cold weather radiator leak | Page 2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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cold weather radiator leak

JStrider said:
man.... the fan costs $70 -_-

so... what bad things happen if the fan fails while i'm driving?

heh... prolly mess up my new radiator x_X

You should be able to get a fan from fordpartsnetwork for $40-$50. Even a dealership should be less than $70. But let me guess, you went to a dealership and they wanted $70. heheh. Was that metal 2nd gen Limited fan you were pricing out?

And re: the Ford plastic fans, I have seen dozens of them with cracks in them, they all get cracks, BUT I have never heard of one coming apart. So keep that in mind.

If it did fail while you were driving (and the odds of that are low imo) it would be bad, very bad. It would probably frag your radiator, might shred the belt or even damage some other pulley/accessory.

A few cracks are one thing, but if it's actually loose between the plastic and metal, or if the blades are halfway cracking off, then that's more serious. But a few cracks around the hub base, nah I wouldn't even worry about it too much.
 



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we had one come apart on this forum: took out the hood, radiator, shroud, waterpump, and more I believe.
 






well when i was at autozone pickin up the coolant flush and pb blaster and i asked them and they said they could order the fan for me for $30 so i went ahead and had them order it
 






When I did my radiator, I found I couldn't remove the hose clamp for the lower rad hose, and had to cut the hose so I could take the radiator out. I was lucky, in that the new radiator had a longer 'snout' so my freshly modded lower hose fit nicely. keep this in mind when you do yours, in case you have to make a run to the parts store for a new hose.

and regarding the auto trans lines to the radiator, I used a standard cresent wrench and an 8" adjustable crescent, and had no problems with slippage(which would require line wrenches). Of course, I hit mine with a bit of wd-40 first, to loosen the rust a bit.

gl
 






JStrider said:
that price is from the ford parts network that you linked to earlier...

Wow! It was $48 for me about 2-3 yrs ago. They have really gone up in price at fordpartsnetwork! I wonder what gives??
 






man... i'm all kinds of grumpy now...

the new radiator arrived tonite... and the box was all beat to hell but it had been left at the dorm office and ups had already left...

so i'm figure i'll open it and have a look... the inside of the box seemed to have held together pretty well... i pull the radiator out and am looking at it.... looks fine...

then my buddy looks in the box and says "whats this" and pulls out a little black thing

turns out the little black thing was the connector for the over flow tank...

i'm kinda tempted to try to glue it back on... but my luck then It wouldnt work and radiator barn might not want to take it back after being glued like that...

argh i guess i'll just call them tomorow between classes and try to get it figured out...

i'll be grumpy if I have to wait till later to replace my radiator...
 






Well i finally got the new radiator...

gonna do the repair friday or saturday hopefully.
 






I was gonna say dont glue that sucker, the system is under pressure and if the glue doesnt hold you would be screwed.

Glad to see you got a new one :)


My slow coolant leak appeared recently during cold weather too. turned out to be the stock style Ford hose clamp was not adequate. I am talking the spring style metal ones. I replaced it with a regualr style coolant hose clamp and BAM! leak gone..

only took me a month to find it.....the problem was the fan was pushing coolant everywhere so it was really hard to find.

Last time I bought a 4.0L HD fan from Ford it was $35 at the dealer, you might try there.
 






I found a fan at autozone for $30
the dealer said 60 something...

The lines going to the radiator from the transmission, do they have transmission fluid in them? or just antifreeze?
 






transmission fluid. You see your radiator has a built in transmission cooler inside, Mercon (ATF) flows through this system, it is seperate from the coolant for the engine.

You will lose a little bit of ATF when you swap out the radiator. You can add what you lose through your dipstick. Make sure you use the CORRECT ATF, your dipstick should tell you what is required, Mercon III, IV or V.
 






ok cool...

is there anything special i need to do as far as the transmission is concerned?
or just top it off after getting everything re attached.
 






top it off.
Careful when tightening the fittings and periodically check for leaks, after the truck gets up to operating temp, and then again after driving.

If you wipe everything clean after the re-install leaks are much easier to spot.

I was so happy today, for the first time in 2 months my BII has not left drips of coolant on the ground.
My leak was from the upper hose at the radiator, I was using the factory style hose clamp (spring type) and it was loose. 2 month battle OVER!
 






how much atf is in the radiator?
i'll need that much plus a bit for whatever drips out of the tubes during the swap....
 






I don't know exactly how much ATF it holds, but it's not much, because I have never had the ATF level drop much at all when swapping one of these radiators. I just stick a shop rag in the end of each tube, to prevent leakage while I'm pulling the rad.

Regarding OEM clamps, yes I agree they are a pain. The spring type are often hard to remove and the spring wears out over time. I also had a loose OEM clamp causing a mystery coolant leak--gives you a heart attack thinking you have a cracked heat or a weeping gasket. I have the OEM clamps all replaced with screw-on aircraft-style clamps now, and those suckers are on there tight.
 






man... just got back from doing the job... seems like it worked... least no leaks right now

took me 5 hours tho...
if everything had gone flawlessly it prolly woulda taken a lot less time....but...
first had trouble getting the 3rd bolt on the thermostat cover off...
then trying to get the transmission lines off took FOR FREAKIN EVER the things wouldnt budge... but finally i was able to work them off with lots of the pb blaster and elbow grease... then the rest went smoothly untill i was reattaching the transmission lines and the first thread was damaged and wouldnt go on... was about to start looking into a replacement and figured i would try one last ditch effort using a couple wrenches to really push it in and that worked... dont know if it'll ever come apart... but its together now...

so it took way longer then it should have... but i'm glad i did it.
 






First time is never easy, but once its all downhill from here.

If you screw up the metal trans line you can usually get a replacment part at most auto parts stores, except it typically will just be a 3-4" long section that screws into the radiator and then you use hose clamps and rubber hose from there.
I have a simple flare tool I use to make my trans cooler lines, 90% of the hoses on my BII are rubber. works just fine.

The 3rd bolt on the thermostat I should have told you about or you could find it on this forum.
Its a PITA but if you approach it correctly with the correct tools it can be a snap.
I use a 10mm socket, 1/4" drive that was shaved down about 1/4" on a bench grinder.
Use a extension and wobbly, then socket and it will fit over the bolt head and make the bend thats required to get at it straight on.

Or in a pinch you can get at if from behind the alternator with a 10mm box wrench. Takes a bit longer however.
Also a piece of cardboard underneath the thermo housing will deflect or catch the bolt when it falls, either taking it out or trying to thread it back in. If it falls behind the belt pullies it can take forever to find it.
 






oh yah... i dropped that bolt also and couldnt find it for a while... and finally found it after like 10 minutes...

to get to that bolt i used a 10mm socket on a socket driver- a screwdriver with a 1/4" socket plug or whatever on it... was still a bit awkward, but got it out

the trans line itself is fine, the threads on the spinning bit on the end might not be... but it didnt appear to be leaking at all after 20 minutes of driving... so i'm just going to keep an eye on it, and not worry about it unless it starts leaking.

oh and yah... for the transmission lines... the part that goes into the transmission that the lines then screw into... shoulda put those on BEFORE putting the radiator in the car... that way I coulda tightened them faster then 5degress at a time x_X

thanks for all the help... never would have done it myself without your guys help :thumbsup:
 






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