Radiator Replacement
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 5,036
Likes: 137
From: Maryville
My plastic split at 10 years old and 100,000 miles, the split was under the thick metal bracket the air box is on, I don't see how anything could have contacted it to crack it, and as I said my parents cars needed them replaced every coolant change, too bad copper radiators is in the past, this stuff available now is just junk, things aren't getting better, they don't really want us to keep old vehicles going, want us to buy new, buy into the disposable market. Went through this with my 89, few options with the 4.9, my mechanic went overkill and put a large aluminum one in that goes to god knows what, had to run custom lines to it.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2023
Posts: 154
Likes: 21
IMO there isnt much of a disposable market when you spend $$, there was always a disposable market when you spent little $
case in point. 100% of ALL high end cars, LAST 10x longer than the high end cars 60 years ago, heck even 20 years ago.
ford was and never will be high end quality or luxury. toyota, honda aand so on, thats why there is lexas, porsche, bently, so on and so forth.
we say we are in a disposable world, but the opposite is true. we are in a world that when you spend $ on something, it is and usually was 10x better than what you had before, it usually lasts 10x longer too. I know planned obsolescence and light bulb life conspiracies, Combine and farm equipment BS but over all things are getting better, faster, cheaper. look back 30 years into the 1990's HOLY CRAP everything was literally disposable and useless after 10 years! and if it lasted it was still a POS, then look back 30 years into the 60's... dont even get me started in to the "most things would kill you now or in 30 years"
case in point. 100% of ALL high end cars, LAST 10x longer than the high end cars 60 years ago, heck even 20 years ago.
ford was and never will be high end quality or luxury. toyota, honda aand so on, thats why there is lexas, porsche, bently, so on and so forth.
we say we are in a disposable world, but the opposite is true. we are in a world that when you spend $ on something, it is and usually was 10x better than what you had before, it usually lasts 10x longer too. I know planned obsolescence and light bulb life conspiracies, Combine and farm equipment BS but over all things are getting better, faster, cheaper. look back 30 years into the 1990's HOLY CRAP everything was literally disposable and useless after 10 years! and if it lasted it was still a POS, then look back 30 years into the 60's... dont even get me started in to the "most things would kill you now or in 30 years"
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 5,036
Likes: 137
From: Maryville
You need see Jeremy Clarkson's battle to fix the insanely stupid 'plastic' couplers to the high end Mercedes multi radiator, cooling system, by far a nowhere near cheap car, he explains the exotic million dollar cars will never be found with over 100,000 miles on them, they won't do it, so he pointed to Chevy and their Corvette as it would hit exotic car speeds, but be a daily driver high mileage candidate. I have an 89 Econoline, I have nothing nice to say, everything under the hood has been replaced as it all broke, copper radiator was held in by the hoses alone, the end plates had popped off, one day it may become roadworthy, run when in drive, who knows, I give ford the middle finger, rather have a Honda at the moment.
Beware parts store radiators, they will sell you one that is too small, what ever their computer says that is available, research whats out there, and make sure you can get the fan shroud attached to it, don't put in electric fans, you will be sorry, at the same time, go ahead and replace your fan clutch while you are at it, mine was bad when my radiator was out, could tell fluid loss in the unit had it not engaging the fan to pull in much air, hadn't been running hot but I wasn't going to wait until it started.
Beware parts store radiators, they will sell you one that is too small, what ever their computer says that is available, research whats out there, and make sure you can get the fan shroud attached to it, don't put in electric fans, you will be sorry, at the same time, go ahead and replace your fan clutch while you are at it, mine was bad when my radiator was out, could tell fluid loss in the unit had it not engaging the fan to pull in much air, hadn't been running hot but I wasn't going to wait until it started.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2023
Posts: 154
Likes: 21
You need see Jeremy Clarkson's battle to fix the insanely stupid 'plastic' couplers to the high end Mercedes multi radiator, cooling system, by far a nowhere near cheap car, he explains the exotic million dollar cars will never be found with over 100,000 miles on them, they won't do it, so he pointed to Chevy and their Corvette as it would hit exotic car speeds, but be a daily driver high mileage candidate. I have an 89 Econoline, I have nothing nice to say, everything under the hood has been replaced as it all broke, copper radiator was held in by the hoses alone, the end plates had popped off, one day it may become roadworthy, run when in drive, who knows, I give ford the middle finger, rather have a Honda at the moment.
Beware parts store radiators, they will sell you one that is too small, what ever their computer says that is available, research whats out there, and make sure you can get the fan shroud attached to it, don't put in electric fans, you will be sorry, at the same time, go ahead and replace your fan clutch while you are at it, mine was bad when my radiator was out, could tell fluid loss in the unit had it not engaging the fan to pull in much air, hadn't been running hot but I wasn't going to wait until it started.
Beware parts store radiators, they will sell you one that is too small, what ever their computer says that is available, research whats out there, and make sure you can get the fan shroud attached to it, don't put in electric fans, you will be sorry, at the same time, go ahead and replace your fan clutch while you are at it, mine was bad when my radiator was out, could tell fluid loss in the unit had it not engaging the fan to pull in much air, hadn't been running hot but I wasn't going to wait until it started.
electric fans are awesome if you get good ones. double ball bearing fans are great and if its connected to the lower hose they rarely ever come on unless necessary. The fans i purchase i have used before and all 6 of them in the past have lasted well over 100K of use IN COLORADO HEAT hauling things Good starting price is $50 a fan minimum. fan clutch and fan takes about 15 to 20 HP from the engine, is stupid loud and a death trap, when it fails, its taking out everything. I have replaced the flan clutch 4 times before i said screw it im going back to electric. they usually fail in the CLOSED always turning the fan position.
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 5,036
Likes: 137
From: Maryville
I bought a good electric fan from an engine builder who uses them in their race cars, it seized up on the mountain here and cooked my oil, no I would never trust an electric fan, you will never notice that 20hp gain, believe me, put back on it what came on it.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2023
Posts: 154
Likes: 21
and that is on a NEW engine service, TC, followers, so on and so forth.
fans fail, thats why you never run just one. i run 4 because i only need 2. nearly ALL cars and trucks (SUVs) run electric fans. its not difficult to get good ones. the chances of a clutch failing are MUCH higher than a brush less dual ball bearing fan. Granted there is a LOT of cheap crap out there that will fail in short order.
you do not even need fans if you are moving forward more than 20mph
one reason that they do fail is that they are wired in to work 100% of the time or end up working way too much. having the temp switch on the lower rad hose ensures that it only turns on if it needs to cool off from fans.
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 225
Likes: 25
in my big box truck e350 it made a BIG difference gaining back that whatever HP it was. going from unable to maintain even 50mph up a steep grade with a full load to being able to hold 65. JUST on getting that POS fan clutch setup.
and that is on a NEW engine service, TC, followers, so on and so forth.
fans fail, thats why you never run just one. i run 4 because i only need 2. nearly ALL cars and trucks (SUVs) run electric fans. its not difficult to get good ones. the chances of a clutch failing are MUCH higher than a brush less dual ball bearing fan. Granted there is a LOT of cheap crap out there that will fail in short order.
you do not even need fans if you are moving forward more than 20mph
one reason that they do fail is that they are wired in to work 100% of the time or end up working way too much. having the temp switch on the lower rad hose ensures that it only turns on if it needs to cool off from fans.
and that is on a NEW engine service, TC, followers, so on and so forth.
fans fail, thats why you never run just one. i run 4 because i only need 2. nearly ALL cars and trucks (SUVs) run electric fans. its not difficult to get good ones. the chances of a clutch failing are MUCH higher than a brush less dual ball bearing fan. Granted there is a LOT of cheap crap out there that will fail in short order.
you do not even need fans if you are moving forward more than 20mph
one reason that they do fail is that they are wired in to work 100% of the time or end up working way too much. having the temp switch on the lower rad hose ensures that it only turns on if it needs to cool off from fans.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2023
Posts: 154
Likes: 21
Lot of varying opinions but never the less and you're putting a lot of work into that project. I think it would be a great learning tool for people who want to pursue the same if you started a thread on the build, problems you ran into, parts, etc. Best of luck on it, I'll follow along.
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Lead Driver
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 5,036
Likes: 137
From: Maryville
The mountain here will run your electric fan until it seizes up, don't matter how much you paid for it and if it isn't running your coolant is boiling, I tried it, failed, never again, the flex fan on the engine solved my problem until the van was totaled.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2023
Posts: 154
Likes: 21
No offense bother but NOTHING you just said makes sense. I already put 25K on it like this and it has zero issues. You are implying that 90% of all vehicles that have electric fans are going to fail all the time because they are electric... that's just dumb. Cheap fans use brushed motors and squire cage motors with bushings and journal bearings. those suck. Cost does not matter, having dual ball bearing brushless motors makes all the. Maybe you do not understand how my fans work but they ONLY work when the temp of the coolant coming OUT of the radiator hits 190, then shuts off at 170. i have a little light that shows me when they are on, it never turns on unless im going slow. i promise you my AUBER gauges are telling me the exact coolant temp AT the block and at the inlet of the radiator upper hose. 185 to 195 and never past 201 even when hauling. its been cool here but trust me brother when i say, its good, they are quality parts. coolant never will boil with this setup. You must have done a poor job before. i do understand that crappy parts make a crappy old van crappy.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Oct 2023
Posts: 154
Likes: 21
Look i would LOVE to go back and forth with you, if you want we can take this to PM here, i would love to show you my setup further and show you how amazing it is to be out of the stone age!
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waltmoe
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
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May 30, 2005 02:28 PM
