Hi guys, I have a '95 Ford Aerostar van with 183k on the clock that I use for work. The other day I allowed one of my helpers to use it to run out and get lunch. During her trip back (3 - 5 minutes) the van overheated on her. She pulled back in to the customer's house and had it idling with the guage pegged to hot for another 1 - 2 minutes before I happened to come over and she mentioned the overheating.
I turned it off, popped the hood and coolant had escaped the rad cap (didn't blow off) and a small bit of steam was coming from the upper hose where it connects to the radiator. I let the van cool for 30 minutes and filled it with tap water (was in a rural area at a customer's house) and drove it 30 miles back to town.
Local chain here claims that there is a seeping leak from the radiator and lower hose (never noticed this) and offered to replace both hoses, radiator and T-stat plus flush the system for a whopping price of 800 (claiming 4 hrs labor)!!
They also claim to have done a compression check to test for coolant flowing through a cracked head or head gasket but could not tell me the compression numbers? They did not even test for this until I asked about that possibility. Just seems odd to me.
I drove the van back home (8 miles) through town with only water and noticed the temp never even made it to the normal heat range. There is no steam coming from the exhaust and the van runs well with good power except for a slight miss at idle that wasn't there before. Before all this happened the van's temp was steady at the halfway mark in the normal heat range.
Unfortunantely, I'm not familiar with the maintainence of this vehicle before I purchased it a few weeks ago. I am 90% sure that the previous owner did not maintain it properly though. The coolant didn't look bad except for some corrosion under the cap which I have yet to replace. Any advise would be helpful.
Tom
P.S. I have been regularly checking the fluid levels over the last month and had to add approximately 1 quart of coolant during that period. Never noticed any milky residue or sludging under the oil cap or dipstick.
I turned it off, popped the hood and coolant had escaped the rad cap (didn't blow off) and a small bit of steam was coming from the upper hose where it connects to the radiator. I let the van cool for 30 minutes and filled it with tap water (was in a rural area at a customer's house) and drove it 30 miles back to town.
Local chain here claims that there is a seeping leak from the radiator and lower hose (never noticed this) and offered to replace both hoses, radiator and T-stat plus flush the system for a whopping price of 800 (claiming 4 hrs labor)!!
They also claim to have done a compression check to test for coolant flowing through a cracked head or head gasket but could not tell me the compression numbers? They did not even test for this until I asked about that possibility. Just seems odd to me.
I drove the van back home (8 miles) through town with only water and noticed the temp never even made it to the normal heat range. There is no steam coming from the exhaust and the van runs well with good power except for a slight miss at idle that wasn't there before. Before all this happened the van's temp was steady at the halfway mark in the normal heat range.
Unfortunantely, I'm not familiar with the maintainence of this vehicle before I purchased it a few weeks ago. I am 90% sure that the previous owner did not maintain it properly though. The coolant didn't look bad except for some corrosion under the cap which I have yet to replace. Any advise would be helpful.
Tom
P.S. I have been regularly checking the fluid levels over the last month and had to add approximately 1 quart of coolant during that period. Never noticed any milky residue or sludging under the oil cap or dipstick.
