2002 ranger edge 3.0
So after doing my head gaskets I start the truck for a while get everything sorted drive to town and my coolant exploded out the thermostat housing. Get to auto zone replace thermostat and gasket (spring in engine) then I warm up the truck then my radiator exploded in the parking lot(very embarrassing) then I replace the radiator today, drive the truck on the road and then the hose directly in front of the thermostat housing pops off and coolant gets everywhere leaving me stranded . Only thing I can say is my water pump pulley is on a little lopsided and makes noise and I have an exhaust manifold leak. What's going on ??!?!?!

 

Ford cooling system runs at 14 to 16psi, above that hoses will start to pop off
So my guess is your radiator cap is bad, it is suppose to OPEN at say 15psi to let coolant flow over to the overflow tank

The pressure in the cooling system comes from engine HEAT, ALL liquids expand when heated, so as engine heats up the coolant expands in volume, and pressure builds up, radiator cap relieves that pressure

Also look at the water pump pulley, does it have ribs or is it smooth?
Ribs or smooth HAVE TO MATCH THE BELT, the belt has a ribbed side and a smooth side
You can route the belt incorrectly so water pump is spinning BACKWARDS, this would cause overheating, because pump is going backwards AND the fan is as well

So if water pump pulley has ribs then ribbed side of the belt must be on it, not the smooth side
(water pump WILL be damaged if you run it with lopsided pulley, not "may" WILL)

And WORST CASE, you didn't fix the head gasket issue, or head is cracked
bad head gasket or cracked head can push up to 900psi into cooling system, and pop go the hoses

 

Is it possible that its the head gasket without overheating? Every time this has happened the truck NEVER overheated, and I always blead the air out as well. Belt is on correctly as well

 

Did you take the heads to the machine shop to have them pressure tested and checked for flatness or just clean them up and put them back on ?

 

Yea they did all that good stuff. But I did find a problem on the block of the passenger side. Head gasket probably went on lopsided

 

what do you think of that metal?

 

??

That dowel is broken and should have been remove and replaced

 

think that could have caused the gasket to go on crooked? Or a coincidence the the radiator cap is bad?

 

Well if you had a blown head gasket or cracked head before, then rad cap was bad from that
Anytime an engine is overheating you should replace rad cap after you fix the problem, they are cheap

The dowels line up the heads and gaskets so they go on straight, mis-aligned head or gasket can mean too much of a metal cylinder ring was exposed to combustion chamber and failed

 

A piece of my head gasket was missing on the driver side, thats why I did the job in the first place. It was leaking EXTERNALLY. But that broken dowel is on the passenger side of the block. The driver side head gasket was fixed, no more leak external on that side. My question is why would the radiator cap be bad AFTER new gaskets? I didnt have this issue of coolant exploding even with the leaking driver side gasket

 

Heat ruins the rad cap, it works fine under 220degF, over that is considered "over" heating

 

It didn't go bad after the new gasket, it was already bad.

BUT because you had a coolant leak the pressure had a place to go, out the leak.

You fixed the leak but kept the bad cap, the pressure had no place to escape, so it blew off the hose.

 

wow sounds like your right. I'm gonna get a new one today and pray your right

 

well ron looks like you were right. While I was bleeding the coolant I saw the coolant level keep dropping and saw coolant spilling out the water pump. Looks like I kept the wobbly pulley on too long. It damaged the pump...