Hey evry1 new to the forum. Heres the issue that i've been searching for somtime now. I have a 98 f-150 stock 2wd 4.6 auto. its got about 130k on it. the temp gauge stays between cool and half way. it never heats up to half way or hot. the cooland looks good. the cap is new, heat works great.
The big thing bothering me is the upper rad hose stays soft. it gets hot you can feel the pulse but still stays soft?
Any thoughts? I've tried bleeding it (heat cranked set to max a/c) with no change in gauge temp?
hope its notta head gasket

 

The upper shouldn't get hard. If it does get hard it's pressurized and you may have a head gasket leak, which is not good. The upper is the non-pressurized return line, though, so I wouldn't worry about it being soft. Unless it's so soft that the ends have frayed or you think it might be leaking, in which case you should replace it.

 

That's not correct. The whole system is designed to run under pressure and the top hose SHOULD get hard when it's warmed up. If it doesn't, your new cap is probably defective. If the gauge is running lower than it should, you may need a new thermostat.

 

You mean that big old hose going from the thermostat housing to the top-passenger bung on the radiator is supposed to get fully pressurized? I don't think mine has ever been, or at least not when I've checked it, including when the system was warmed up and the fans were running...

Which cap are you saying this may indicate could be defective? The one on the coolant reservoir (only one I know of in the system)?

 

Thats what i was thinking. I hope its only a thermostat. And to clarify I was talking about the upper rad hose going from the gooseneck to the radiator. the car i replaced was the reservoir cap, which as far as i know acts as a radiator cap?

 

Think for a minute if the bottom hose is hard how can the top hose not be hard the whole system is pressureized

 

Sure, that seems to make sense, but there didn't seem to be enough fluid in the system to fill up this huge hose... I guess that's the reason for such a huge reservoir. I've never seen it full and it's never overheated (except one time when the e-fans stopped working), so I assumed it was supposed to work that way. :o

I was planning to do a full coolant system overhaul for my 150k maintenance anyway, so I guess I'll add a new cap to the replacement items.

Just slightly off-topic (sorry for hijacking the thread), but I just received the new lower radiator hose I ordered from RockAuto.com and it seems to have an extra 2 small hoses attached at the junction to the coolant reservoir. It was the only one listed for 2WD. Now that I've gone into my engine bay to look at it, the picture for the hose listed as "4WD w/o Oil Cooler" application looks most like mine. Anyone familiar with this?