Truck dumped coolant yesterday while picking up my kiddos. I mean dumped. Figured a heater hose went poof. Or maybe the radiator. Nope, its never that easy.

Popped the hood, cooled things off, and found this sucker...



Yep. Thats the radiator drain plug that broke off inside the drain plug housing. It appears to be this model:

https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-28549-61108.aspx

So how would you get the remaining, broke off piece out of the radiator? I dont trust that the chunk in my hand is going to seal or hold well enough for me to make it the 10 miles back home. So I've got a tool box full of picks and needle nose pliers, but my confidence is low. When I feel inside the plug housing, the broken off piece is flush in the radiator. Nothing protruding that I can grab onto.

Thoughts? Help? I really dont want to pull the radiator to do this, given the truck is sitting in a parking lot away from home.

It depends how much room you got to work with and what tools you can get back there really.

What I'd to in a situation like this is try to light up the area as best you can with a work light. then stick your phone down there and see if you can get a good resolution photo of what the deal is. Can you even get the piece or did it break off and fall down in the radiator or what. You might only have one shot to grab it without it dropping in there.

Might get some small hemostats that are 45 and 90 degree angle. Sk makes some long pics that work pretty good in situations like that.

But there might be a good chance you have to replace the radiator because the piece is broken off in there.

I've also seen pieces of plastic and other kinds of small debris cause problems in a cooling system. l. Flow gets reduced just enough or it somehow causes an air pocket. You got a plastic piece in there it can reduce flow just enough to cause you a problem. It may never be a problem but it's still a known risk.

They make this stuff with the absolute cheapest plastic possible nowadays. Plastic didn't suck this bad 20 years ago. But the plastic they use today doesn't survive heat cold cycles. It gets brittle Anything made of plastic theres a good chance and it snaps off in your hands.

But its aggravating. A peice of **** plastic part can cause a whole system to fail.

You might get some sort of small dowel rod. See if you can get some of that gel superglue and stick that dowl to the plastic piece. You have to hold it for as long as you can to try and let the super glue set. Then you might have one shot to pull straight out.

Thanks for the ideas.

Searched the Dorman plug part number and ran across this thread....

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/133893.html

Seems that I've got 3 options here:

1) Use some needle nose to try and pinch the square body piece and pull it out.

2) Buy new plug. Remove square piece, insert fresh plug stem into square body thats stuck. Add some water, see if it holds. If it does....50/50 water/coolant mix and try to get it home.

3) Buy new plug and force it in. Push stuck square piece into the radiator. Fill with 50/50 water/coolant and get it home. Then pull radiator and replace. Good time to replace heater hoses, etc as they are of unknown age.

I would take this opportunity to replace the radiator

That's likely how this ends. But I gotta get the truck home first. Sitting in a parking lot 10 miles away.

Hoping to pull the broken plug body and get a fresh one to hold coolant.

Shove something in there, bring plenty of extra water, limp it home. Replace radiator at home

I'd be tempted to tow it home for peace of mind. Overheating a modern engine just a little bit can cause a string of problems.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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I'd be tempted to tow it home for peace of mind. Overheating a modern engine just a little bit can cause a sting of problems.

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This is exactly why I keep the $2/m roadside assistance on my insurance

Only 10 miles, I wouldn't take a chance on a temp fix.

AAA?

I meant for the free tow

Oh yeah, same.For sure worth it in situations like this.

Not a modern engine.

Ford 300 in-line 6.

1986

About to try and pull the piece out. Other idea is to drill it into pieces and flush it out.

Will see what I come up with.

good luck man.

No luck.

Getting towed.

Will replace radiator sometime next week.

Couldn't extract old plug. Pushed it through and new plug didn't fit great, but it did thread on

Made it 2.5 miles before it spit the plug and dumped coolant. Needed 8 more miles. Not gonna make it.

Tow on the way.

Appreciate the help

A $200 tow is worth it to me rather than a 10 mile white knuckle trip wondering if it will F my motor

Agree. I was being the typical hard headed "I can make this work" type, and I should have just had it towed from the beginning. Just hoped I could fix it.

Now that it's home and in the barn, and going to get a new radiator, what else should I replace at this time?

Heater hoses
Thermostat
Radiator

Anything else?

4.9L 300 i6. Manual trans. 108k miles

Water pump?

Sure could. It would be accessible.

TikkaShooter said:

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Agree. I was being the typical hard headed "I can make this work" type, and I should have just had it towed from the beginning. Just hoped I could fix it.

Now that it's home and in the barn, and going to get a new radiator, what else should I replace at this time?

Heater hoses
Thermostat
Radiator

Anything else?

4.9L 300 i6. Manual trans. 108k miles

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If it's the original fan clutch, might as well replace that with an HD version. You have to remove it to get the radiator out.

You might also consider doing a 3g alternator swap. You'll have easy access

Timing belt?

Have learned my lesson on reusing hose clamps. If you doing it anyway it's cheap insurance.

Shopping for parts, and trying to figure out if there is really much of a difference between the 2 core radiator I can pick up at ORiley vs something like this:

https://www.radiatorexpress.com/product/radiator/ford/1986/bronco/base/49l-l6/39237/1105849#tabs

If it matters, truck doesn't get used to tow anything of significance over any distance. Just rumbling around my place, and around town, etc.

Same question for hoses - any reasons to buy fancy heater hoses?

Current plan is to replace:

Radiator, hoses and clamps
Thermostat
Fan Clutch
Water pump