1993 F250 460 manual 4wd

I'm at my wits' end. I am on my fifth radiator in the past year and today I noticed coolant in the snow. The shop that sold me my Cold Case radiators has provided outstanding customer service, but I hope someone here has suggestions as to what's going on.

Radiator 1: OEM radiator from 1992, so I can't blame it for failing.
Radiator 2: Champion brand all-aluminum bought from Jegs. Lasted about 7 months before starting to leak. Local radiator shop pressure tested. Returned for a refund.
Radiator 3-5: Cold Case brand all-aluminum. About twice the price of Champion.

The shop I got my Cold Cases from said they've been carrying the brand for about three years and mine was the first they've seen fail, as well as the second and third... Last time I brought my pickup in with a coolant leak, they tested for head gasket leaks, mount bushings, electrolysis, and anything else that might suggest my pickup was to blame. They could not find a cause.

My question is what else can I check that might be the cause of the leak? I generally have bad luck, but this is getting ridiculous. Can my block heater cause radiator failure?

Thanks for your time. I'm about to send this thing to the glue factory.
- Joe

 

I hear your frustration.

I’ve had good luck using dye for really hard to find fluid leaks/weeping. It’s not expensive anymore, and you can get set up to it at home through Amazon. The trick for coolant is to get it up to temp, just enough to cycle the fluid and mix up the dye, but not enough for the fan to start bowing it all around. You may have to do it a couple of times, and wash down in between, to identify the source. Best to park it after running in a dark garage, or outside after dark.

Good luck with it, hope you find it.

 

My peak always comes from the radiator. I'm looking for reasons why my radiators keep leaking

 

Bad radiator cap? Or plugged line to over flow container?

Only think I can think of is to much pressure build up?

 

How long did the OE last? Who makes this 'Cold Case' unit? I have never heard of them.

I just purchase units from Autozone due to ease of warranty return.

 

I've seen Cold Case used on some "hot rod' type shows on YouTube and supposedly they are pretty good. I think some are even radiator and electric fan combo units.

I've never had a problem using an OE type replacement from the parts store, maybe its worth trying one of those.

My friend had an electrolysis issue on his 95 4.9 that destroyed heater cores and radiators. The solution was an additive from Ford for 7.3 PSD.

 

In what kind of shape is your core support? If shes rotted out pretty good, you may have flexing and shaking going on that is killing them.

 

Each radiator has come with a cap. The line to overflow is new, and the level rises when the engine is warm, so i don't think that's the cause.
They are their own brand. Beautiful radiators. Do you know where i could find a Motorcraft? Ease of warranty was the reason i went with Cold Case, as the local shop stocks them, but replacing radiators monthly is a bigger issue.
OE style is my next step. Any brand you recommend? Are napa brand decent?
Core support is in great shape. Body mounts are rough, but those are probably one of the most neglected maintenance items on these old Fords, so i don't think that's the cause.

 

I like this idea, but am also curious if you've investigated the radiator cap. Once the system reaches a certain pressure, it should open a bypass in the cap to relieve said pressure to the expansion tank. Rad caps are CHEAP, so its worth tossing another on. I like the safety lever style caps. It makes depressurizing the system as easy as pulling the lever up. Otherwise you'll be waiting for things to cool before taking anything apart for diagnostics. As also stated above, check to ensure the hose to the expansion tank is free flowing.

In my cummins swap, my fancy ebay aluminum radiator came with a 19psi cap. I used it but found coolant spots on the ground from a leaky hose. Found my hoses to be rock hard with pressure, so i swapped on the specified 16psi cap. No longer have leakage issues. Check your cap!

With the number of radiators you've gone through, I would suspect something else is wrong and is causing the radiator to fail. The only causes of failure that come to my mind would be fatigue from mounting issues or over pressurization. Over pressurization can be caused by a couple things; failing water pump causing lack of circulation, a bad rad cap, or a bad head gasket. Seems you've had someone look into some of those.

Not sure on this one. HOW are they failing?

edit: saw you snuck in some answers, so disregard some of the above. Double check the cap that comes with the radiator is specified for your truck.

 

Where are the rads leaking? is it random or is it always at a seam where the core meets the tanks for example? Random failures are a quality control problem, but if it's always the same type of failure something about your truck or this truck and the terrain you drive over that causes a lot of stress on the rad.

 

Same truck, had the same problem. Went through 2 champion radiators in 3 months before giving up and going back to an OE style plastic tank rad. Haven't had an issue since. The first champion leaked out of the box. The second took a while (a couple months or so.) Both champion rads started to leak at the point where the core is welded or brazed to the end plates. I thought at first it may have been the truck trying to flex the rad over uneven terrain. The second one I tried mounting loosely. This didn't help.

 

I'm going to ask a ******* question here, and it's *probably* not your issue, but on your coolant fills, are you using Distilled water?

I have *zero* idea what your tap water is like, but I *have* seen some locations where their tap water has just so much mineral and/or metal content, that it just destroys cooling systems either through electrolytic damage, or through sedimentation of minerals as they drop out of solution over time (which can happen quite quickly in some cases).

 

I didn't explain myself well enough. As above suggestions...

Where is it leaking? one spot? multiple spots? Are the radiators cracking at the welds? connections? drain fittings? structural failure due to flexing, install, fittings, high pressure and blowing over board, etc etc etc? Same spot each time?

I would be going through the entire system, install procedure, vehicle use, etc, without ruling anything out. I can only assume the system was pressure tested and the rad itself has been identified as the source, but where?

If it were me, I would identify exactly where the actual leak/s in the system are.

 

I could only assume to find a Motorcraft unit would be NOS or maybe buzz your dealer and see if they have one on the shelf.

The parts store units are probably all Spectra or OSC, maybe TYC, I think that is what I put in my 4.9 from The Zone under their Duralast brand. I bought there with the 20% off online order ship to home stuff...$160ish plus tax for the two core unit. Rockauto a bit less at $140 for cheapest two core, but add shipping and tax, sure use the 5% off, at that point it is a wash and short warranty.

 

Good to know, Scndsin posted the radiator cap that done that.



maybe caps are wrong pressure, is leak in same place/area each time.