Fredness
Elite Explorer
- Joined
- June 2, 2000
- Messages
- 664
- Reaction score
- 38
- City, State
- Tejas!
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '05 Sport Trac Adrenalin
("…that's 2 "D's", for a double-dose of his pimping...")
OK, the ST had electrolysis, and now winter hits with a radiator in mid-flush. Radiator flush and distilled water offer zero cooling system protection from freezing - actually worse than tap water. Even though the temps weren’t supposed to drop below freezing, the bottom two tubes of the radiator ballooned, and the truck overheated while the spouse was going up a hill. Once she crested the hill, the temp dropped and there were no other issues, so she thought everything was fine.
I get home last night (4 hours and 15 minutes for <30 miles in near white out conditions) and check her radiator - last two rows are round vs. oval and the cooling fins are sticking out in different directions (porcupine-like) - awesome.
Drained the water and put anti-freeze in (even though it still isn’t clean) because I would rather throw away $20 in coolant than replace a freeze plug or crack the block.
So, what to do…
Since we upgrade anything that breaks, I did some research on the Internet. The companies that had radiators with live support stated there were no two row radiators for the ST, or only listed a single row as a replacement. Rock Auto shows the single row replacement, as well as “HD Cooling” and “MAX Cooling” options that were available, but 3-5 days shipping. Locally we have a Performance Radiator Warehouse and after crossing the numbers, they have a “RADIATOR => HEAVY DUTY COOLING” and the “RADIATOR => STANDARD COOLING” - HD it is.
The specs look good, so at lunch I’ll know if this is the right one, and how it is configured (a single 1-7/8” core or a 2 row radiator).
Images: RADIATOR => STANDARD COOLING
Images: RADIATOR => HEAVY DUTY COOLING
(Click to open both links and you can toggle between them to compare)
Looking up the 2001 shows the HD as "RADIATOR => REPLACES 2 ROW ONLY", but not for the 2005.
The 2001 shows the identical single row radiator, so my guess is there are some slight differences.
I know that the original single row cooling shroud will not work, so it will have to be upgraded, modified or deleted. Deletion is only an option if you are changing to an electric fan with a shroud.
Pix to follow…
OK, the ST had electrolysis, and now winter hits with a radiator in mid-flush. Radiator flush and distilled water offer zero cooling system protection from freezing - actually worse than tap water. Even though the temps weren’t supposed to drop below freezing, the bottom two tubes of the radiator ballooned, and the truck overheated while the spouse was going up a hill. Once she crested the hill, the temp dropped and there were no other issues, so she thought everything was fine.
I get home last night (4 hours and 15 minutes for <30 miles in near white out conditions) and check her radiator - last two rows are round vs. oval and the cooling fins are sticking out in different directions (porcupine-like) - awesome.
Drained the water and put anti-freeze in (even though it still isn’t clean) because I would rather throw away $20 in coolant than replace a freeze plug or crack the block.
So, what to do…
Since we upgrade anything that breaks, I did some research on the Internet. The companies that had radiators with live support stated there were no two row radiators for the ST, or only listed a single row as a replacement. Rock Auto shows the single row replacement, as well as “HD Cooling” and “MAX Cooling” options that were available, but 3-5 days shipping. Locally we have a Performance Radiator Warehouse and after crossing the numbers, they have a “RADIATOR => HEAVY DUTY COOLING” and the “RADIATOR => STANDARD COOLING” - HD it is.
The specs look good, so at lunch I’ll know if this is the right one, and how it is configured (a single 1-7/8” core or a 2 row radiator).
Images: RADIATOR => STANDARD COOLING
Images: RADIATOR => HEAVY DUTY COOLING
(Click to open both links and you can toggle between them to compare)
Looking up the 2001 shows the HD as "RADIATOR => REPLACES 2 ROW ONLY", but not for the 2005.
The 2001 shows the identical single row radiator, so my guess is there are some slight differences.
I know that the original single row cooling shroud will not work, so it will have to be upgraded, modified or deleted. Deletion is only an option if you are changing to an electric fan with a shroud.
Pix to follow…