aftermarket coolant hoses? yay or nay

I'm inspecting my hoses during my timing job, big main ( assumedly main ) hose has tiny little cracks on the interior, not the whole way down but there are some. I'll be planning and shopping for a cooling system rehaul, at least on the hoses but i'll get a thermastat just to have on-hand as well.

long winded way of asking, how do expy owners feel about aftermarket hoses? I did a search on here and nothing really came up discussing this from what I could find. Is it a bad idea? or is it fine as long as they come from reputable brands?

Andy Rubalcaba said:

I'm inspecting my hoses during my timing job, big main ( assumedly main ) hose has tiny little cracks on the interior, not the whole way down but there are some. I'll be planning and shopping for a cooling system rehaul, at least on the hoses but i'll get a thermastat just to have on-hand as well.

long winded way of asking, how do expy owners feel about aftermarket hoses? I did a search on here and nothing really came up discussing this from what I could find. Is it a bad idea? or is it fine as long as they come from reputable brands?

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If it’s not leaking or showing really bad signs that it might be failing soon, I wouldn’t touch it

I agree with Maxx... It's not 1970 anymore and these hoses last a long time. Some have quick-connects, and for those, when I have to replace them I use Motorcraft.

I'm sure Ford buys from one of the major suppliers, so if you needed a replacement, something like Gates would probably do fine. But I wouldn't for a minute consider some auto parts store import brand like Golden Dragon.

Squeeze along the hose and feel for inconsistencies; replace any hose that is soft, spongy or crunchy. These EPDM hoses last a long time though. But for piece of mind while you have it apart you might replace the lower hose anyway, just to keep from losing all your fluid at once if it fails. The upper hose is more visible and easily changed later if need be.


2008 Expedition Radiator Hoses at Rock Auto






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Andy Rubalcaba said:

I'm inspecting my hoses during my timing job, big main ( assumedly main ) hose has tiny little cracks on the interior, not the whole way down but there are some. I'll be planning and shopping for a cooling system rehaul, at least on the hoses but i'll get a thermastat just to have on-hand as well.

long winded way of asking, how do expy owners feel about aftermarket hoses? I did a search on here and nothing really came up discussing this from what I could find. Is it a bad idea? or is it fine as long as they come from reputable brands?

Click to expand...

There is plastic T on the coolant line that sits on top of the engine. I replaced it when I bought my 2007 with 100k on it as it was broken and leaking. 10k later and it blew on me again with the truck full of dog,kid,pregnant wife and food. Luckily we were 10 minutes from her parents house.. anyways, multiple auto parts stores did not have a replacement part so I went to lowes and found the perfect size brass T and some hose clamps. I actually meant to do that from the beginning but forgot… that plastic T is worth an upgrade or at least grabbing an extra to have on hand.

Good luck with the tstat. My OEM crapped out early on. It didn't completely fail, but wasn't operating properly. I replaced with a Stant SuperStat which was fantastic (194-198F pretty much 24/7 unless I was idling or towing a big load on a 90F day). Zero problems, but mechanic replaced it without asking me. He used a Motorad which was the s*ittiest tstat I've ever seen. I replaced it after maybe 5k miles. I had to go on eBay to get another Stant SuperStat (new, old stock) since they no longer make it. Better than the Motorad, but this one is not as good as the first and goes below/above range often. I asked a local shop what he recommends and he said they all suck so badly now that his shop policy is to bench test every single tstat before they put it in because they were having so many failures. All of this to say: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I replaced my upper and lower radiator hoses with Gates and they look and feel high quality. As far as tstat I also got a Gates but it was cheap junk, definitely want to use a Motorcraft tstat.

PNWExpy said:

There is plastic T on the coolant line that sits on top of the engine. I replaced it when I bought my 2007 with 100k on it as it was broken and leaking. 10k later and it blew on me again with the truck full of dog,kid,pregnant wife and food. Luckily we were 10 minutes from her parents house.. anyways, multiple auto parts stores did not have a replacement part so I went to lowes and found the perfect size brass T and some hose clamps. I actually meant to do that from the beginning but forgot… that plastic T is worth an upgrade or at least grabbing an extra to have on hand.

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That's the one hose I recommend going aftermarket for. The Dorman replacement is an upgrade that uses a metal T connector while retaining the factory style connectors at the ends. part # 626-540

My lower rad hose has a quick connect. The gates one I used had to be tapped on with a hammer. I'd go oem next time. Not even sure how I'll get the current one off now when the time comes.

I recently replaced all front heating parts. For large orders I use Rockauto. You'll save 50%+ from box stores. You pay for shipping but the savings still pays out.
I'm a fan of Gates brand and installed other brands like Dayton, motorad, and Motorcraft to save on shipping: radiator, upper and lower radiator hoses, reservoir hoses, heater hoses from firewall, thermostat, thermostat housing, water pump, and radiator cap.
Now its running so well the auxiliary hoses in the rear need to be replaced. So it turned out to be an entire replacement.

One thing I've learned, if your in that far.....SPEND THE MONEY!!!! and replace it all. Just for peace of mind.