Puke tank hookup

[coolen]

The ranger I recently aquired has the washer fluid and coolant tank in one bottle. There is a line that runs from the over flow nipple on the rad into the top of the tank (not sealed, just rubber line into a hole), but on the very bottom of the overflow bottle is a blocked off line to nowhere. How can I have a functioning system?

Thanks

 

[RonD]

The rad to overflow tank connection needs to be "air free" to work so either you are missing a hose from the top of the tank to the bottom(like a siphon hose) or it is hooked up incorrectly.

On some models with bottom of the tank hook ups the overflow tank would get clogged up over time and return flow back to the rad was blocked.
So they switched to a siphon hose setup, the end of the siphon hose would sit an inch or so above the bottom of the tank so any debris could settle at the bottom and not block the siphon return.

You can switch any overflow tank over to siphon return by getting a longer hose and putting it through a hole in the top of the tank to about an inch above the bottom, anchor the hose so flow doesn't move it up or down, then make sure coolant level in tank with engine cold is an inch or two above the siphon hose end, assuming rad is full.
The overflow tank only gets fuller as engine heats up, so mark your "cold level", then you can tell if there are any leaks in the system in the future.

 

[adsm08]

The line should hook up at the bottom where you say it is blocked off. The 1st gen bottle is not "sealed" per se, there is just a rubber plug on the tank cap.

I am pretty sure (like 98%) that I have a good tank around.

 

[coolen]

Well today I extended the hose that comes off the top of the rad, and put it down into the bottle...maybe tomorrow I'll make sure the rad is full. So by me extending the hose...that will work ok?

I was thinking of stealing the overflow bottle off my 99 windstar as it is getting parted out anyways, but I think they're 2 different systems..?

 

[adsm08]

The Windstar has a degas bottle, which I actually prefer myself. If you could get a T fitting to plumb in-line with your lower rad hose the degas bottle would actually not be a half-bad solution.

 

[RonD]

If you keep the coolant clean, i.e. change and flush every two years, then the lower hose tanks are fine.
The siphon tanks have less issue with blocked return, IMO.

From what I know the degas(de-gas) tanks are for purging air from a poorly designed cooling system, , they were used mostly when the top of the rad couldn't be the highest point in the cooling system, they are like a radiator extension, and need to be the highest point in the cooling system to work properly, trap the air.
Not sure you could retro-fit it in your Ranger as a degas system, rad cap is pretty high and you would have to go higher.
The tank itself could be used as an overflow tank.