on a 2007 Explorer a few years back and had the same radiator problems as everyone else. In one sense, I know what I could be getting into with this purchase. What I don't know is:
1) How can I determine at the car lot whether the radiator has been replaced before?

and 2) how can I determine whether the PCM was ever updated (or just as important, are dealers likely to reflash for free, given the fact that there was a bulletin back a few years ago)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Andy Hostetler said:

Not to revive a year-old thread, but I'm considering purchasing a 2006 Mountaineer. We were second owners on a 2007 Explorer a few years back and had the same radiator problems as everyone else. In one sense, I know what I could be getting into with this purchase. What I don't know is:
1) How can I determine at the car lot whether the radiator has been replaced before?

and 2) how can I determine whether the PCM was ever updated (or just as important, are dealers likely to reflash for free, given the fact that there was a bulletin back a few years ago)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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If the radiator is not leaking (look for white residue on the drivers side around the bottom), then I think it is irrelevant if it was replaced before. I doubt any dealer will do a reflash for free (unless it is a condition of purchase), though they may be able to determine if it was ever done.

I've been keeping a close eye on mine since the last replacement and the addition of the 16 PSI cap. No sign of any fluid loss. I am attributing this to the cap, never been reflashed.

I have no info on the radiator. I believe mine is original and doesn't leak (yet). I did have the little "Y" connector for the rear heat crack and lose coolant, but that was a quick $7 fix.

I can tell you I was charged 1.5 hours to "determine" if the TSB (8-4-4 I think) was flashed. Even though the TSB clearly says that even if the vehicle NEEDS the update, it should be a total labor charge including diagnosis, flash and road test of .8 hrs.

As an aside, I was planning on leaving the car for the day, so while I was waiting for my ride to pick me up (which never came), I saw them take the car in, and bring it back and park it. No test ride. The car was in the service bay for 38 minutes.

I had to fight with the dealer to get it down to an 1.0 hrs.

Time to find yet ANOTHER dealer...

Hi, I'm posting this new post from my 2016 - AUG 19 discussion to supplement the conversation.

I don't have much time to post, but here is my recent discovery on the leaking/exploding plastic thermostat housing on the V6 Explorers from approximately 2002 until approx 2010. A few comments:
Using my VIN for an 06 XLT w/ V6, they've offered the AL2Z-8575-B ( AKA motorcraft RT-1220 )
It appears to be a service kit, also shown under the drawing number SK AL2E-8570-AB
The kit includes many aluminum Thermostat Housing specific parts ( Base Oring, Thread in Sensor, etc. )
It, as is noted in the Ford Service Dept. Drawing, does not include the Stat itself - Poss AL2Z-8575-AA? edit: Now, Partsman 109 says it is 2L2Z-8575-AA
I don't know if they have one for the 2 sensor type of vehicles
I don't know if they have a version for the Must*ngs, which suffer the same "seam failure" of the plastic version
They retail for approx 190 - 200 bucks
It appears to be very high quality, but I haven't yet installed it. ( Hoping this last plastic version I'm on will last a little while longer! )
This post, and the availability of this Ford kit, in no way takes away from the gentleman who is selling an excellent alloy product elsewhere.
I'll send the PDF I have to offer for posting by the Forum Admin, but I need to find out how!
Best regards,
Automark


Partsman 109 says:

The thermostat to use is 2L2Z.8575.AA

I don't show the same aluminum assembly for the same year Mustang 4.0


Next,

Update for two items:
First, I have the Hi Resolution PDF ready to post, but it won't allow me. Anyone, please, allow me to send it to you and you could post it up for me? I also have a digital photo of the kit for the same purpose if needed.
Second, a much better price from the EB*Y side of Tom Massano Parts, tommassanoparts is there user name,and they're in PA. Be sure to also buy an actual thermostat as listed in partsmans posting, as it is not included in the service kit. Very helpful, and courteous lady there named heather.
Please, as bolded above, let me know who to send the Ford Service Kit Dwg ( pdf ) and my photos to so that they can be added to the conversation!
Best,
Automark