1993 Ford Explore...How do I tell if Radiator is goin?

[coalkickin]

Hey guys....The guy I bought the explorer from said the radiator was bad...he said he kept putting water in it...I blead the radiator and put antifreeze in it..I ran it for about an hour...didn't seem to be running hot, antifreeeze remained full...Are there any other things I should/could look for to tell if it does indeed need a new radiator?

 

[Tbars4]

...if you are in doubt, you can take it to a radiator shop and have them do a rod out...i beleive it cost about 65-100 bucks...they pretty much strip it, clean it, and resolder it...at that time they can tell you if any thing major is wrong and it is a cheap but quality fix...compared to the cost of a new or rebuilt radiator...
...some of the normal signs on a close inspection from the outside would be to look for water marks, corrosion, bent fins, leaks marks at upper or lower caps, etc...i hope this helps...

 

[oceanpimp420]

You might...

you might want to do a Cooling System Pressure Test which is: a small air pump that pressureizes your cooling system and has a gauge to allow u to read where the pressure is in the system, most X's are running a 16 pound system so u pump up the gauge tiill it reads 16 PSI and then leave it alone and begin looking for a leak or listen for a hiss make sure your raditor is full when u do this test. you don't always need the actuall tool/gauge you can run your truck with the raditor cap on and system full of water and just leave it idleing for like a hour and come back check for leaks and if there is no sign of a leak then i suggest that u do a cylinder block leak test which will tell you what i think is wrong with your truck. a blown head gasket. its a hard to tell if you are a newbie but here's a good way of telling after you shut off your truck after you've warmed up the motor. listen for bubbles coming from the raditor overflow tank if so then you got a blown head gasket remember this is with the raditor cap on. see whats happening is the coolant is being boiled and you woub't see a leak but you'll be low on coolant untill its too late and you see your temp gauge sky rocket, this is a very common problem with a explorer if u catch it quick enough you'll be lucky and hopefully only have to replace the gasket insted of the entire head from cracking it. hope this helps alittle just keep reading and yoiu can find any thing you might want to know this -place has every thing Good Luck
Frank

 

[Tbars4]

...also, a new radiator cap may resolve this problem too.. and i am hoping it is not a head gasket leak, but it is true, x's have that common problem also...with some future input from you, you will find more answers, good luck...

 

[coalkickin]

you might want to do a Cooling System Pressure Test which is: a small air pump that pressureizes your cooling system and has a gauge to allow u to read where the pressure is in the system, most X's are running a 16 pound system so u pump up the gauge tiill it reads 16 PSI and then leave it alone and begin looking for a leak or listen for a hiss make sure your raditor is full when u do this test. you don't always need the actuall tool/gauge you can run your truck with the raditor cap on and system full of water and just leave it idleing for like a hour and come back check for leaks and if there is no sign of a leak then i suggest that u do a cylinder block leak test which will tell you what i think is wrong with your truck. a blown head gasket. its a hard to tell if you are a newbie but here's a good way of telling after you shut off your truck after you've warmed up the motor. listen for bubbles coming from the raditor overflow tank if so then you got a blown head gasket remember this is with the raditor cap on. see whats happening is the coolant is being boiled and you woub't see a leak but you'll be low on coolant untill its too late and you see your temp gauge sky rocket, this is a very common problem with a explorer if u catch it quick enough you'll be lucky and hopefully only have to replace the gasket insted of the entire head from cracking it. hope this helps alittle just keep reading and yoiu can find any thing you might want to know this -place has every thing Good Luck
Frank

Uh...yup...ran it for about 1/2 hour..popped the hood...opened the overflow and it was boiling like a pot of water NOW WHAT???

 

[oceanpimp420]

Next step...

Next step after you figured out that your boiling coolant from a blown head gasket is finding out which head gasket is blown and how bad. all you need to do is start off with the truck cold say after sitting over night, start the truck and run it for only like 2-3 minutes shut it off and then remove all the spark plugs "IMPORTANT remember what cylinder the plug came from" then take them and compare each to each other and you should be able to tell that the good cylinders are the spark plugs that are perfectly dry and the blown cylinder is more than likely gonna be the only wet looking sparkplug. if this doesn't work for you then you will need to a compression test on all the cylinders while the plugs are removed, the tester is just a pressure guauge from 0-300 psi with a brass fitting that fits in where the spark plug goes real simple every kragen has one. so then go around the motor one by one and turn over the motor with no plugs in for like 5-10 secounds if possible looking at the gauge at the same time, brand new each cylinder should be able to hold pressure steady at around 120-110 some high mileage motors will hold steady all the way down to 100 psi but as long as you see the same pressure though all 6-8 cylinders than your alright but you should find that one of the cylinders will have a drastic difference like insted of 120 you see like 30 or 60 then there's exacty where the head gasket is blown! hope this is simple enough. i know someone will say different then me but if u don't have $ or time or just can't do a entire R&R of the heads then theres this stuff i've found at my kragen in the pro-shop it's a blown headgasket fix-it "Stuff?" the exact name is "BLUE MAGIC" its about the size of a litter and is light blue and watery. it should cost a pretty penny though i paid 50 bucks with an account so if you don't then expect to pay around 100 bucks i know thats crazy for blue water but belive me it works as long as you follow the directions and your not hot rodding you vech every where. warning this stuff turns to a cement any where u spill it out side the motor and once u finsh with that then its back to the compression tests on all the cylinder's to check that its sealed and you back in business. to date i've used this Blue Magic fix it three times in three different cars and each time worked perfectly and are still working. hope this helps let me know how it goes.

Frank

 

[Jcnbama]

Just a quick question along this same topic. Isnt it true that if your head gasket goes then you would have water in your oil and vice versa? If your oil looks good and its a good level then could you assume the overheating is cause from something else? or if it only happens under load or Max a/c? Just curious I'm dealing with this currently ( please see " replacing fan clutch 94' Explorer XLT " in this same forum) Thanks =)

 

[Glen4X4]

Water could enter the oil pan as far as I know, just check your dipstick and if its a choclate milk brown or light color of muddy water brown then you do have that issue of water in the oil pan.

 

[coalkickin]

Yeah...oil is clean...looks as it should...could it possibly be something as simple as my thermostat?

 

[lofton316]

Yeah...oil is clean...looks as it should...could it possibly be something as simple as my thermostat?

You describe everything thats wrong with my truck so i dont think its the thermostat.

There is this fluid at pepboys that is suppose to stop the antifreeze from boiling over. Imma try it. Make sure your shroud is on!

I ran it one day without the shroud and thats when i first head the boiling, i thought it sounded like Pop Corn. It Did!!!!!! But once i put the shroud on it stopped for a while, now it just sounds like someone blowing bubble threw a straw in a cup of milk.


I hate to give up that truck but imma have to.

I got a ford explorer 92 that has a bad tranny seal. So im going to take my good trans out and put it in the 92, i got a price of 700, thats good right? THey have to take the tranny out of one truck and put it in another. Is it easy to drop a tranny? If so i will take the tranny out my self!! I work at jiffylube and drop it in one of the bays with some help of course, Is it easy as taken the bolts out and disconnecting the lines?

 

[TedJ]

Get one of those antifreeze testers that tells you what % of water to antifreeze you have. Too much or too little antifreze in the mix will cause problems. Even if you drained the rad and refilled it with perfectly mixed stuff, the mixture will be off once you run the engine and it blends with the water that is left over in the block and heater core. You might not have enough antifreeze and the water is boiling.

-Ted

 

[Jcnbama]

so you mean to tell me that running just water in your car will cause it to run HOT . . . hmm maybe thats my problem. I flushed my raidiator due to overheating, did some work put it all back together and decided to wait to put anti-freeze in it to see if I would have to take it to the shop before I wasted the money on anti-freeze. Its still overheating . . . . .hmmmm

 

[TedJ]

Running just water will defintaley cause problems. Contrary to the name, antifreeze is also anti-boil. The older bottles used to be labeled that way, but now its always just called antifreze. Chemically, antifreeze is basically ethelyne glycol. To understand how water and ethelyne glycol work together, lets first talk about them seperatley.

Ethelyne glycol is a syurpy fluid with a sweet taste, and is also poisonous. The main things tough are that it has a very high boiling point and a very low freezing point. But it cannot absorb as much heat as water can. This is why it is used with water, and not alone.(among other things)

Water has a high freezing point and a low boiling point, and will deff boil in a running engine when used alone. But it can absorb gobs of heat. (until it boils)

So now if we mix them together, we end up with a (almost) perfect compromise. A fluid that can absorb a lot of heat, won't boil in the normal temp range an engine operates in, and won't freeze under normal conditions either.

You need to get a antifreze tester. Since ethelyne glycol is thicker, it raises the specific gravity of water. The float in the tester responds to that and has a calibrated scale that shows you what the freeze/boil point is and has a marking showing what the optimal mixture is. Too much is just as bad as not enough, remember that ethelyne glycol dosen't absorb as much heat.

Bottom line.. You need antifreze in it. It can't work without it.

-Ted

 

[mikeinri]

Also, when you do get this resolved, be sure to use distilled water (not tap, well or any sort of drinking water). It keeps deposits, salts, etc. from clogging things up long term.

Using regular water is OK when troubleshooting.

Mike

 

[X-North]

Ihad the same problem.....truck keeped running cool but the dash fan threw really hot air even in cold position.... Thermostat was the problem. It looked like OK but it was stuck...open or close dont know but was stuck. 15$ dollar changed it and all ok.

 

[Jcnbama]

You know the way my truck acts supports TedJ's theory. It runs somewhere in the rm part of the word NORMAL on the temp gauge yet it still seems to be boiling over. Perhaps its not really overheating. only it is running hotter than the boiling point of just water with no " anti-boil ". I am going to drain the water and add Coolant later today. Does anyone know if I remove the bottom radiator hose and drain the coolant from only the radiator and overflow bucket approx how many gallons of coolant will I need. TedJ is a smart guy. Thanks alot.

 

[TedJ]

Hey not a problem.. I believe the system takes 2 gal of fluid overall. I find that 50-50 with coolant/water is usually not a strong enough mixture when tested. I would pick up 2 gal of coolant and 1 gal of distilled water (mikeinri is right about the sediment and minerals) along with a coolant tester.

If you don't mind waiting a bit, there is a drain **** on the rad, its on the bottom corner on the passenger side. When you unscrew it, it wont come out b/c its captured in the hole, but fluid will come out...well it should. Depending on what condition everything is in, I've seen them totally clogged up with goo and nothing will come out. Its slow, but its easier to let it drain for a little while than fight with the hose. And take the cap off, it will drain faster (but leave it on while actually opening the drain, so less hot fluid runs down your arm)

To drain the overflow, just disconnect the hose from the rad and drop it down so the fluid can run out. If there's a bunch of crud in the bottom of the bottle, keep filling it and letting it drain, and it will flush out.

My procedure for filling it and getting the right mixture goes like this:
First put in the whole first gallon of antifreeze, then add distilled water to bring the level up to around the top of the rad. Then start and run the truck till the thermostat opens, with the heater on. Air will bubble out, and even more air will come out when the thermostat opens. Once the thermostat has opened, and you've topped it off to within reach of the tester, and let it run for a few min after that (ensuring that everything has blended together), test the antifreze with the tester. If it's too weak, then you will have to add some antifreze, if not then add more water. The tricky part is estimating how much to add to get the perfect mixture. If there is not enough left to fill to get the mixture right, then make the mixture in the overflow either very strong or very weak, and it will mix in during the drive cycle.

Now put the cap on and go for a drive. The vibration and whatnot from driving will force more air out of the system. Then leave it parked overnight.

The next day, double check the mixture and top off the bottle, which will have probably had most of its contents sucked into the rad. Use antifreze if its not strong enough, water if its too strong, or 50-50 if its good. Worst case, if its really off, you will have to siphon some off to make room for what is needed.

I think that this will help you a lot, cooling systems only work right when they have antifreze in them...

-Ted

 

[Jcnbama]

So yesterday I went out to drain my system and unscrewed the draincock. Nothing came out so I jiggled it a bit and rusty crap came all out on my arm. I thought hmmmm then got the water hose took out the draincock and sprayed in there really good. I filled up my entire ditch with nasty rusty water. I have flushed out my system several times but never sprayed in that particular hole. I refilled the system with delicious anti-freeze/Coolant and now I hope eveything is good to go. I have a 3 1/2 hour trip to Georgia this weekend so that will tell. Thanks everyone especially TedJ. . . . .P. S. Roll Tide Roll ! ! !

 

[TedJ]

So, how did your trip go? I wanna know if you were successful or not...

Isn't it amazing how oil, coolant and anything hot, disgusting, or flammable will run right down your arm.. This guy that one of my friends works with at a dealership, an a-tech, was changing a fuel filter. He's holding the filter and the lines trying to get it back together , and the gas is slowly running down his arm, but he's trying to just tough it out and finish it... but the gas makes it down his arm, chest and right onto his nu*s. The other techs found him on the floor, moaning, in the fetal position. Forget eyewash, he needed a nu*wash. Rust isn't so bad now is it....

-Ted

 

[mikeinri]

Well, he's lucky no one was smoking or welding nearby...

Mike