Radiator Exploded on '92

No, it burst somewhere inside the radiator and poured out on the engine side. The anti-freeze was changed a few thousand miles ago and was 50/50. The radiator was professionally cleaned when the anti-freeze was changed.

What do you mean by pressure cap? Radiator cap? The one I have has no release lever.

The radiator has a spring doesn't it? It is a pressure release..... no lever needed.

| > On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 10:38:32 -0700, "Ulysses" | > wrote: | >

| > >While I was driving up a steep dirt hill in 4WD my '92 EB lost power. | The | > >temp gauge was about 2/3 the way up. It just would not go any more. It | did | > >not feel like the transmission was slipping and the tach was reading | around | > >2500-3000 rpm or so. I shut off the engine to let it cool off. A few | > >seconds later the radiator dumped all of it's contents in a very short | > >amount of time. | > >

| > >The car has 280K miles on it with the original radiator. Is this too be | > >expected or should I be looking for some other problem that would have | > >caused too much pressure in the cooling system? | > >

| > >Thanks. | > >

| |

I'm thinking you left out the word "cap." Yea, the cap has a spring so supposedly when it gets to something like 13 psi the pressure will push the spring and allow coolant to flow into the reservoir. Since the reservoir was (is) full I guess the cap worked as it was supposed to.

I'm considering getting the $150 radiator from Auto Zone instead of the $450 OEM from Ford. Anyone have any opinions on this? I had bad luck with the $18 heater cores and ended up getting the OEM from Ford but I can replace the radiator 3 times for the money. Would I just be wasting my money with the cheapie?

Yeah, I did .... fingers hit the keys, but apparently not hard enough.

You know, I can't say about the AZ radiators. ... I have to agree on the cost savings / labor involved. It's worth a gamble in my book .... of course you could also go to a salvage yard and pick one up too.

| > | > On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 10:38:32 -0700, "Ulysses" | > | > wrote: | > | >

| > | > >While I was driving up a steep dirt hill in 4WD my '92 EB lost power. | > | The | > | > >temp gauge was about 2/3 the way up. It just would not go any more. | > It | > | did | > | > >not feel like the transmission was slipping and the tach was reading | > | around | > | > >2500-3000 rpm or so. I shut off the engine to let it cool off. A | few | > | > >seconds later the radiator dumped all of it's contents in a very | short | > | > >amount of time. | > | > >

| > | > >The car has 280K miles on it with the original radiator. Is this too | > be | > | > >expected or should I be looking for some other problem that would | have | > | > >caused too much pressure in the cooling system? | > | > >

| > | > >Thanks. | > | > >

| > | | > | | >

| >

| |

I changed out my OEM radiator with a Autozone made in China radiator. It cost a bit under 200.00 and came with a life time warranty. It went into my 96 V8 Explorer. The only bitch was getting the condinsor off and then back on the radiator. I also had a slight leak at one of the tranmission fittings due to me not tightening it up tight enough. I had to remove the fitting to make sure the o-ring was still in place and then used teflon tape around the threads. If you use the Autozone radiator, be sure to buy a different drain plug than come with the radiator. The drain plug that came with the radiator was a cheap plastic screw in plug that used a allen wrench fitting to remove it. This cheap plastic screw in drain plug breaks easily (wonder how I know that?). I'm glad I saved the money, but I sure hope I don't have to replace the radiator again.

I ordered mine through the internet from radiator warehouse or some such (memory foggy--it's been four years) for around $150, shipping included. When I took it out of the box, it had the same part number stamped into the top as the original radiator I was replacing on my 1994. The only difference from my stock radiator was that the top hadn't been painted black. I believe it was made by Modine. Replacement was a cinch. I did the same thing this past spring for my son's 1996 Sport. The original radiators on both developed cracks in the tanks. Plastic just doesn't last as long as the old brass type.

Dan

Thanks Dan. I imagine there's a good chance that Auto Zone will be selling the same one you bought. It was suggested to me that the problem with the cheap heater core may have been due to electrolysis but the cheap one was brass and the original was aluminum so I would think the aluminum, being the ligher metal, would be the one to corrode.