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I recently purchased a lower radiator hose (a Gates) for my 1996 F150 (I am planning on a coolant flush soon, at which time I will replace it). There was a recent posting of a thread on this site about lower hoses for a 1995 model -- that the Gates and Goodyear brands did not fit well.
My truck has 96000 miles on it and this is the original hose. It looks and feels like it is in good shape still.
Question 1: Don't these lower hoses last a lot longer than the upper one (i.e. cooled coolant flows through the lower one)?
Question 2: If yes to above, then should I get my money back, especially considering the possible poor fit with the Gates brand?
with 96000 miles I would suggest replacing it...yes it may look and feel good on the outside but you can't see on the inside....I just recently replaced mine with a good year and it fit fine...I had one problem when getting the hose, They asked me if I had either factory A/C or was it installed by the dealer....I thought for sure it was factory so they gave me the proper hose...when I got home I noticed the hoses were a different shape and I tried for hours trying to get the new one to fit...so I went back and got the other hose(for dealership installed a/c) and it fit perfect.