This only works if replacing hoses, not to change heater core. I could not reach and there was no room for the special tool, so I used a 12" hacksaw blade to reach way back in the tight little area where the special hose clips are and cut the black part that goes behind the white tabs and was able to pull the hoses off. Had to use about 1/8" stroke of the blade. Tedious, but it worked relatively quickly.

Q: The new hoses came with the factory type clamps, those weird rings that don't screw tight. Do I just spread with pliers and slip on, or is there some special tool that cinches them down tighter? Worm drive clamp seems more securs to me.

 

If you were going to replace the hoses anyway, it's easier to break those plastic rings by just jamming a flat screwdriver into any gaps you can and twisting to crack them. You can re-use the hoses without the quick-connect ends by cutting them off like a lot of people do and holding them on the nipple with standard worm-drive hose clamps.

Since you have the old hoses off, you should be able to see how the quick-connects went together. There is a white plastic clip that sort of clamps onto the nipple coming from the heater core, latching onto a ridge on the tubing. Then the black plastic collar of the hose slips over the nipple end and the clip, and you push until the little lips on the white clip pop through the slots on the black collar. Through all of this, you need to make sure that the O-rings that form the seal don't get bound up. You usually put the O-rings into the black plastic collar with the plastic spacer rings before trying to slip it onto the nipple.

 

Good idea. Problem on my aerostar is that the fittings are way back about 10 inches back in a 3 inch wide area. There is other stuff in there too, so very hard to get to. I could not find a very long screwdriver to reach back. I see that standard hose could go over the heater core pipes and be clamped behind the ridge, but near impossible to get back there to tighten, and the standard heater hose is a loose fit on the heater pipes, so I would expect seepage. I would have just pieced in standard bulk heater hose and have metal hose connectors (after plastic ones broke in 3 years), but found the hose punky by the water pump connection. Ford's bright idea was to flare the hose to 1" ID at the water pump, so standard 3/4" hose won't fit. At that point, instead of finding an adapter hose, I bit the bullet and bought the very expensive stock hoses. Anyhow, the new ones just jamb on, but (on second look) my Haynes manual does say to lube the o-ring and heater pipes with silicon. I see how the connectors work and the Haynes (or was it the Chilton, i hve both) shows good drawing of them. New hoses come complete with connectors and o-rings in place, just lube and install.

Guess I should R&R the lower rad hose too, since that is original. Top hose was once replaced.

 

I think that area on every Aerostar is very tight, at least those with A/C. I went through the trouble of removing the front of the air box, moving the A/C hardware out of the way, to try to unclip those stupid quick-connect fittings. When I got there, I found them to be impossible to budge, so in frustration, I busted them with the screw driver. I found the reason they wouldn't budge was that the inside were filled with crud, and you had to push the fittings against the nipples in order to get enough clearance to pop the clips out of the little slots. The crud build up prevented that from happening.

I cut off the plastic ends from the hoses and slipped those over the nipples. Standard hoses would have been too big or too small. Since the fitting was gone, the hose was effectively shorter, so I installed a T-fitting for cooling system flushing in each of the lines to extend them. (I hope they don't disintegrate with age.) There was not room for a regular screwdriver or socket in that area, so I used a ratcheting box end wrench (5/16") to tighten the hose clamps.

 

Supposedly you can get 3/4" pipe and use it for extensions, but without a bump to clamp behind I would be leary. Auto parts stores sell plastic connectors that will add about an inch to the hose, but I used them and they distorted from the heat and after 3 years one snapped off so it blew out the coolant on the freeway. The whole thing sucks. Not designed for the home mechanic. Fine for repair facility as they will simply pass on the charges.