Took on a pretty stiff PM project today

[Americanrascal]

Been on my mind for a while and today I pulled the trigger on undertaking radiator hose , coolant and belt, and tensioner pulley replacement. The 2016 38Q Adventurer with a V-10 has logged about 65,000 miles over the past 7 years since we've had her. With more travels coming up I wanted to have some peace of mind on these items being OK.

I used Gates hoses from Rock Auto.(Motorcraft are pricey!)

Got the coolant drained early this morning, let things dry out then got started. I had ordered new lower and upper radiator hoses about a month ago. That lower hose is a site to behold. I've seen octopuses (octopi) with fewer tentacles! 5 connections for just the lower hose. The lower hose was rather easy and straight forward. Took about 2 hours to get the old one off and the new one on. I poked along quite a bit and had I been eager I definitely could have knocked that hose out faster. I should have watched the routing a bit closer as the Degas tank hose is very long and I had to take it off and install it again.Yea I know-- should have taken pictures. Hope I have it right now??? But it was easy to get to all from under the rig.

The surprise was the upper hose. Should have been a cakewalk- about 12 inches long from the upper block back to the top of the radiator. I've probably changed a dozen in our vehicles over the past 50-60 years. All had to be done from under the doghouse on top for this one. Removal of the hose with the factory spring clamps was pretty easy. Then it all fell apart.

5 Hours later what should have been a 20 minute job was still underway.The block side was not a problem but the radiator connection was a nightmare. I could see the connection but reaching it was impossible from the doghouse opening. I laid on top of the engine and could only get one arm full extended to just short of the connection flange and the new clamp. Access from the front to that connection behind the rubber cover was non existent even though I could see the area in question.

I went back using screw hose clamps.They worked great on the other 6 connections. I never could get enough arm reach over the engine or clearance to get a purchase with a screwdriver or socket on the head of the clamp screw. At one point I gave up and tried to reuse a spring clamp that was original. No luck with that so went back to trying the screw down clamps. I could not get 2 arms over the top of the engine to reach the site thus I had to blindly attempt to connect to the clamp screw. After 5 hours of working blind , my arms shredded , bruised and bleeding from the sharp edges of the doghouse/engine opening I finally was able to feel a connection with the screw. I got a bite and tightened it down.

But I remain uncomfortable that I got the hose adequately on the radiator pipe AND if I got enough bite over that flange and hose connection under the clamp. I guess we'll know if it leaks or blows?

Tomorrow I will refill. Manual says 8 gallons of orange coolant which I have. The Ford shop manual say to go through the "burping" process 10 times to ride bubbles out of the system. Fingers crossed.

Then on to the Tensioner and belt.

Joe

[Morich]

Congrats on still being willing!
I keep thinking that all this experience will surely let me get back around to doing the same item a second time so that I won't have to learn all the mistakes again but it seems it's always a new adventrue to relearn that there are more mistakes to be learned the hard way!
The arms are always too short or if not that, they can be too long and don't fold in the right spots.
Good luck with the rest of the trek!