Ford & Mazda no longer stock radiator overflow hose!!

[fixizin]

Seriously, and I gotta believe it's the same hose on the 2008 3.0L's as on my '99, but somebody in the bureaucracy said "screw the consumer, it's not a critical item, let 'em fend for themselves..."

And I'd be GLAD to fend for myself, since the last friggin' place on Earth I'd go for generic tubing/hose is the stealerships, but... it's surprisingly hard to find 5/16" THIN wall tubing rated for hot coolant!

Yeah, it's gotta be THIN-wall to make that badly-designed TIGHT curve right there at the tank attach nipple, and yeah you can walk into almost any parts store and buy a PRE-CUT one, labeled for that purpose... but it'll be about 16" too short for the 3.0 Ranger, which needs about 44" to make that trip to the opposite side... GRrrrr...

Just venting... looks like I'll end up with some fancy silicone version from the fart pipe "tuner" boys.

 

[Bryan22]

I'm not sure what size that hose is, but i just got 2 different sized silicone based hoses from ford for my EGR system a couple days ago maybe that stuff will work for you, but it was $6 a ft so... maybe u can get it cheaper somewhere else but that was the only place i could find it. or you can go with a longer hose that isn't thin wall and just loop it instead of making a tight turn.

 

[Just_Randy]

Lowes has coils n coils of tubing somewhere near the plumbing section. I loaded up on various fuel line tubing last time I was there. I'm always needing a piece of tube for something or another it seems.

 

[fixizin]

Thanks gang, but fuel hose is THICK wall to handle pressure, and is not necessarily rated for high temps.

Go look at your overflow tank--looping will buy you nothing, as you still have to make that final hairpin turn, due to the squeeze play from the attached windshield sprayer tank. Sad thing is they could've just as easily made the nipple come out pointing straight down, and interfered with nothing.

Ooh... I know... practice plastic "welding" of radiators on this less critical UNpressurized element of the system... melt shut the current nipple, drill and tap a new one... lol.

 

[Jason]

FoMoCo drops most items after 6-8 years of the part number not being used on a production model. If they dropped a part for your 99, it is different than the new ones.