Hi all,

I’m getting ready to do some major maintenance on my 99. I’m planning on doing the timing belt, water pump, flush the trans and flush the cooling system, replace the A/F ratio sensor and drain and fill the diffs and xfer. She has 217k and the history is foggy at best.

So, to my question; do I replace the radiator, which doesn’t leak and still looks good, and the trans cooler has been bypassed, or do I leave it and keep an eye on it?

With a total bill of 600 for all the parts, fluids and tools, I would rather not spend anymore than is necessary. I don’t do a lot of trailering and most of my driving is within a 50 mile radius.

What are the thoughts on this?

thanks

 

If its bypassed your good pretty much, you may get a rad leak at that location eventually, but at least its not rad fluid going into the Auto trans.

 

My radiator had a small leak, along the top somewhere, when I bought the truck at 189,000 miles. So I replaced it. You could see some red stain along the top rim of the radiator; that was the only sign of a leak. 50,000 miles later, l had the same exact thing going on. I'm just going to keep my eye on it. 274,000 miles now. Obviously I want it to be mechanically sound, but it's hit an age where I don't expect everything to be perfect anymore.

 

I hear ya! My 99 spent time in Somerville Mass and it shows! The paint has scratches and dings all over. I try to keep it as sound as possible, but living in Maine with road salt makes it a challenge.

 

All you're risking here is the plastic end tanks cracking and leaking. They get brittle over time. And then *pop* they spring a leak. Maybe a big one, maybe a little one. I'd take a look at them and see how faded and/or cracked the plastic looks. The original ones seem to gradually fade from something close to a black into a brown, and the surface can start to show fine cracks. Maybe sort of gently stress test them by yanking the hoses around some. Of course, you could break the hose connectors off even a brand new one by YANKING on them, just sort of gently tug on them snd see if it makes crackling noises.