Frustrated with Truck
 

Hello all hoping for some insight i just replaced the lower radiator hose today that was fun. I drove it all around and noted no issues didnt get hot or anything took it to parent in laws father in law said he smelt coolant leaking again checked it didnt see anything got it home into a better light and it looks like it might be slowly leaking from transmission cooler line on the top and possibly the right side of the radiator.

Question is do need to now replace the radiator too?

Truck has been sitting for two years before i got it, how easy is the radiator to replace on the 94 ranger 3.0 v6?

Radiator is easy to replace but if its coming from the cooler line do it quick that means the tanks are rusted through you DONT want coolant in your trans fluid it will cause major damage. Id also recommend a trans flush after to to make sure theres none in there.

I would first confirm where the leak is.

Warm engine up so the coolant in the rad is under pressure, then shut off engine.
Remove the two bolts on the top of the fan shroud, lift it slightly so tabs at bottom come out, then move shroud backwards.
This should give you a better view of lower rad.
Take a towel and wipe the area you think is leaking, then watch where coolant seeps out.

If it is the rad leaking then at this point you would drain coolant.
Remove upper and lower rad hoses from rad.
Remove trans cooler lines, these WILL leak trans fluid, so cap them with plastic baggies held tight by rubber band or ??
The cooler itself will leak out fluid so ...........if you can plug the holes great, if not have a bucket or towels handy.

The rad is held in place by two bolts, one on each side of upper rad, bottom of rad has two pegs that slide down into rubber grommets, so once the two bolts are removed rad will just lift up and out.

How long can I drive the truck with the rad leaking? I check it often. Is it wide to buy a new one or one from a parts yard (auto recycler?)

The leak will gradually get worse over time, which could lead to more expensive/time consuming repairs. You could take a gamble on a JY part and hope its not leaky as well, or you can pick up a new one from Rockauto for like $120 shipped.

Radiators are easy to replace, blown head gaskets are not.

Definitely no junkyards i bought one from auto zone that only lasted a year and it was new something that important its worth it to buy a new one and not take unnecessary chances.

X

Are the auto zone ones bad? They seem to be the most reasonable. Also my truck doesn't have A/C what Is the small cooling until behind the grill?

I think i just got a bad one and none of the aftermarkets ever do as well as the factory one but most aftermarkets do pretty well. I ended up getting a 4.0l radiator open box from summit and its been in for three years now i think its vista-pro brand its held up great. And the smaller cooler should be for the auto trans it'll have two hoses coming from the bottom one goes to the radiator.

Well as luck would have it.... it snowed today so im going to keep checking the fluid and hope i can get her to Thursday so i can replace it.

Got her to thursday and replaced radator all is good to go now just to figure out the brake issue