Radiator

[James Morse]

Shran It should fit there's about 1/2" of the nut available past the 4 bolts. Thanks for heads up.
Caleb like the rest of things (except the rad and hoses) it was just to make things new. I see there are actually 2 sensors... rather than ask a bunch of dumb questions, probably better for me to wait until I have the manuals they should tell me the answers to what they are.

In looking at it this morning I notice the tensioner sets canted relative to everything else. That means the ribbed wheel the belt rides in is canted. I have to think this is not normal and would cause excessive wear on the belt.

I was ordering the serpentine just to know I would have new one in, and Rockauto says you should replace tensioner when replacing belt because they have the same lifespan.
Shouldn't I expect that with new tensioner, it will set parallel to everything else? You can see the outside part of the tensioner itself significantly angled relative to everything else and to me that would say it's failing but wtf do I know.
Could not get good pic... let's just say it's a readily noticeable angle compared to everything else.

Don't know if I need long fork took (belt install tool). I suspect you might need it if you are -not- taking out the rad and shroud.

 

[Shran]

Might as well replace the tensioner while you're in there. Sounds like yours is unhappy.

Only tool you need to relieve belt tension is a ratchet - the longer, the better, or a cheater pipe. That is only necessary to keep your hands out of the way, those tensioners move a lot further than you think they will.

 

[fastpakr]

'New' on wear parts I absolutely understand. But there's no way I'd touch a working sensor.

 

[James Morse]

So here's the Dayco hose Advance says fits. This CANNOT be right because the engine coolant inlet is perhaps 6" behind the radiator outlet. I don't see any way in h*ll this could possibly fit.
It's definitely not a match to what is on there so seems like Advance doesn't know wtf they are talking about.

 

[James Morse]

More Information for DAYCO 71827 (rockauto.com)
That's the one I ordered just now it should be right.
Holding off on water pump and t-stat/housing for now, there are no problems with them that I know about, yes, it would be nice to replace them sometime but I'm trying to first hit what I know is broken and not just replace stuff because it might be a good idea.
I may get disagreement about that... just trying to get the truck on the road at this point and then see if anything else comes up before I replace "nice to do" stuff that isn't broken.
Rockauto order in case anyone curious on prices

	Part Number	Part Type	Price EA	Core EA	Quantity	Total
1997 FORD RANGER 4.0L V6
DAYCO​	71827	Radiator Hose	$ 13.42​	$ 0.00​	1​	$ 13.42​
MOTORCRAFT​	RS90	Radiator Cap	$ 6.92​	$ 0.00​	1​	$ 6.92​
MOTORCRAFT​	JK6884HA	Belt	$ 27.99​	$ 0.00​	1​	$ 27.99​
MOTORCRAFT​	BT46	Belt Tensioner	$ 42.79​	$ 0.00​	1​	$ 42.79​
SKP​	SK38670	Tailgate Latch	$ 18.27​	$ 0.00​	1​	$ 18.27​
Shipping​	SmartMail, Ground	$ 24.97​
Tax​		$ 5.80​
Order Total​		$ 140.16
Visa​		-$ 140.16
Balance Due​		$ 0.00

 

[97RangerXLT]

wrong part on the radiator cap... that is the full size one and it won't fit your radiator. (made that mistake about 10 years ago. you want the Gates 31336 cap. it is a direct Motorcraft replacement. looks like you got most of what you need, if you don't do the water pump now you are probably going to be ok with only 125k on the truck. mine had 180k when I did all of that. interestingly enough, I cannot find that water pump bar on amazon. went back into my order and found the invoice but it is no longer being sold I paid 1.99 for the tool and 7.20 bucks to ship it lol



AJ

 

[James Morse]

Yikes. Well, cap was just because why not they are cheap.... mine is probably fine. Probably cost more to return it than it cost, blah.
Stuff won't be here for a week.
Looked at Advance Auto Dayco hose and -maybe- it would fit but I don't think so. Holding on to it to compare to the one I got from Rockauto which I hope is right.
What I'm saying is the Advance hose is definitely a different shape than what I have and I do not think it would line up with the connections.

Isn't it true I can drain fluid in the driveway then start the truck and drive 20 feet into the shop, without hurting the truck? Draining seems to always make a mess no matter what.
Way better when all your tools and stuff is right there plus you are out of the elements, much nicer.

Actually the rad will be here tomorrow, so technically, I could put it in and just leave the bottom hose until I get it. That could work, except, then when I get the hose and go to put it in I'm losing just about all the coolant again and I think it's a good idea to do the hose as they get cruddy and stuck to nipples etc. If you have to force it off w/ tool you know you want to replace it and they are cheap.

Or, I could do all the prep work - take off bottom hose, clean up inlet on engine side, take out old rad/shroud, remove shroud... in other words have everything ready so when all the parts are here I'm just doing install.
That would probably be smart then it kind of splits up the work plus it seems no matter how simple things are there always seems to be some glitch somewhere that slows things down.

The Ford manuals should be here soon. I do like the youtube vids, but I think it'd be really good to have the factory word on things.

Water pump can wait absent any indication of anything wrong there. Will keep looking for the bar meanwhile.

 

[James Morse]

When I put the new brass fittings for the trans cooler onto the new radiator, do I need to use thread tape? I'm thinking no, but wondered.

 

[fastpakr]

I never have.

 

[Shran]

I have used thread tape on those on occasion but not always. They are a tapered fitting and the lines are flared so they shouldn't need it.

 

[James Morse]

Cool, thanks. I'm not taping them then. Brass is soft and I think it seats firmly into the steel fitting on the radiator. I guess my feeling is on the off-chance a piece of tape happened to get into the trans, that can't help it. I might actually put a tiny bit of nev-r-sieze on them, don't think it could hurt.
Had a hard time getting lower trans fitting on rad un-stuck. Blasted with PB a bunch of time (used it on other things, I see it works very well).
Finally found out after all these years there is a crowfoot flare nut wrench. This is a very nifty tool that is almost all of a hex box wrench with a bit of a cutout so it can fit around the tubing. I put a breaker bar on that and broke it loose. A whole set of them at H.F. for $15. I wish I'd had these for all the times I rounded off a fitting which isn't that hard to do absent this tool. I'd put it right up there as a must-have.
I wanted to break these fitting loose before I went any further with it as I had been told they can be stuck and that's for sure.
Drained coolant, and I let it continue dripping over night so hopefully when I take off bottom rad hose I don't get a flood.
I'm just doing belt/tensioner/rad/hoses, seemed like enough to bite off at one time plus these are only things I know for sure it needs.
I rec'd the Sunex 36mm wrench. It seems like the nut is slightly smaller than this but it's a secure fit. I actually don't need to take off the fan/clutch to do this work. At least according to the manual.

 

[fastpakr]

Good call on the crowfoot wrenches. They're huge for things like this, power steering lines, and brake hose fittings.

 

[James Morse]

There is only a bit over 2 gallons drained. Am I correct in thinking the other gallon is still in the engine? I think it's 13 qts total unless I read that wrong.
I wasn't planning on flushing with water.... it's in the shop now, that would be a mess. Besides I've had a bunch of new fluid thru it already and fluid coming out doesn't look horrible. I'm aware that when I do flush w/ water that water stays (some) in the engine so I need to take that into account when re-filling. That's why I always get the 100% then I can add/mix as needed to get the right reading on it.

 

[superj]

yes, in the engine and in the heater core

 

[James Morse]

OK thanks.
What are the two clips that come with the new radiator? I was guessing to hold the overflow tubing but they are too small. Maybe you bend them to fit? Or they are something else?