Radiator hose ???s

[gomer pyle]

i keep smelling hot antifreeze when i get out of my truck. i finally noticed today that the thermostat housing has a white mist around it. i assume the stamped ford crap is bad and plan to order dieselsite's billet housing. my question is should I do the 203 t-stat? also, I am going to replace to upper hose to the dual alternator one. anyone have a part number? should i also replace the lower hose, or leave it alone since its not leaking?

[jesilvas]

Well, I like my 203*F thermo. DEFINITELY the billet housing.
But, when I went to do what you're planning, my thermo housing bolts snapped off in the pump . . . as well as the lower metal elbow bolts . . . so had to get a new pump too

[gomer pyle]

that's one thing i am scared of. would you worry about the lower hose since it isn't leaking?

[jesilvas]

The hose? Nah. Hoses are rarely an issue on these. The lower metal tube where it seals to the pump is a diff story. Not common, but definitely not unheard of.
And to get it all to seal up right, I had to use blue silicone.

[mxfever090]

Dual alternator radiator hose - OEM Part# F81Z-8260-CA

A word of advise. The new housing will come with a new gasket. Use some type of sealer between the new billet housing to the pump.

After my installation I had a leak there. The stamped garbage that Ford put on rust's an corrodes which puts pits in the water pump housing and is difficult to seal with just the rubber seal.

[Devil Car]

X3 on the RTV when using the billet housing. I thought I was going to get lucky with just the O-ring, but I ended up having to redo it with RTV later.

I also found a leak on the lower metal pipe on mine, like what jesilvas mentioned. A new O-ring from Ford fixed that without using any sealants. You might want to just check to make sure no leaks exist at this location, since you'll already have to drain some coolant to replace the thermostat housing.