Ok. Here is the issue. We bought my daughter a 1995 f 150 about 6 months ago. She started it in the parking lot and heard a noise and turned it off. I went to look at it the next day and the radiator had a hole in the plastic under the top hose. What would cause that to happen? I checked the hose's and they seem OK. Second issue this truck has a manual transmission. The replace ment oem radiator is about twice the width of the old one. The new one is also built to accommodate an automatic transmission. Thanks for any clues.

 

Two issues here:
#2, there is a cooler in the replacement radiator for an auto trans, no problem there, just leave the plastic plugs in those ports.

#1, the replacemet radiator is "twice a wide as the original". Do you mean twice as thick? If so, then the issue is proper clearance between the fan and the aft side of the radiator. Possibly there is a spacer on the fan mounting surface that can be removed or you can use a thinner spacer. You want about one inch of clearance between the fan blades & the rear side of the radiaator.

 

What would cause the radiator to blow a whole in the plastic?

 

I would suspect "normal" fatigue,or perhaps a fan blade impact.If you inspect the hole area carefully,you may see some "indentations" on the periphery of the hole.If you do,it was an external source,if not,I suspect just a weak spot in the radiator.

 

Sounds to me like normal wear on the radiator. I'd even venture to say that the hole you're describing started out as a crack in the plastic then deteriorated. The radiator in my old Ranger had a crack in the plastic that I continually JB welded (the system still had the proper pressure) until finally a chunk of plastic just broke off, forming a 'hole'.

Also, I find it hard to believe that the parts store doesn't carry the appropriate radiator for a manual transmission application. I'm looking on Oreilly's website and I see a radiator for a manual transmission application available for that year F150. If you can't find one local, there's several credible radiator websites that sell new radiators for economical prices.

Let us know what you find out though. The fan spacer idea mentioned by 1975IH200 should work as well, assuming you meant depth and not width.

 

We've done that!

We faced this same problem with a 5.0L Mercury Grand Marquis on a holiday. Son would be returning back to college the next day with it. Noticed like a bulls-eye pattern in the plastic radiator tank, on topside right above the upper hose inlet. Pressing in on it would make it flex, and it cracked. Needed a quick fix, all parts stores closed.

So we drilled small holes at the ends of the cracks to try to slow the cracking, and to give JB Weld something to get a good grip on. Roughened up surface with sandpaper, then used JB Weld and a small piece of aluminum window screen as a reinforcing mesh.

The next morning it looked good, he headed off for hundreds of miles down interstates and state roads. It got him back to school OK, and about 1 week of around-town driving there before it began to crack further. Time for a new radiator, which he then put in on a weekend, having collected all the needed parts during the week.

That was the only actual radiator plastic failure I have seen myself. Have had other plastic-tanked radiators leak (like my Bronco), but the leaks were where the aluminum core is sealed to the plastic end tanks.

 

Thanks for all the information. Depth is probably a better description of the difference between the two radiators. The replacement was a one radiator fits all. It was capable of being used with a automatic transmission as well as a manual transmission. I posed the question because I have never experienced a radiator blowing a whole in the plastic. It seems like the best explanation is fatigue.