I have a 99 F150 v6/5spd 2wd with about 40K miles on it. I was on the highway the about 2 weeks ago, bed loaded with motocross gear and bike (about 500-600lbs total), when I had a little trouble. I was stuck behind a slow car in the second lane and needed to get to the left lane to get around them, but left lane traffic was moving pretty quick. I saw a spot, downshifted from 5th (55-60mph) to 3rd and moved over/accelerated HARD past the slow car. As I settled back into 5th I could smell a STRONGE sent of anti-freeze, the temp gauge started climbing quickly - so I got over and stopped in a very short time (temp gauge didn't hit the top). I popped the hood to find that the upper radiator hose had popped-off at the radiator - no holes or tears, just was popped of the radiator neck. I put the hose back in place w/the clamp and refilled the now empty radiator with anti-freeze & water (lucky I had both w/me) and continued on my way. The temp ran a little hotter than normal the rest of the way home, with the heat on full-blast the rest of the way. Since that day the truck has been fine, not gotten hot or popped the hose off, till this past weekend. Again I had the truck loaded-up with gear - it was going along fine, I accelerated up to highway-speed out of a rest-stop when suddenly the hose blew off again. I again, put it back in place and filled the radiator. I kept the heat on the rest of the way there and then the whole ride home again after the weekend - it ran a little warmer than normal but not a lot - I accelerated easy and it kept the hose on fine. Today coming to work, now with the truck completely empty, it was going along fine, but then as I hit some stop & go traffic the temp started rising again - so again I flipped the heat on and it stabilized a little above 'normal' for the rest of the ride. As you can imagine, riding along in 90-degree temps with my heat on full-tilt is not ideal. Initially I thought it was just running hot due to being loaded up with my bike+gear and the hills on the way out to the track - but now it's getting hot while empty. The truck never had any temp issues before the first time I blew the hose off. First off, I'm looking for suggestions as to why the hose blew off in the first place and secondly I'm looking for ideas as to what could be causing it to re-occur under hard acceleration when loaded and now why it's getting hot while empty now. Any suggestions would be great. Sorry for the long post, just trying to 'paint the whole picture' to help with suggestions.

Thx, Steve C.

 

Well the only thing that i can think of is that you may have had a clog that was increasing the presure to the top part of the radiator, thats the reason why you kept blowing the hoses. Ok this is off the subject, sorta, but it applys here. I dont know if you are mechanicly inclined, but in a house, if you have low water presure, you decrease the size of the tubing to increase the presure, so if you have a clog in the hoses or in the upper part of your motor, it will do the same thing. As far as overheating, youve got me on that one, unless you still have a clog, in which case your going to overheat because your not getting the circulation to cool the water back down. I would get your radiator system presure flushed as soon as possible.

 

Thanks for the advice. I was leaning toward that route, but wanted to get some other opinions first. I got a new thermostat and was thinking of having a radiator flush/check done. I'll post how it goes when I have it done....

Thx again

 

I had a 300, V-6 on my Ford Aerostar do the same thing. The thermostat would stick partially open and then free up and would run fine for awhile then start again. If you flush your radiator at the suggested intervals, I don't see how you could get a clog. Unless something internal to the system broke loose (it's possible, I guess).
I'd also check the belt and then I'd look for problems with the water pump.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks F150Forever.

I picked up a new thermostat and will put it in this weekend. I was going to do it after work last night, but it looks like it will take a while.

Thanks again, STeve