I have a 2011 6.2 with chronic radiator leak issues. I'll start by saying that this truck has never overheated that I am aware of and when I bought it, it had an OEM Motorcraft radiator in it.
About 2 years ago I noticed a small coolant leak that was manifesting itself as puddles on the driveway. The leak appeared to be coming from the seam between the plastic end tanks and the aluminum core. I chalked this up to age/wear/tear and replaced the radiator with a Mishimoto all aluminum radiator, that I assumed would be a more durable option. In the process replaced the thermostat, both radiator hoses, radiator cap and filled with fresh coolant.
About a year later I began to notice puddles in the driveway again, this time the leak seems to be coming from the center of the radiator core. I also observed that the upper radiator hose had what seemed like excessive pressure on it, but the OEM radiator cap and the replacement were 19psi, this sounds high, but that's what Ford engineers deemed appropriate so who am I to disagree.
Assuming I received a defective radiator, Mishimoto replaced the radiator under their lifetime warranty. I installed the new radiator about a month ago and it too is now leaking. I have not investigated thoroughly yet, but this leak appears to be coming from the radiator itself and not a hose or other junction that would be easy to fix.
So I am back in the same boat, with a truck that is leaking coolant in the driveway and will almost certainly need another radiator. The question is should I give Mishimoto another try or go back to Motorcraft? I assumed the all aluminum option would be better but maybe their quality control is crap, the plastic Motorcraft radiator lasted 10yrs after all. Or is there something else going on here? I thought about the possibility of a head gasket issue, but the overflow tank seems normal. I would assume it would be very active if I had combustion gases leaking into the cooling system. I also did a coolant combustion gas test with the first replacement and it came back normal.
One observation I made was that the radiator outlet on the Mishimoto radiator looked like it was significantly blocked off which could contribute to the pressure buildup. I thought this might be a design flaw, but it appears to be the case on the Motorcraft design as well.
Mishimoto:
Motorcraft:
Has anyone else experienced something similar?
Truck runs and drives great, starts easy and has 128k miles.
Both oil and coolant look clean and uncontaminated like they should.
About 2 years ago I noticed a small coolant leak that was manifesting itself as puddles on the driveway. The leak appeared to be coming from the seam between the plastic end tanks and the aluminum core. I chalked this up to age/wear/tear and replaced the radiator with a Mishimoto all aluminum radiator, that I assumed would be a more durable option. In the process replaced the thermostat, both radiator hoses, radiator cap and filled with fresh coolant.
About a year later I began to notice puddles in the driveway again, this time the leak seems to be coming from the center of the radiator core. I also observed that the upper radiator hose had what seemed like excessive pressure on it, but the OEM radiator cap and the replacement were 19psi, this sounds high, but that's what Ford engineers deemed appropriate so who am I to disagree.
Assuming I received a defective radiator, Mishimoto replaced the radiator under their lifetime warranty. I installed the new radiator about a month ago and it too is now leaking. I have not investigated thoroughly yet, but this leak appears to be coming from the radiator itself and not a hose or other junction that would be easy to fix.
So I am back in the same boat, with a truck that is leaking coolant in the driveway and will almost certainly need another radiator. The question is should I give Mishimoto another try or go back to Motorcraft? I assumed the all aluminum option would be better but maybe their quality control is crap, the plastic Motorcraft radiator lasted 10yrs after all. Or is there something else going on here? I thought about the possibility of a head gasket issue, but the overflow tank seems normal. I would assume it would be very active if I had combustion gases leaking into the cooling system. I also did a coolant combustion gas test with the first replacement and it came back normal.
One observation I made was that the radiator outlet on the Mishimoto radiator looked like it was significantly blocked off which could contribute to the pressure buildup. I thought this might be a design flaw, but it appears to be the case on the Motorcraft design as well.
Mishimoto:
Motorcraft:
Has anyone else experienced something similar?
Truck runs and drives great, starts easy and has 128k miles.
Both oil and coolant look clean and uncontaminated like they should.
