Been working on this Explorer( V6 4.0l engine) far more than I've driven it. I've replaced my water pump, thermostat, heat control gasket, MAF sensor, heater hoses, spark plugs and coils, put a couple of head gasket seals (which may have led to the heat control valve needing replaced) done several coolant flushes, spent countless hours cleaning rust off of parts, thousands on parts and tools, have paid for the thing to be towed 3 times, now I'm paying for storage on this thing and that's where I'm stuck. I obviously have other means of transportation now (I drive a Jeep). I'm just needing this poor explorer to run one last time so I can get it to the auto auction where they will hopefully give me a grand since I'm already in somewhere near 20 k over my head. Anyway I'm putting it back together, (almost done) and when I removed the cooling lines, I took the entire bolt off with the cooler lines, instead of popping the line out. Transmission core is inside radiator so apparently these bolts have to feed into the thread that is inside the radiator on a bar that moves and evades my tactics. It just rolls around but seems to pull away from magnets. So I can't seem to thread these bolts back into the radiator. They just turn and turn uselessly. They are still attached to the hard lines for transmission. Its really hard to screw in a bolt with a pipe in one side into a hole with a thread that keeps moving around inside the hole. What do I do? Will new o rings help? Do I have to pop the pipe out of the bolt where there might be a pressure tab? I can't afford a new radiator but, I can't afford to just hand this car over for just a couple of hundred dollars , either. Help!

 

I'm not a mechanic, but I don't think that 'nut' exiting the radiator, is supposed to turn? I'm think that radiator won't hold water anymore?

I'm working on my 1998 Explorer 5.0 AWD radiator to trans external oil cooler. It's really hard to get to that lower line. How are you even able?

Mine seems to be leaking from the line flare fitting. I can't loosen the nut with line wrench or a crow's foot. I'm thinking of cutting the line so I can get a deep well 5/8" socket around the nut. But then I'm not sure how I could tighten a new line back on. I'm thinking about having to cut the new line, use socket to tighten, then try to sleave it with rubber hose and clamps.