Christmas Problem of my 99 Eddie Bauer =(

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Konasan

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Hello everyone! Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas eve with your family. Anyway I have not so good Christmas eve right now. There's a ticking noise on my engine and my heater is not warming up. And when I was going to my truck to get something I notice there's some kind of moisture or liquid dripping on the frame (passenger front wheel well) I took a look closely and I discovered it's a coolant/antifreeze dripping. And I thought to myself I have a radiator leak (great). Good thing my engine is not overheating yet due to I discovered it few minutes ago. But I still check it out more tomorrow morning due to it's night time right now and it's 32°F outside. I'll look to it more and hopefully it would just one the hose. Have a Merry Christmas Everybody!
 

FordandPolaris

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Look back on the passenger side by the #4 coil. I hear that is a common place for a leak. Depending on where you were seeing it on the frame that is.
 
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Konasan

Konasan

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Look back on the passenger side by the #4 coil. I hear that is a common place for a leak. Depending on where you were seeing it on the frame that is.

Hi FordandPolaris! Actually it's on the front almost where the radiator is placed at. Like I said I'll going to take look at more tomorrow morning to see exactly where the leak is coming from.
 
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Konasan

Konasan

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Morning folks! So I checked out my truck this morning and this what I saw.

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So any suggestions to have it repair or replace the whole unit. Thanks.
 

Captain Morgan

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There's a video on utube, but still just generic info.

THIS LINK is the no-knuckle-busting over simplified version of the job.

If it were me, I would check if the leak is coming from around the clamp holding on the bottom radiator hose end, if so tighten the clamp with a screwdriver. This may be all you need to do if a loose clamp is causing the leak. The same holds true for the transmission lines although I wouldn't expect to see fluid in the location indicated.

Secondly if the radiator definitely does need replacing (cracked plastic\hole etc) I would first FLUSH the system with the GUNK product and the old radiator in place and get the system cleaned out. Your antifreeze looks good and clean so maybe you don't need to do this.

From what I see you need to remove the fan clutch, the radiator shroud and then the radiator. The video suggests that you use some teflon tape to seal the junction when you tighten the transmission line connections, and not to over tighten. Since it so cold there now this sounds right and the expansion will also improve the seal.

I don't the tools sizes required and the video guys is slinging some large thin wrenches around like a scene from Braveheart.

Here's a link that might save you on a real PITA LOWER RADIATOR HOSE issue. This is the kind of thing I would want to know about going in to a project like this. If you buy new hoses with the radiator, pre assemble everything on a bench test to make sure you can get the seating and seal you're after.

There is (allegedly) a locking tab on the side of the bottom hose. Pry the tab out of the slot, then rotate the hose 45 degrees and pull the hose off. The spring style clamps might be a $#@! to get to and off, so plan on replacing them with new screw type clamps. Maybe it's been replaced before and you're lucky. And the clamps might not even be spring, they may just be solid bands and you need to turn that hose and put some muscle in to it. If you plan on buying new hoses too then just cut the old hose and save some grief. I would.

Referring to your first post, I suspect that the heater was not warming up due to a lack of radiator fluid circulation. However this might also be the opportune time to replace the thermostat and ensure that it's not faulty and part of this equation. I would.



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khpony

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I replaced my radiator on my 98 EB this fall and just cut off the end of the old hose and installed a worm clamp and it works great and doesn't leak.
 
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