SO, my van overheats at highway speeds or up hills etc. It seems like the rad can't keep up with the cooling requirements of the engine. It builds slowly. Here's what I've done: New rad cap. New coolant temp sensor. New upper and lower hoses. Flushed twice at double strength. New coolant also. Changed t-stat. Changed t-stat again to a lower 180 degree instead of 195. That helped, but still heats up. The water pump is only 4 years old and isn't leaking or loose. I looked inside the rad and it's pretty scaly and stuff. I'm thinking I want to replace it. The van has 212k on it, all original. Here's my questions:

1. How do I get the right one? How do I measure the dimensions correctly?
2. Does it have to be an exact match? i.e same thickness etc. Newer ones seem to be a little thinner these days. Will it matter?

Thanks

 

Have you checked out the fan clutch?
Also, radiator size is influenced by whether or not the vehicle has air conditioning.
Does your lower hose have the spring in it to prevent suction from the water pump at high RPM causing the lower hose to collapse and restrict coolant flow?

Maybe a Ford parts dept can give you some info on size and cooling capacity based on the vin of your vehicle.

 

Thanks for replying hanky.

How do I check the fan clutch?

The lower hose does have the spring in it.

I will try calling Ford about dimensions.

 

Without a temp sensing gun to check , what usually can be seen is the fan blade will lope around without definite speed about the same as engine speed or slightly slower. When the temp gets up there, you should see and hear the fan speed get louder and speed up.