03 3.9L Cooling Issue

TooManyToys

TooManyToys

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Hey guys. I haven't been around much. 30k ago at 100k I replaced all the coolant parts except radiator, doc'd in an old thread. Yes, Motorcraft parts all the way including degas as a PM.

This spring the LS has gotten cranky. We had an overheat, which shouldn't have happened. After checking things out I found the electric cooling fan had failed by pulling the control connector and the fan stayed static. Main power was good. A salvage fan plugged in and immediately went to full speed. Forscan shows the PCM is pulsing, but not controlling. Second fan does the same. I still need to sort out if the harness has shorted to ground or if the PCM has an issue. Anyone who has gone this path who has suggestions please jump in.

But my wife had another high temp event despite all the air bled out a good while ago and max cooling fan speed. Checked it at home and coolant was down. Refill and rebleed completed. But as I'm checking all over I found white residue at the passenger headlight. Looking around there is a fissure in the radiator opposite side of top hose, so the age and probably the overheat took its toll.

The disparity in price between the Motorcraft radiator and aftermarket RockAuto wares is high. While I usually always go for M/C as it will comparative to OE in capacity, I was wondering if anyone had success with any of the aftermarkets with this marginized cooling system?
 
I personally would shell out the money for the M/C radiator. Most aftermarket (cheaper) radiators out there are made by Spectre. While not bad parts for vehicles with conventional cooling systems I wouldnt trust them to the closed system like the LS.

I run the cheaper rads in my Rangers, Mark VII, and Town Car. All those radiators within a year of brand new leak out the seams where the cooling rails meet the side bars. It doesnt matter much on the conventional system as it can vent air through the overflow. The LS cant vent anything unless its bled as you already know.

Just my 0.02
 
*Edit* I checked with a friend who works for a radiator manufacturer and he said as far as our LS's, they've been selling Performance Radiators for years with no bad results. I looked up the LS radiator, price is $111.00 with free shipping. Looked up a Spectra on Auotzone $157.00 - Here is the link to the Performance radiator. CLICK HERE - Lincoln LS


TooManyToys said:
Hey guys. I haven't been around much. 30k ago at 100k I replaced all the coolant parts except radiator, doc'd in an old thread. Yes, Motorcraft parts all the way including degas as a PM.

This spring the LS has gotten cranky. We had an overheat, which shouldn't have happened. After checking things out I found the electric cooling fan had failed by pulling the control connector and the fan stayed static. Main power was good. A salvage fan plugged in and immediately went to full speed. Forscan shows the PCM is pulsing, but not controlling. Second fan does the same. I still need to sort out if the harness has shorted to ground or if the PCM has an issue. Anyone who has gone this path who has suggestions please jump in.

But my wife had another high temp event despite all the air bled out a good while ago and max cooling fan speed. Checked it at home and coolant was down. Refill and rebleed completed. But as I'm checking all over I found white residue at the passenger headlight. Looking around there is a fissure in the radiator opposite side of top hose, so the age and probably the overheat took its toll.

The disparity in price between the Motorcraft radiator and aftermarket RockAuto wares is high. While I usually always go for M/C as it will comparative to OE in capacity, I was wondering if anyone had success with any of the aftermarkets with this marginized cooling system?
Click to expand...
 
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We bought a used Escape for our granddaughters graduation and I replaced the rad iin it. Ordered it from the Ford dealer and they got me a Specter for it. I was surprised and when I went to install it I was amazed at the reduction in its core. It worked fine but I was always concerned about the vehicle.

Since I rarely get into aftermarket cooling, wasn't sure if that was normal or a one off.

Thanks for the replies.
 
If you were to buy an aftermarket radiator by dimension and hose location and size instead of by vehicle, it's possible to get VERY HIGH QUALITY parts. Just as one possibility, check with Griffin. It isn't automatic that one goes 'down' in quality with aftermarket.

KS
 
cammerfe said:
If you were to buy an aftermarket radiator by dimension and hose location and size instead of by vehicle, it's possible to get VERY HIGH QUALITY parts. Just as one possibility, check with Griffin. It isn't automatic that one goes 'down' in quality with aftermarket.

KS
Click to expand...

Keep in mind some fabrication might need to happen in order to mount it in the car and mount the fan shroud to it.
 
The radiator in both my 04 and my 06 cracked in the same location (never overheated). I replaced both with whatever aftermarket that O'Reilly's had. The last one was probably more than two years ago. So far both are doing fine.
 
O'Reilly stocks Murray, made in China. Auto Zone stocks Spectre, made in Canada or China. I generally like the Spectre units more, and tend to be less damaged in shipment.

To test the gen 2 fan, keep the main power, main ground, and controller power connected. Only disconnect the controller signal. The fan should run full speed when the ignition is on. If it doesn't, then the controller on the fan is bad. If it does, then the controller has an odd fault or the PCM is sending an incorrect signal. The funny thing is the controller defaults to full speed if it can't latch onto the signal. Putting a scope on the signal line will tell you a lot, too.
Just pulling the control connector (for 03 and 04) will have indeterminate results. Sometimes the fan will just stop, some times it'll go to full speed.
 
I had done that, two fans in fact. Full speed, controller circuit connector on or off.

It looks like the PCM varies the fan speed by pulse grounding it from what I could tell, but haven't spent much time researching it. It's an '03.

Joe, thanks for the info.
 
I'm posting back with the solution as I prefer not to leave threads open.

To review, '03 electric fan failure, installed salvage replacement and had full speed, no PCM control. Checked with second salvage unit, still no control.

Forscan showed a fault with PCM communication. Service literature has you check control power, which was good. Literature has you install a resistor across control pins to mimic in-fan controller, which still showed fault. The logic tree at this point was either harness or PCM. Literature then has you pull the PCM connector and check harness for open or short, and it showed an open.

So I looked over the harness and found some pinched areas that I didn't care for, but using the continuity circuit in my fluke didn't show any improvement when massaging these points. I've very familiar with Ford harness issues on other vehicles.

Now the fault could have been anywhere, but experience tells us look to what you've been working on recently. The harness and connectors at the fan are on a short leash and it remember the first removal was tight. Once I started to investigate the control connector I found the grounding wire, the control wire to the PCM, had pulled out of the pin. Once fully pulled out and the rubber compression back seal removed, that pin did not have the securing ring fully compressed around the insulation, so it was easy for the wire to become dislodged.

While I was not able to fully disassemble the connector, I was able to cut away part of the connector so I could crimp the wire on, then solder it. Taped up, installed and continuity is re-established to proper control of the fan speed now for a few weeks.

In hindsite, I should have followed advice I've given to others in other forums, check the local work area before you start to pull your vehicle all apart, like to the PCM connector. I could have straight pined the green grounding wire a few inches back and found the interuptuon easier. Although it did give me the opportunity to change the cabin filter, something I've held off for a few months.
 
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Great post, thank you for returning to clarify your solution! This is excellent advice for trying to pinpoint electrical interruptions.
 
Installed a Spectra radiator today. The thickness of the core is the same but the louvers between each tube has a lower count per inch then the OE radiator. I've been monitoring so I'll be able to see if there are any issues with this. I'm expecting not for my climate as I used to be out at Death Valley doing brake fluid boil tests when others were doing cooling system tests. We ain't getting to 120F.

The packaging engineers really designed these for removal from the bottom, but I wasn't about to try that frustration on a driveway. It's really tight but on a '03 3.9 I was able to get enough clearance without bending any A/C lines by disconnecting the lines on the drivers side for the combo heat exchanger, then dropping that side of the combo unit down. That allowed the radiator to be moved forward so the lower hose nipple would pass by the A/C line. It is tight though!
 
It's easier than you think to remove from the bottom. All you need to do is drive up on a normal set of ramps. You don't need it up any higher than that.
 
I don't have ramps and already was pretty deep by the time I came to the conclusion out the top wasn't the design.
 
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