Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 2007 Mustang hose replacement Project.  Part Two, with an analysis.

I didn't have any need for this tool.

It turns out that the parts guy at the NAPA store had pulled the wrong upper hose. I was on my way to the store anyway, to pick up the thermostat housing but also to also to ask about the special tool the counterman had told me about. There was no way that I could squeeze my hands into that restricted space. He showed me a tool which was like a long screwdriver with a cup with two fingers on the end. It made it possible to squeeze and pull the connector off in one motion. He showed me a set that he could order for less that 25 bucks. I knew that they would be handy when I started to work on my F150 so I went ahead and ordered it. It would be available the next day. 

I left with the thermostat housing and the proper upper hose. 

This was the hose that I'd forgotten to pick up. You can see the metal tube
 manifold on the left. I had removed the hot wire to the alternator, before I disconnected the battery.
Wrong sequence.

I thought that i'd connect the upper hose and button up the air intake. Then I'd remove the coil and fuss with the heater hoses. 

This is the special tool for the new style hose fittings.

The fitting on the left is sporting the somewhat mangled
white colored plastic clip. These clips should be replaced anytime a hose is removed.

Nothing to be proud of here!
Cutting the fitting off with a hacksaw is not the recommended method!

Cutting the end of the slot allowed the clip and fitting to be removed.

I'm not too proud of the technique but it worked, and I didn't damage anything. One Caveat though. If you are going to use the tool do not damage the fittings by prying at them like I did. The tool probably wont work on a mangled fitting.

After everything was finally hooked up and checked, it was time to refill the radiator and heating system. I initially put in two gallons of mixed coolant, then started the motor to let it warm up. I kept the radiator cap off so I could top up the level as needed. This is always the moment of truth, will there be a leak somewhere? As the motor warmed up I turned the heater up full so that it could fill with coolant and provide heat. It was facing downhill in the driveway so I backed it up into the driveway so the front would be higher than the rear. Hopefully the air pockets would find their way to the top. I replaced the cap loosely, to prevent any pressure building up and drove it a few miles around the neighborhood, I knew it would take awhile to properly fill. Then I let it cool searched for any leaks, (there were none!) and topped up the coolant tank.   

Then I took the car out on the freeway, keeping an eye on the temp gauge. It stayed right in the middle and the heater started pumping out hot air. After fifteen miles I parked it in the driveway and will check the level for the next couple of days.  

It looks like everything has turned out fine. A good feeling, even with my still somewhat aching back. 

How much longer would the old original components have lasted? That is the vital question.

Is there any way of knowing? Do you remember when the advice was to squeeze your hoses to see if they were mushy? The original hoses still seem fine.

Back in April I drove the Mustang out to Fresno twice, to get our vaccinations. The car ran fine, there was no indication of leaking or overheating. I drove the car normally at 70-75 mph. a/c on, while crossing Pacheco Pass on SR152. Each round trip was 300 miles. The car had accumulated over 160,000 miles over fourteen years. I had chosen to drive it instead of the Explorer because it gets better gas mileage. 

You know what happened with the Explorer on my way to Riverside.

These are the old hoses, Who knows what treachery lies within?

To be clear, the only original hoses were the bottom radiator and long heater hoses. The top radiator hose, the bypass hose, and the short heater hose that connect to the thermostat housing were replaced in 2015, along with the thermostat top spout. It had warped and was seeping coolant.

The old hoses didn't look too bad at all, There wasn't any "sponginess" or deterioration visible at the ends, they hadn't been caked in grease or oil.  The firewall fittings looked like new. The hoses weren't stiff looking or feeling, I didn't get the impression that they might crack any minute. The only evidence of seepage was on the thermostat housing, but it was so minimal that there wasn't even a tell tale odor of coolant noticeable under the hood. 

The original hoses had lasted 150,000 mile plus, I'd say that that was good service.

The thermostat housing is made of plastic
and did not have any cracks.

There was a built in rubber seal around that opening. 
Except for the surprised expression it looks to be in good shape.

The thermostat housing looked fine also. No cracks or warping. The bottom fitting that connected to the block was sealed by a built in O ring. When I reinstalled it I used gasket sealer to seal it. Perhaps a new O ring could have been fitted or a silicone type sealer might have stood up better. Still, it held up to years of use and did not fail catastrophically, it just weeped a mite.  

The serpentine belt did not display any cracking or chunking, the idler and tensioner didn't make any unusual noises. They turned smoothly. So did the pulleys of the alternator, power steering pump. a/c compressor and water pump. The pump did not have any indication of leakage out of the weep hole. 

Overall, things looked pretty good.

The car has been quite reliable, the only breakdowns had been due to a dead battery. The earlier thermostat leak had been betrayed by a visible drip and the tell tale odor. 

It's pretty much as I would have expected, the car was bought new and in constant use. I have become less in tuned with the car as it was turned over for my Daughter's use. I kind of lost track of the car's condition.

So what's next on the agenda? the most critical component will be the fuel pump. 

My first experience with an in-tank electric fuel pump was with my '90 Dodge Caravan. At times it would not build up pressure when I tried to start the car. It would crank, but not fire. I'd turn it off, and try again.  It was intermittent but it worked for a period and I drove the van to my mechanic for repair. This occurred when it had somewhere over 100,000 -130,000 miles.

My '96 Mustang had approx. 190,000 miles on it when it quit on the freeway late one night. After I had it towed home, I diagnosed the problem by spraying starting fluid down the intake, The engine would fire, then die, indicating a lack of fuel. I had the car towed to the same mechanic for repair. Unfortunately I had filled the gas tank that night, which makes the job more difficult. 

You just never know when the fuel pump is going to give out, if there's more than 150,000 miles on the odometer it's time to take the possibility quite seriously.

I'm thinking that the next replacement will be of the transmission fluid and filter, the rear brake pads and finally the fuel pump. It's kind of pricey to be doing all this service in a short amount of time, better planning would have spaced it out over a couple of years, at least.