Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) upper and lower radiator hoses

[savage54]

I'm starting to tear into my 97 , to check the KDP and check the timing cover bolts, and some other thing's, and decided to replace the hoses and water pump.My Question is, when I poled the upper and lower hoses , and the connection on the engine ,it looks like they had some type of sealer under the hoses, which was a pain to clean off. Is this the way they sealed the hoses to the engine, then used clamps or is this not the way to do it? Do I just slide the new hoses on and clamp them? or put some type of sealer on the connection, slide the hose on then clamp them.

 

[BigPapa]

Savage, Savage, Savage.

Drive this thing and quit trying to fix what's not broke. You will not find better hoses than the ones you're taking off. Mine had over 300K miles on them when I did my swap and I had to change hoses only because they didn't fit. You definitely won't get a better water pump than what's on there and you will know when it's time to replace it. Chances of a catastrophic failure are slim to none.

Tab your KDP, put a new crank seal in, change your coolant, quit worrying, and DRIVE!

 

[mwilson]

What Scott said..........^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't know if the hoses are made of some kind of ultra tough teflon soaked rubber or what but they do not give trouble. Slide them back on and leave them alone...

Mike...

 

[Bob4x4]

We never saw many hoses fail on the 12 valves,usually just out side influence.Oil soaked from nearby leaks or very neglected cooling systems from rust or electrolysis from no coolant changes.I would do an inspection on the small bypass hose.

 

[savage54]

Savage, Savage, Savage.

Drive this thing and quit trying to fix what's not broke. You will not find better hoses than the ones you're taking off. Mine had over 300K miles on them when I did my swap and I had to change hoses only because they didn't fit. You definitely won't get a better water pump than what's on there and you will know when it's time to replace it. Chances of a catastrophic failure are slim to none.

Tab your KDP, put a new crank seal in, change your coolant, quit worrying, and DRIVE!

I know:-laf, I found the the bottom hose had a split in it and was wet in that area, so I just figured I replace both, plus Geno's hoses were on sale.I looked in the radiator and it needs to be boiled out, a lot of scaling.I just wanted to know if they used a sealer on the hose, just some weird sticky stuff in the end of the hoses. Thanks Dave

 

[DVolk]

My guess the sticky stuff could be from antifreeze seaping out the hose and geling

 

[mwilson]

We used to apply Indianhead gasket cement to radiator hose connection back in the day to prevent cold antifreeze leaks...

 

[phantomusa]

Use good quality hoses and no type of sealer will be needed

 

[The patriot]

Mike....I used to do that too! Sticky damn stuff!
My truck has a measley 140K miles on her and the hoses still look new.

I use dish washer soap to flush her out. I do mine annually, but may move to every 2-3 years since I hardly drive it anymore. 5K annually is a LOT to me anymore.
If yours is particularly nasty, add some Lemi-shine to the flush.

Edit: Just went to the garage to see what brand dishwasher soap it is.
Electrasol with "deep cleaning power".:-laf
I dont think they made this in about 5 or 10 years.....I dont know what they renamed it to either. Sorry. I bought a big box about 15 yrs ago and still have about 3/4 box left.:-laf

 

[mwilson]

Use good quality hoses and no type of sealer will be needed

That's correct for sure!!

*My comment regarding the Indianhead was for two reasons..

*(1) That might be the residue the OP saw, someone might have done it in the past..


*(2) We had to use the Indianhead on our big trucks, a combination of super cold nights and the use of block heaters will make radiator connections drip overnight...