Upgrading radiator hoses to silicone
- Thread starter DrRoughneck
- Start date
It's not an upgrade at all.
I have factory silcone hoses on my CVPI. Fleet only option. They should still be usable long past when the body has returned to the earth.
A Ford engineer said it was a pretty much useless option. EPDM hoses will last long past 10 years. So you might need to change hoses once during the life of a car? If that? Big deal..
A Ford engineer said it was a pretty much useless option. EPDM hoses will last long past 10 years. So you might need to change hoses once during the life of a car? If that? Big deal..
Silicone hoses found their way into the police vehicles of both GM and Ford.
I'll say this for those hoses: I've never seen or heard of one failing.
I'll say this for those hoses: I've never seen or heard of one failing.
My 1988 civic oem rubber hoses lasted 33 years.. no need for silicone !
It seems to be the case in my experience.
My 1997 Explorer has almost all original coolant hoses (and it has many), except for one. The one that has been replaced was because a previous owner spliced in one of those Prestone garden hose flush adapters, and that adapter broke. All of the others appear to be original with original constant tension clamps, and they are in good shape at 24 years old/220K miles. I guess EPDM rubber helped a lot.
I have replaced hoses on my Ranger, but never because the hose itself was bad. It was because hard plastic tees that were part of the hose assembly cracked and were not sold separately.
Silicone hoses were once an option on police vehicles, I'm not sure if this is still the case. GM had the classic light green and Ford had the baby blue hoses. You couldn't use constant tension spring clamps with them, I guess they would eventually end up tearing into the hose.
That being said, regular rubber hoses tend to last a decent amount of time before requiring replacement. For a vehicle that is in constant use, the five year mark usually does it for my neck of the woods before the hose is all swollen at the connection points. At some point, it's swollen enough for the clamp to cut into it, and you don't want to get to that point.
Worth mentioning, however, I am just replacing all rubber coolant hoses on my '99 Ford Explorer. Granted the vehicle is 22 years, it's low mileage and hasn't seen high heat driving conditions all that much. While the hoses can still remain in service, it doesn't cost much to do when you're replacing a thermostat housing, thermostat and a water pump.
That being said, regular rubber hoses tend to last a decent amount of time before requiring replacement. For a vehicle that is in constant use, the five year mark usually does it for my neck of the woods before the hose is all swollen at the connection points. At some point, it's swollen enough for the clamp to cut into it, and you don't want to get to that point.
Worth mentioning, however, I am just replacing all rubber coolant hoses on my '99 Ford Explorer. Granted the vehicle is 22 years, it's low mileage and hasn't seen high heat driving conditions all that much. While the hoses can still remain in service, it doesn't cost much to do when you're replacing a thermostat housing, thermostat and a water pump.
Similar threads
