i noticed my truck had low coolant the other week, not bad just a tad low. I didnt add any cause it wasnt a a big difference. 5 days ago i noticed some water on the driveway where i park my truck. but the truck was gone because my mom took it for the night(i figured it was the a/c). never looked into again because i forgot about it. today while we were making an air cannon i walked past my truck and noticed water on the groud again, and seeing that it was pooled at the front on the truck instead of by the passenger side door where the a/c drips i crawled under the truck with a spotlight and saw that the lower radiator hose was wet, i got a flathead and tightened as tight i thought it could go safely. I tried to see if i could move the hose and clamp up farther go get a better connection, but it started leaking coolant all over so i stoped. i grabed the new gallon of motorcraft gold coolant and poured half a gallon of strait coolant into the degas bottle. it came up to the low mark on the bottle, but then sank back down to about 3/4 inch below the min mark. it was as low as an inch above the very bottom of the bottle closest to the firewall. i dont have any distilled water but im gonna buy some tomorrow and mix 50/50 with the rest of the coolant. i have a pale under the lower radiator to see if it leaks more. if it does im guessing ill need a new hose. anyone know how much one is?

Im just glad i caught it while there was still coolant in the degas bottle.
Other wise truck runs like a dream.

Thanks

 

Another poster just had a leak that he thought was rad, got a new rad put in, turned out to be from a hose...

See this thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...o-coolant.html


I would assume it to be the worse... and start throwing parts at it.

Oh... since you are doing that.. might as well do complete flush... and if it is that old... new hoses, thermostat, etc.

VC-9 the thing at the same time.

 

trust me its the radiator hose, I did a complete coolant flush a year and half ago. then new oil cooler, egr delete, coolant filter, vc9 with complete coolant flush, 4 months 8k miles ago. I think the hose has just got worn out from coming off and on

 

At that age of a vehicle, as a matter of course, I would have tossed all the hoses I can easily reach at the last flush....

Never too late to do the right thing!


My theory is rad hoses are good for 5 to 7 years and 200,000 miles, whichever occur first.

Push 7 years for lower mileage, 5 years for high mileage.

 

My dads truck has been fine since i flushed the coolant, its twice as old with twice the miles. im gonna check tomorrow in daylight, but it looked like the hose wasnt pushed all the way on to the raditor and the clamp wasnt either

 

How many gallons does the cooling system hold? because if i replace the hose about half of the total coolant will drain. I dont want to do a full flush because i did it 8300 miles ago.

 

27.5 quarts.

A truckload...

 

Cooling system capacity is around 27.5 quarts for your truck.


Edit: ^^^^yeah, like he said.

 

27.5/4= 6.875 gallons

then divide by 2=3.4375
divided by two again=1.71875

So i need two gallons of coolant and water

 

In florida, you are alright with a 50/50 mix.

I take it you don't buy pre-mixed coolant!

 

At the Napa here they charge the same price for a gal. of concentrate GO-5 as for a gal. of the pre-mix. Do the math.

 

Im running motorcraft gold as of now. but yeah at napa or advanced strait and mixed is the same price

 

I hope I'm reading this wrong and you aren't actually advocating 'throwing parts at it.'

Seriously???

 

Dead serious.

Never had a rad hose fail in the field from this routine.

Rubber parts have a finite life.

I can probably push it out a few years / miles, but the idea is to replace before it is likely to fail.

SOP in aerospace applications that are mission or safety critical.

You don't wait for a part to fail to replace it.

 

Aviation, aerospace, etc. has a schedule for replacing pretty much everything, but then they don't have the luxury of pulling over should a hose fail. Following your theory, why don't you get in and replace all the hard to reach ones following the same schedule? You still end up with the same weak points if you don't.

I do wait for most non-wear parts like that to fail unless I see signs of impending failure, and I did have a hose spring a pinhole leak in an Accord about 10 years ago or so. The Accord had 200,000+ miles and it was an original hose. That's the only time in almost 20 years of car ownership, and it didn't do anything but make me add coolant a couple times and not go on any long trips until I had an afternoon to change it. Obviously, if you can prevent something from happening, you won't get left at the side of the road. However, given that there are so many parts that can leave you stranded and rubber in things like hoses, tires, etc. is so much better than it was years ago, I personally don't see the point. Fortunately in this case, they don't make them like they used to. I don't intend to start an argument by any means and I certainly understand your logic, but I don't see it as being cost-effective or a good use of one's time unless maybe that person is using this vehicle for business and down time is lost money. To each his own, I guess.