Im getting ready to replace All cooling system hoses on my 5.4. I want to replace the heater hoses as well. Any thoughts, or advice out there?

 

Have patience. Honestly, the job is still a PIA like plugs. I just redid mine, excluding heater core lines, and it took me two evenings to drain and route the new hoses on. If you plan on doing a system flush, DO NOT remove the thermostat unless you need to. I thought the job would be easier to take out the 'stat so I would not have to wait for the engine to get hot. Wrong! I opened the the housing and all the coolant poured down into plug well 5 causing me to remove the coil and shop-vac the hole adding another unneeded headache to the job.

The top hose is the easiest while the lower 4 connection points will give you grief. The problem is that all the hoses are held on with that "expansion" ring deal so the problem is getting a long needle nose pliers to remove the two lowest hoses (the smallest lines that run off the "T" connection). The other lower connection on the motor side isn't bad; but the radiator connection is a what was Ford thinking? design. I don't know how that thing is supposed to come off (the directions are on the top of the hose itself) but I took my time and cut it off with a dremel and shard knife.

Putting the new lower hose on, I redid them using the hose clamps that you can tighten with a screw driver/socket and that added to my time under the hood. If you go this route, the two lowest hoses will be a MAJOR pain due to limited room (I have a 4x4 model) but the others were not so bad. The hardest part was putting the lower radiator hose back on the radiator itself. I used Vaseline on the inside of the hose and will every will ounce if strength I had, slid on the hose over the ring. After that, everything was good.

If I did it again, I seriously would consider reusing the "expansion" ring clamps that came with the vehicle. I only used the ones I did because they were recommended.

Good luck!

 

Awesome report. Thanks for the heas up. I will let you know how it comes out.

 

Oh I forgot to mention that when you go to pull the lower radiator hose off (the one connected to the radiator itself), go through the driver's side wheel well.

 

Thanks, i also plan on replacing all the heater lines as well.

 

Let me know the difficulty on the heater core lines. I'm interested in hearing since the one line is directly over coil numbers 3 & 4.

 

One heater hose is a real PITA due to the connection is behind the valve cover/ head the other is a 5min job. This was on my now sold 97, 5.4, 4x4.