I know improvements have been made on hose quality over the years. I am wondering what today's conventional wisdom says concerning replacement of hoses. How many miles or how many years can I expect to get out of the hoses on my 2001 5.4L Excursion? Presently have 75K on the odeometer. Thanks!

 

i'd change all the hoses along with the coolant,belts,and tentioner..its trouble brewing as the miles add up!...zap!

 

I think you could get to 100k without any problems on those parts, although you do need to change the coolant at least once a year.

Otherwise just make sure you check those parts for deterioration and if you notice something starting to go wrong replace it before it breaks.

 

Personally I wait untill I see weather cracks or a leak before I replace the hoses...I got 200K out of the hoses and 150K out of the belt on my last vehicle "the Jeep". The motor gave out first...LOL My wifes 96 Explorer has 156K on it currently and has all of the original belts and hoses...

 

My truck has all orignal hoses and thermostat at 275,000 miles. It gets a radiator drain and fill every spring. One of the heater hoses runs under the intake, so you can't change it anyhow without a big production. I'll wait until I see cracks or the hoses feel soft before I change them. These trucks have failsafe cooling, so you should be able to make it home even while losing coolant, though I plan to avoid that.

 

I've been wondering the same thing myself. I have 86,000 miles on my '97 Ranger and have been contemplating having to change them out. However, the other day I checked them and they appear to be in perfect condition -- no cracks, soft spots, signs of leakage, etc.

Perhaps this is an area where the quality of the products have come light years from where they used to be? Kind of like today's new stainless exhaust systems that hardly after have to be replaced, versus the old metal ones on cars from the '70's or earlier that had to be routinely replaced?