Preventative maintenance on 3.9L cooling system

[PaulD]

As a retro TBird owner which has many items common to the 3.9L LS, I hit this forum fairly frequently to see what issues you are having that might apply to my TBird. Generally, the average LS has 4 times as many miles on them than the average retro TBird so your experiences are a leading indicator of issues we may be facing in the future.
Right now I am curious about your experience with the 3.9L cooling system. I am interested in doing some preventative maintenance within the next year on my cooling system and I am interested in what specific items you would replace if you were doing the same.
I know the degas bottle is one candidate. Have seen some failures on a few TBirds so far but not as many as LS owners have seen. The degas bottle is definately on my list. However, it is not clear to me what should be next. The cooling system has many hoses and I suspect some are more prone to problems than others. I suspect the lower radiator hose would be a prime target also plus I have seen some references to leaky thermostat housings on the LS 3.9L. I am curious if anyone has actually installed one of the aluminum Jag thermostat housings on a 3.9L.
A wholesale replacement of all cooling hoses would be nice but I think that is probably overkill. After the degas bottle, what would you put at the top of your list for replacement?
PS...I recently had the cooling system flushed and new Ford Gold coolant added at 30,000 miles.

 

[jdmans101]

think the degas would be first, just did mine last week. upper hose seems to be the first to go that people say on here and the t housing. If you have a gen 1 LS then you should change some stuff for the fan as there are alot of problems with that causing overheating, if its a gen 2 don't worry about it.

 

[Jim Henderson]

"A wholesale replacement of all cooling hoses would be nice but I think that is probably overkill. After the degas bottle, what would you put at the top of your list for replacement?"

Actually depending on your mileage, this would be a good idea. The LS and I assume the bird are "one of those cars" where when one type(plastic cooling system) component fails you can expect the rest to follow.

I tried to avoid this all last year. First the Front Water outlet pipe, plus the top radiator "hose" my fault, it crackled as I was working to move it to get at the other pipe. Then the degass bottle. Then the OTHER front water outlet pipe. Tstat housing.
DCCV valve. Essentially all the PLASTIC components of my cooling system were failing one after the other over a period of several months. Fix one, replace coolant, a month later, blam, something else blew and I get to drive home in Limp mode. Replaced coolant 4 or 5 times, so I KNOW my system is clean. The LS has stranded me more than any other car I have ever owned including a Datsun that also require all hoses replaced at the same time "or else".

I think the only component not replaced yet is the lower radiator "hose". Note I say "hose" with quotes. That's because the radiator "hoses" are actually plastic pipes with rubber hoses molded into the end. Essentially a "factory only part" Ford couldn't use anything standard.

If you bite the bullet all at once I think it will cost above $1,000 to replace all these components at the dealer. Maybe $500-$600 if you do it yourself. But at least you are done with it for maybe 100K miles more.

Plenty of write ups on this page. Be sure to bleed the air.

My car is a 2004 LSV8 with about 120K miles on it. And like I said, I nickle and dimed the cooling components one at a time and got plenty of experience searching desperately for water on my drives home. Best to be done with it in one shot.

BTW my experience is NOT unusual with this engine/car model.

Good Luck and carry a jug of water with you if you ignore my advice. You will need both,

Jim henderson

 

[oddball]

For Gen 1, the cap of the thermostat tower (aka engine fill cap) tends to cause problems.

For Gen 2, the entire thermostat housing thing is incredibly complicated and tends to break, especially the thermostat retaining tabs.

I would expect the TBird to have the same suspension issues: sway bar bushings drying out, lower ball joint failure are the primary ones.

 

[PaulD]

For Gen 1, the cap of the thermostat tower (aka engine fill cap) tends to cause problems.

For Gen 2, the entire thermostat housing thing is incredibly complicated and tends to break, especially the thermostat retaining tabs.

I would expect the TBird to have the same suspension issues: sway bar bushings drying out, lower ball joint failure are the primary ones.

TBird owners are very familiar with the suspension issues as well as the COPS. Even though most TBirds are lower miles, time is becoming our enemy and I expect a lot of the cooling system issues are going to be very time dependent. I figure it is cheaper and less trouble to replace hoses all at once rather than piecemeal and leave me stranded on the side of the road.
For info, the 02 TBird had the hydraulic fan and then the 03-05 had the electric fan.

 

[oddball]

Good to know, sounds like the TBird generations followed the LS.

Any unique TBird electric fan conversions? (My favorite topic)

 

[LS4me]

Good to know, sounds like the TBird generations followed the LS.

I should hope so. They are, after all, basically the same car. The 'Bird has a shortened chassis, different body and softer tuning.

 

[PaulD]

Any unique TBird electric fan conversions? (My favorite topic)

Not really. Approximately half of the total TBird production was the 02 model with the hydraulic fan. I have not heard much chatter on our forums about any such mods but I suspect some may have done that. I suspect the computer controls would be pretty tricky.

I should hope so. They are, after all, basically the same car. The 'Bird has a shortened chassis, different body and softer tuning.

Yes.....even the interior dash are extremely similar. A lot of the owners have done various mods to help with the softer tuning and disappointing horsepower which is made even worse because our TBirds actually weigh more that the LS. I have added a Borla exaust, K&N filter and SCT tune to mine. I have had mine to 140 MPH but it is a real dog at low RPM
I personally worked a long time with WeaponX to try and come up with an improved COP but that has been a dissapointment so far. The TBird ECM does not like high performance COPS and will quickly go into the limp mode with any COP that is not virtually the same as the OEM COP.

 

[112 LS]

wow I just saw a pic of the 02 t-bird interior, looks just like home to me lol

so the t-bird is the little brother and the jag a distant cousin, cute.