Good Day All,
This is my first post in this forum. I have tried to search online about whether the heavy-duty radiator can fit standard-duty set up in the expeditions/F-150s. However, I could not find a single post/video with an answer to my query. Thus, I decided to take the risk and give it a try myself.
Let me start with a brief about the issue that I encountered in my 2018 Ford Expedition Limited (GCC specs) (3.5L Ecoboost, 2nd Gen). Starting from 2024, I have noticed the coolant temperature spikes when I am cruising at highway speed or accelerating, especially during summer, without towing. The ambient temperatures here in Saudi Arabia reaches 122 degF in Summer and 50 degF in winter. The car has only ~80,000 miles on it (~120,000 km) when I noticed the issue.
The car has no coolant leaks whatsoever. The car has been serviced at dealer throughout its life. What I have replaced are the following:
Nothing really helped with the issue. The thermostat helped with delaying the issue. Since 2024, the issue became worse as time passes by. I was about installing an external oil cooler. However, I thought I would replace the radiator first and give it a try.
Upon further review, I found out that the Expeditions/F-150s come from the factory with two (2) cooling packages. Those are:
1- Standard-Duty Cooling System.
2- Heavy-Duty Cooling system.
The differences between the two systems are mainly the radiator cooling fans (brush vs. brushless), radiator size, and the radiator air deflectors.
My vehicle has the Standard-Duty cooling system. I bought the heavy-duty radiator and I tried to install it myself. The thickness of the standard duty and heavy duty radiators are 2.6 mm, 3.2 mm, respectively.
As in the attached pictures, the radiator fits exactly and it is almost a replace-in-kind job. However, the air deflector were a little bit short on the vehicle’s driver side. The reason being that the heavy duty radiator has a shorter plastic cover as compared to the standard dury radiator.
Also, I dismantled the front bumper and grill to gain access to the air deflector clips. Those were very hard to pull out even with the vehicle’s front end removed! I replaced them with a zip tie to save myself headache for my next radiator replacement job.
Upon replacing the radiator, I notice the car normally operates at 185 degF when the ambient temperature is 117 degF. never exceeds 194 degF in Summer at highway speeds while going uphill!
I hope this post might help people facing the same issue, please feel free to hit me with your questions should you have any.
This is my first post in this forum. I have tried to search online about whether the heavy-duty radiator can fit standard-duty set up in the expeditions/F-150s. However, I could not find a single post/video with an answer to my query. Thus, I decided to take the risk and give it a try myself.
Let me start with a brief about the issue that I encountered in my 2018 Ford Expedition Limited (GCC specs) (3.5L Ecoboost, 2nd Gen). Starting from 2024, I have noticed the coolant temperature spikes when I am cruising at highway speed or accelerating, especially during summer, without towing. The ambient temperatures here in Saudi Arabia reaches 122 degF in Summer and 50 degF in winter. The car has only ~80,000 miles on it (~120,000 km) when I noticed the issue.
The car has no coolant leaks whatsoever. The car has been serviced at dealer throughout its life. What I have replaced are the following:
- OEM Mechanical Coolant Pump.
- OEM Electrical Auxiliary Coolant pump.
- Upgraded, SPD 170 degF thermostat.
- Active Grill Shutter have been kept open (I removed the blades) (I was suspecting they were causing the issue)
- OEM Coolant Reservoir Cap.
- OEM Coolant (Yellow Motorcraft concentrated coolant).
Nothing really helped with the issue. The thermostat helped with delaying the issue. Since 2024, the issue became worse as time passes by. I was about installing an external oil cooler. However, I thought I would replace the radiator first and give it a try.
Upon further review, I found out that the Expeditions/F-150s come from the factory with two (2) cooling packages. Those are:
1- Standard-Duty Cooling System.
2- Heavy-Duty Cooling system.
The differences between the two systems are mainly the radiator cooling fans (brush vs. brushless), radiator size, and the radiator air deflectors.
My vehicle has the Standard-Duty cooling system. I bought the heavy-duty radiator and I tried to install it myself. The thickness of the standard duty and heavy duty radiators are 2.6 mm, 3.2 mm, respectively.
As in the attached pictures, the radiator fits exactly and it is almost a replace-in-kind job. However, the air deflector were a little bit short on the vehicle’s driver side. The reason being that the heavy duty radiator has a shorter plastic cover as compared to the standard dury radiator.
Also, I dismantled the front bumper and grill to gain access to the air deflector clips. Those were very hard to pull out even with the vehicle’s front end removed! I replaced them with a zip tie to save myself headache for my next radiator replacement job.
Upon replacing the radiator, I notice the car normally operates at 185 degF when the ambient temperature is 117 degF. never exceeds 194 degF in Summer at highway speeds while going uphill!
I hope this post might help people facing the same issue, please feel free to hit me with your questions should you have any.
