I installed a new lower rad. hose on my 95 f150 5.0l. After I had finished I realized there was a stainless steel coil support in the old hose. Is it safe to run without the coil in the hose and will it collapse the hose if the water pump draws too much pressure?

JAMC

 

have you squeezed the new hose to see if there was a coil in it? If not, definatly replace it in the new one.

 

Yeah, what he said!

You definately don't want the lower hose to collapse, or you will have some real problems.

Dan Harriman 84 F150 lwb
Orange, Texas

 

What they said is right!

 

The stock lower hose on my truck had the coil inside, but the aftermarket one I have not does not. I have not had any issues or problems related to a collapsed hose, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

Let me elaborate a bit on my previous answer. Yes, you should have the coil in the lower hose, or have a hose that has the coil embedding in the hose itself. Period. However, many folks don't replace the coil and they get along nicely and without problems.

Here is a scenario of what can happen without the reinforcing coil on the lower hose. After the hose is installed for a while, it becomes soft and loses some of it's rigidity, if you want to call it that. When you put the pedal to the
metal, the waterpump sends more coolant into the engine block from the radiator, and of course more coolant enters the rad at the same time, removing the excessive heat that has just been caused by feeding the engine more 'fuel'.

The lower hose is the hose that brings the coolant from the radiator in most cases. If the lower hose is weak, it can collapse and hinder the movement of the coolant, resulting in an overheating situation. The key word is 'can'. Once the pressure is taken off the accelerator, the coolant demand is lessened, and the lower hose allows the coolant to pass through unobstructed, cooling the engine correctly.

On today's radiator hoses, they are usually reinforced to prevent collapsing. If the hose has ridges in it, then for sure it has the coil spring embedded in the rubber. If it is a smooth hose, then after being installed for a while, the hose can get soft and start to collapse on engine rev-up.

However, the lower hose will probably NOT collapse under normal, old-fogie driving. It is when we need to beat the other vehicle to the next light that collapse mostly happens.

In the last 30 or so years of working on these things, I have yet to see an issue that can be definitely attributed to a collapsing hose. But why take a chance? If you are replacing the hose, why not just reinstall the coil? It is cheap insurace.

The bigger problem is the swelling of a hose, one that gets a BIG blister on it. Those things can blow out and cause overheating.

Hope that helps and clears up any confusion,

Dan Harriman 84 F150 lwb
Orange, Texas

 

Where can one get the metal coil if perchance the hose does not come with one? I remember the stock hose having the thing attached to the hose in some fashion.

 

I bought the truck new in 1995 and now have 30k miles. So you could say it isn't driven hard. I'll be changing the coolant again in 2 or 3 years. Since it is a new hose I think I'll take the chance and not install the s/s support coil until then. After 12 years the old hose wasn't in bad shape.