What is the "Best" Cooling setup for first Gens?

[Jason94sport]

Holy crud...410 your still around!

 

[410Fortune]

Yeah buddy! Still here
Life happens = kids
I build lots of trucks these days, have crushed like 50+ explorers and built countless explorers and rangers
Now life allows me to spend more time here, so I am back!!

 

[Dubious_Downfall]

I'm slightly surprised nobody mentioned it, but had you tried doing a cooling system flush before the radiator swap? I live up a very steep hill and have driven up it going different speeds (40-65), trying different gears, all while staring down my temperature gauge. I don't personally notice much of a heat increase, and I believe I have the stock single-core radiator.

My cooling system is noticeably dirty. The bottom of my coolant reservoir is completely brown, but I don't see any cooling issues.

I know you solved your problem. I'm asking more for other people who experience the same problem. Running some water through your radiator is a lot easier and cheaper than putting in a new one, so I'd recommend giving it a shot. Heck, if you have a gen 1 or 2 Explorer, it could probably use the flush by now anyway.

Thank you for any input.

 

[Rhett]

Yeah buddy! Still here
Life happens = kids
I build lots of trucks these days, have crushed like 50+ explorers and built countless explorers and rangers
Now life allows me to spend more time here, so I am back!!

I am glad to see you here! Hope you are doin all right and still have the 302'ed BII.

I don't really like the plastic/metal radiators. I've seen too many of them separate with hot/cold cycles and start the drip drip de drips. Another problem with them is their draincocks are usually plastic also, and are easy to break by hamhanded mechanics such as myself. I'll be goin the all-metal route next time for sure.

 

[Jones R.]

While I have 93 ranger it does share a lot of parts with the explorer. I have a nagging overheating issue on long grades I want to get rid of. When I am going to the local trails I climb from 1600 feet to 5000 ft in about 12 miles. It is one long continues pull. I pretty much put it in 4th and hold my foot to the floor to the top to hold 50 mph. It will hold the speed but the temp gauge starts to climb. As soon as I clear the grade and get into the tight turns the temp comes right back down. It will get slightly warm around town when the outside temps are 90 plus If I drive it fairly hard.
I know part of my problem is my winch is blocking airflow to the radiator. Short of getting rid of my winch that wont change, so I need to deal with areas I can change. There are a few areas I feel that can be improved: Radiator, Fan, Fan Clutch.

I am currently running the factory single core radiator. My understanding is there is a duel core radiator that is out there that can bolt in. Is that correct? When I change from single core to duel core I need to change the shroud as well correct?

Listed on Rock Auto is a 9 blade fan ( I currently have) and a 10 blade heavy duty fan.Has anyone made this swap and noticed a difference? Anyone know the CFM difference between them?

There is a standard duty and heavy duty fan clutch listed on Rock Auto. Has anyone ran either of these and been able to notice the difference? What is the difference?

My truck never runs warm on the trail. It can be 100 degrees plus outside and I can leave it idling or pulling in double low with the temp staying nice and low.


Any opinions?

I highly doubt the trans is heating up the coolant a noticeable amount to warm the engine up quicker. There's not a lot of flow through the trans lines compared to the amount of coolant in the radiator. Plus you'd have to be driving hard right after a cold start, getting the torque converter working to heat up the fluid. It works the other way, the coolant cools the trans fluid. The coolant is the coolest liquid, that's why oil and trans lines go into the radiator, those oils are a lot (or can be a lot) warmer than the coolant is, at least in the radiator.

If you have a larger than factory auxiliary cooler, you're probably fine bypassing the radiator but I don't think it will do much to help your cause. Though, if you prove me wrong, I'd like to know about it

Dual core radiator is the a must, should have changed from manual trans single 20years ago. Trimed shroud . no problem running a/c with amient temp above 100 deg f.