1999 Ford Taurus, have several questions

[darkestdays30]

I have a transmission line hooked on the top & bottom of the radiator with a hex bolt that needs to come out but I don't know what size or type of wrench I need to get that out.

1999 ford taurus SES V6 3.0 overhead cam

So I'm told the transmission line pulls out of the radiator, there's one at the top and bottom of the radiator on the passenger's side, I bought a transmission cooler line remover tool, didn't do squat. I am getting so aggitated, I just want to screem! I have the radiator ready to take out except for this one issue here. Female here, first time removing a radiator, so please give me some advice. Couldn't afford the repair at a garage, I know it needs changed, there's all kinds of orange rusty gook in the opening where I took the lower radiator hose off.

[darkestdays30]

Got it out finally. Had to break those stupid clips loose.

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by darkestdays30

Got it out finally. Had to break those stupid clips loose.

G'day,

Sorry no one got back to you yesterday, must be to many people enjoying the sun

Glad you got the lines off, how is the rest of the new radiator install going?

[darkestdays30]

I haven't bought the new radiator yet. I'm wondering if I should flush the old radiator or just go with a new one. The radiator itself had no leaks, but water was gushing out of the coolant jug, clumping up inside it, and putting on a new water pump didn't help. The radiator has quite a bit of orange clumps in it. My hoses were stomped up with that orange clump, so I removed all of my hoses and cleaned them out. Should I just get a new radiator?

I want to get my coolant jug cleaned out before putting it back on, it is stained with that orange gook. Could I put vinegar in it and let it sit a little bit, would that loosen the junk out of it?

These ford taurus cars are classic for the heat going out on them and coolant problems. My heat went out but I think it's just because the car wasn't circulating the water properly. I don't know if it's the dex antifreeze that is the issue or the mixing of antifreeze. I was pretty stupid as far as that goes, I would get cheep antifreeze from the dollar store (green) and add to it, my car is supposed to only take the orange color.

I had the car flushed, and the guy told me that I could put in any color of antifreeze I wanted to after that. But I am concerned of using dex antifreeze with the lawsuits that have been out on that. Is there another alternative I could use in place of dex that would still be orange antifreeze?

[inafogg]

yes mixing dex cool with the old type(green) anti freeze will clog up the system. at this point i'd replace the radiator unless you have a rad shop to clean the old 1. if you decide
to use dexcool or the old green you'll be ok just do not mix the 2.

[darkestdays30]

I think I'll go with a new radiator since it's never been changed before. Maybe Prestone extended life antifreeze, that way I get the green stuff and it's still compatible with any color.

[inafogg]

just make sure you flush the system really well maybe a couple of times.
make sure that you only use the old type green anti freeze when topping off/adding
if your going to use the prestone.
if you mix with the dexcool it will sludge up again.

[darkestdays30]

The new radiator has the plastic retaining clips in them, do I remove those before putting the transmission line through the hex nut?

[darkestdays30]

Finally got that radiator back on!

I see why mechanics charge so much now. That's a job I never want to do again.

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by darkestdays30

Finally got that radiator back on!

I see why mechanics charge so much now. That's a job I never want to do again.

But, don't you feel a great sense of satisfaction having done it yourself?


Don't forget to flush the system a few times.
All that gunk that was in the old radiator is likely to also be in the engine.

You can flush it out by running water through the top radiator hose with the bottom one disconnected.
Or, with the engine running, disconnect the top hose, and run water into the top of the radiator.


Also don't forget to bleed the system.
I don't know if the Taurus has bleed points, but you can normally do it by running the car with the radiator cap off and watching for bubbles.

[darkestdays30]

Well the car wouldn't have been fixed if I hadn't done that myself. $200 for my radiator, coolant jug, a new thermostat & gasket, 3 bottles of antifreeze, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, the engine coolant hose, and all that nasty stuff is out of all of my hoses. I can't imagine what a garage would have charged to do all that. Plus I got $90 off on all of my parts. I'm happy it didn't cost anymore than that, and I know it's cleaned out right.

Some of my hoses were so clogged up with orange stuff, it had formed into a rock sediment. Not hard to see why my water wasn't circulating. I was a little afraid to put money into the car, because everyone kept saying it was likely a blown or warped head gasket, but I did not have any oil in the water, and no smoke out of the tail pipe.

I flushed water out of the heater core and intake yesterday. Everything is running out clear now. I plan to flush it a couple of times today, put the coolant & distilled water in it, bleed it, then drive it and see if it's fixed or not. I know how to flush it but I don't know how to bleed it so my nephew is going to help out today. At least I will have the knowledge on how to do this later on and it won't cost anymore than just new antifreeze.

I took this car to a radiator mechanic and had it flushed out, with all of the junk that was in it, I know that was a complete waste of time. The car kept overheating. If you want it done right, I guess you have to do it yourself. If he had flushed it properly, all of that crap wouldn't have been clogged up in my hoses!!!!!!!

[inafogg]

good to hear you got it,bleeding is a very simple thing to do.if there is a bleeder valve it will be in the thermostat housing.its just a screw that needs to be opened wen the engine is warm/running.open the screw until you see a stream of coolant coming out.once all the air is out close the valve & top off the system.
you may want to put a couple 100 miles in it & refush again.

[fubard]

You need to refer to your owners manual for the proper coolant to use. In your case it's green coolant. From the owners manual:
Use Ford Premium Engine Coolant (green in
color). DO NOT USE Ford Extended Life Engine
Coolant (orange in color). Refer to Adding engine
coolant, in the Maintenance and Care chapter.

Manual --> http://www.motorcraftservice.com/pub.../99tauog1e.pdf

GL

[darkestdays30]

My car takes the orange antifreeze, so I don't know why that site says green. But I have Prestone extended life for all makes and models and the color is like a lime green. I do not want the orange antifreeze in it anymore.

The water is circulating through the car now without problem. The new radiator is working fine. My heat finally works (the whole time I've owned this car, I didn't have any heat).

I've done two flushes so far, and everytime you heat the car up, the water in the jug gets dark orange. Should I just keep flushing it until it becomes clear in the jug when the car heats up? Does the thermostat need to be removed if I am doing the flush after the car is hot? I figure all that stuff is coming from my engine.

Should I take off the engine block drain plug (if there is one) and run water through the thermostat housing to really get that engine clean or will it come clean with just letting it run out of the radiator drain plug? I need to get that stuff out of my engine somehow.

[darkestdays30]

I have no idea where the engine coolant drain plug is. Would it work to take out the back freeze plug on the left side and flush the water through from the thermostat housing, or would I have to remove both freeze plugs on that side of the engine??