(TL;DR is underlined)
I've already taken the leap to buy a coolant filter and housing (Wix 24019 & 24070) to install on my 1991 Ford Explorer. I realize that it's overkill and some people might consider it unnecessary. However, I'm doing this because after yanking the engine out and in the process draining the radiator, I was surprised to see the amount of debris floating around, including the better part of a bottle of stop leak. Fast forward a few months, I still see debris floating in the radiator and overflow tank. I didn't flush the radiator or heater core when I removed the engine. I was on borrowed time at a borrowed place and wanted to get everything back together. Plus, I was naive in thinking a simple drain would get everything out. Long story short, I got the filter so that I don't have to waste the new coolant I put in or spend a lot of time doing flushes.
Anyway... both the filter and housing have a small diameter outlet. I've read online that this type of filter is meant to be a bypass style. This means that you'd split the heater line coming from the engine and have it go to both the filter and the heater core, then both lines re-join back into the water pump. That's not how I want to set this up. I want to run it from the engine through the filter, out to the heater core and back into the pump.
The problems I see with this, or have read about, are that some cars have a heater control valve that slow/block coolant from moving through the heater core. I'm pretty sure that feature was added in later years of the Explorer and in mine it flows constantly. The other issue would be that when the filter clogs up, I'll lose heat. That's not a big deal since we're approaching summer.
I want to run the filter in full-flow mode to get maximum filtration. If it happens that the filter plugs up quickly then I'll just replace it. I'd rather get the crud out quickly. Running the filter in bypass mode means many more cuts and adapters in the coolant lines which adds cost and raises the likelihood of leaks, not tons but it's something to think about.
So, finally, my question;
Is there any negative that I'm not thinking of to enlarge the hole in both the filter and housing to get more flow to the heater core?
If it turns out that I really do need to run the filter in bypass mode to get enough heat, I can always get a new filter and re-configure the hoses.
I've already taken the leap to buy a coolant filter and housing (Wix 24019 & 24070) to install on my 1991 Ford Explorer. I realize that it's overkill and some people might consider it unnecessary. However, I'm doing this because after yanking the engine out and in the process draining the radiator, I was surprised to see the amount of debris floating around, including the better part of a bottle of stop leak. Fast forward a few months, I still see debris floating in the radiator and overflow tank. I didn't flush the radiator or heater core when I removed the engine. I was on borrowed time at a borrowed place and wanted to get everything back together. Plus, I was naive in thinking a simple drain would get everything out. Long story short, I got the filter so that I don't have to waste the new coolant I put in or spend a lot of time doing flushes.
Anyway... both the filter and housing have a small diameter outlet. I've read online that this type of filter is meant to be a bypass style. This means that you'd split the heater line coming from the engine and have it go to both the filter and the heater core, then both lines re-join back into the water pump. That's not how I want to set this up. I want to run it from the engine through the filter, out to the heater core and back into the pump.
The problems I see with this, or have read about, are that some cars have a heater control valve that slow/block coolant from moving through the heater core. I'm pretty sure that feature was added in later years of the Explorer and in mine it flows constantly. The other issue would be that when the filter clogs up, I'll lose heat. That's not a big deal since we're approaching summer.
I want to run the filter in full-flow mode to get maximum filtration. If it happens that the filter plugs up quickly then I'll just replace it. I'd rather get the crud out quickly. Running the filter in bypass mode means many more cuts and adapters in the coolant lines which adds cost and raises the likelihood of leaks, not tons but it's something to think about.
So, finally, my question;
Is there any negative that I'm not thinking of to enlarge the hole in both the filter and housing to get more flow to the heater core?
If it turns out that I really do need to run the filter in bypass mode to get enough heat, I can always get a new filter and re-configure the hoses.
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