Boondocker44
Registered User
The thing is, is that where the T is, that heater hose has what looks like to be factory style crimps? Its a mystery, lol....
I have no idea so I'm curious. This sounds like a good set up. I'm just wondering if there's enough coolant flow through this fitting to do much filtering. It's an awful small hole and it seems like it would take a very long time for the coolant to flow through the filter and actually be filtered.My 91 f250 had the same setup and everyone I asked basically said I was crazy so I'm glad to see it on someone else's truck. When I added a coolant filter to that truck and every subsequent one I used that port in the radiator for the return coolant flow since the filter is usually enough restriction to not allow too much coolant to bypass the thermostat
I have an 89 and 90 bricknose and a 92 obs that are set up this way. I had to order that line off of ebay. All of mine that have this setup are automatic trans. Only clue I have for this. All but the 92 were deleted and just the straight hose. Left the 92 alone and just replaced the original line that was on it cause I left that truck an automatic. Other two got zf5 swappedVERY few radiators had that fitting in them. They may have been in other years, but I only remember seeing them in 1990 trucks. Back in 98 or early 99, I tried to get a replacement hose with that "T" and extra hose in it because the hose was soft and needed to be replaced. Ford's "wonderful" computer puncher (parts guy) couldn't even find it listed in the computer. After that, if it needed to be replaced, we would put regular heater hose in it's place and plug the hole in the radiator. From what I've seen on here, the actual benefits seem to be minimal at beast. Not much different that the fuel heaters on our engines. In fact, years ago, I bought a used radiator from a guy who had an extra one for an IDI truck. When I saw that it had this fitting, I asked him if came out of a 1990. He was surprised that I knew that (and it was a 1990).