I am wondering if this is normal (besides the Home Depot fittings) on my '93 E150 4.9L? as you can see, one leg goes to the upper heater core inlet, one comes from the metal hose from the thermostat housing, and the other snake down and is coming from the bottom of the radiator?

I do not have a manual or anything like that to compare too, so I was just wondering if this is totally wrong?

There is a large hose from the top of the radiator to the top of the thermostat housing, a large hose from the bottom of the radiator to the bottom of the water pump, and the other end of the water pump goes in to the bottom heater core fitting? The one going to the bottom of the radiator seems out of place? I am guessing the radiator has been replaced at one time or another.



Thanks

Brew

 

Is there a lever to operate a valve in the hose going to the heater?
If there is then what you see is a modification of the cooling system that allows the hot coolant to be diverted from the heater core during the summer.
Here are pictures of my mod.

The valve to shut the coolant flow off.
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Another view;

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The coolant always flows through the heater core regardless of the temperature setting.
The blend door in the airbox simply moves in a fashion that mixes hot air from the heater core and the air intake under the cowl.
Think of a single lever faucet on the kitchen sink.

By shutting off the flow of hot engine coolant to the airbox the AC does not have to overcome the heat from the core.

During the summer here in the south every little bit of cold that you can obtain is a help.
So I just close the valve when summer starts and open it in the fall.

 

Nope, nothing like that, that I can see. Might be something going on like that at one time since there is splice from where the water pump goes in to the heater core. Could be that they just cut that hose for convenience and spliced it, but it all is a little weird.

So the shut off goes between the T and the heater core? Just to stop the flow from going through the core?

So, if I do not want to do the mod, the smaller hose going to the bottom of the radiator would not be there? Sorry, still just a little confused, thanks for the help.

Brew

 

I did something similar to what I think your current set up is all about Brew---here's a photo:



I did this to isolate a rear bay coolant heater. Valve on the right side directed flow through the rear heater first (before returning to the front core) OR just through the front core. (The stubby hose running vertical is just after the thermostat, formally feeding just the front heater core.) They were manually controlled as you can see. Valve on the left was an after thought, both eventually removed because they were too much hassle to constantly switch over---rear heater is now fed full time but if the blower is off it doesn't affect the front heater during warm up.

Shorebird is right about the blend door and constant feeding of the front core in stock set ups. FWIW if A/C equipped the Max A/C setting closes the blend door and fresh air intake off completely which greatly increases the A/C evaporator's efficiency. This is AKA as "recirculate" which might not be advisable for smokers and non-smokers riding in the same vehicle.

I did the so-called "cold air mod" which through vacuum controlled heater valves stops coolant flow to the front heater core but honestly with the Max A/C setting I'm getting just about 38* leaving air temps from my vents. I don't smoke so its a great setting for me!