No radiator coolant recovery tank

[ljhl]

There has never been a coolant recovery tank installed on my old '87 Coachmen Class C.....it never ran hot while driving from Maine to Texas last fall, but I'm thinking now that I have the dash AC working and in this heat, I should install an after-market tank. Wonder why Ford didn't install one from the factory.....Thoughts?

[maillemaker]

Yup - I just topped off my radiator a couple of weekends ago as I was running a bit hot. Stopped at a gas station and the first thing it did was pee the excess coolant out the overflow hose onto the ground. 🙂

Mine's a 1990. I don't know where I would mount an overflow tank in that thing! 🙂

Steve

[ljhl]

Thanks guys, I just bought an aftermarket recovery tank kit at Autozone along with a new radiator cap.....can't hurt to add to the cooling system. Thanks again!

[j-d]

Our '83 E350 chassis didn't have one either but it had an aftermarket kit added by a previous owner.

I imagine the kits aren't as readily available as they were years ago. I'm trying to remember, but my recall is that adding a tank also involved changing to a "recovery" radiator cap. But then again, with so many vehicles having a tank now, most caps are probably OK. Just get the pressure, which I think was the 16-PSI.

Some of the newer Fords have that tank with a pressure cap on it, none on the radiator itself. I recently learned the tank is for "de-gassing" which is intended to separate anything out of the coolant that would form bubbles in the radiator. Sounds like a good idea, but remember the tank is under pressure like a radiator would be. And the tank can crack. I replaced one on a Taurus for a friend at work.

[pauldub]

Adding a tank will give you a little more cooling capacity because you can fill the radiator full to brim because the expansion space will be provided by the overflow bottle instead of the radiator. I'm not sure you'll notice the extra cooling capacity but it's a pretty inexpensive "enhancement".

[Capt_Storm]

Back in the day nobody worried much about anti-freeze spilling onto the ground.
You could add one easy enough,get one from a donor car or truck.