When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Heater Hose Orientation Under Doghouse on 2000 E-250
Hello! This is my first post here, but you all seem to know your stuff, and it looks like an awesome forum.
I just bought a 2000 E-250, and I'm trying to take the engine apart just enough to be able to reach the spark plugs so that I can change them and torque the new ones to 24-28 lb/foot dry so that they don't blow out, as the 5.4L 2V is known for. The previous owner changed some (but not all) of the spark plugs right before selling it, but I'm not sure if the shop that he took it to did it properly.
I generally take pictures of things as I take them apart so that I know how they go back together, but in a moment of sheer brilliance I forgot to take pictures of the back of the heater hoses before disconnecting them under the doghouse, so now I have no idea which hose I should connect to which pipe when I put everything back together, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have a bad time if I guess incorrectly.
The pipes come up from underneath the van on the driver's side, and they're side-by-side, as pictured. I'm holding the hoses up to the pipes that I think they go into. At worst, it's a 50/50 shot, but I don't like those odds.
One of the hoses has a three-way split in the front. It comes out from the bottom of the heater core and splits to go in to the top of the front of the engine before going to the back. This is the one that I *think* plugs in to the hose on the left side.
The other hose has a three-way split in the back (which can be seen in the picture). It comes out from the top of the heater core and splits to go in to the back of the engine before turning left to go in to one of the mystery pipes. This is the one that I *think* plugs in to the hose on the right side.
Does anybody know which of these hoses should go back in to which pipe?
Thanks, 98Econoline150. Based on your username I'm assuming you have one, and it's a '98?
I've been unable to find any helpful diagrams or pictures, but I was able to get a glimps under the doghouse on a few of these vans in this year range via Youtube videos, and I've seen it done both ways. The Hayne's manual is helplessly useless and doesn't seem particularly helpful for these vans to begin with.
For example, in the following videos, you can see the hose that splits to go into the back of the engine plugged in to the pipe on the left side, which is the opposite of what I was guessing in my picture:
-For this one, it's at 2m51s. I included the time in the link, but the embedding doesn't seem to handle that. He doesn't say which year this one is.
In this one, however, the hose that splits in to the back of the engine goes in to the pipe on the right side, which is what I had previously guessed (although the other heater hose is obviously disconnected from teh heater core). It can be seen at 3m8s.
Does anybody have any thoughts on this? Maybe there are variations between '98 and 2000, which would explain why it was on the right pipe in the video of the E-350 and for 98Econoline150? Maybe it doesn't really matter and it could go either way?
For anybody with a similar dilemma, I ended up hooking it back up opposite the way I had it in the picture. It runs fine, and most importantly didn't explode.
My rear A/C works, but the rear heat doesn't seem to be working. However, since I just bought the van I'm not sure if the rear heat was working at all to begin with. Of course I should have checked before disconnecting it, but it's too late now. At this point I think it's unlikely to be related to the orientation of the hoses, but if I'm feeling adventurous I might swap them next time I have to disconnect them to see if that helps.
Not sure if it is relevant for your year or not, but my '88 has rear heat. There is a valve that energizes and blocks off coolant flow to the rear heater core when AC is engaged. Maybe yours has something similar and it is stuck closed.
Only 2 things you need for heater to work is airflow over the heater core and hot coolant flowing through it. If it's not working then you are missing one.
My '96 E150 has rear heat and I discovered while troubleshooting a vacuum loss that the vacuum hose to this rear heat control valve was torn at the valve. If you have to replace the valve, I've read that the all-plastic import units don't last any time at all. I picked up a Motorcraft for $17. Works good, cost little and lasts a long time.
It makes no difference on the rear heater, there is no designated in/out, as for not working, vacuum default is heat, so thats not it, either your fan is not working, or the blender door is broken, I did see a fix for that on here.
(sorry about the large font; I can figure out how to clear it)
This is an old thread but it is what comes up in a google search . I did a rear heater core cable-controlled shutoff valve for my 1997 E-350. i bought the vehicle new and these hoses have never been removed. You can see the flow indicated on the hose couplers on the left-hand side of the picture. I confirmed 6teh flow by pinching the hose and feeling which side gets hot. The pull cable was mounted next to the headlights switch (left-hand side of the steering wheel). Parts are listed below. Note that the cutoff valve is directional.
Just a note on the configuration, the front heater core and the rear heater core are connected with "T" in parallel. So basically there is a split in the flow to distribute to the two parts and a recombining to bring the flows back together before reentering the engine. If you are interested in Hydronics, I can confirm that if you put a flow pump in-line with the heater core you can circulate water from the engine to the rear heater core when the engine is not running. Whether running or not you will need to open the valve. In my case (with the selected valve), it means pulling the **** out.
A word of caution. The cable I listed did not have white paint in the valve symbol. I added some yellow paint to highlight the valve symbol. More importantly, there was no liner in the cable and so after installation, it was difficult to pull. After clamping down on the end of the cable it would npo6ty pull at all. The first step was to grease the cable which helped a lot. Then I clamped down on the end using some hard rubber to cushen the pressure on the cable end. A cable stop would have been better. It now works real well.
10-14-2017, 02:30 PM
