Heater hose removal

[alchemist]

So, there's a probably ripple effect to what I need to do but simply put, I need to flush my heater core. The damn heater core nipples are almost impossible to get at and pull the hoses off. So was thinking I might just replace both hoses. But one of them goes under the upper intake! So assuming you'd have to pull the upper, the only part I worry about is removing the throttle body linkage. There's a lot of plastic (brittle) connectors in there that could break. Is there a nice writeup on the forum for this procedure? Looks like throttle lever, transmission cable, and cruise control. My factory service manual doesn't have a specific procedure either.
Thanks for any help-

[VicCrownVic]

There shouldn't be any need to remove the upper intake, I know that I never had to remove the upper intake to replace those hoses.

If I remember right there is a metal tube that runs under the upper intake and one of the heater core hoses connects to that tube. There should be enough room to loosen the hose clamp and remove the hose. If that tube itself is leaking that would be the only reason I would remove the upper intake.
The other hose off of the heater core will either run all they way to the front of the engine if you don't have ATC or, if you have ATC (the fan control will have an "Auto" setting), it will run to the Thermal Blower Lockout switch (it has an electrical connection and 2 vacuum lines attached) then fro there another hose will run to the front of the engine.

If the hoses have been on there for an unknown number of years they can be pretty well stuck on. The first time I removed the hoses on my heater core on my 91 MGM it took quite a bit of effort but when I removed them again, about a year or so later, they were no where near as difficult to get off.

[gadget73]

It connects to the pipe just behind the upper intake. Bit of an SOB to access, but it can be done. Easier with the intake off if you're up for that. You probably need vacuum lines anyway if you've never had it off. There are 2 small rubber coolant lines under there that probably should be replaced too. Its 1/4" (or 5/16??) fuel hose to the EGR spacer.

[VicCrownVic]

The EGR coolant lines are 5/16", they would be good to replace as was mentioned. The other thing that is a common replacement while the upper intake is off is the PCV valve, grommet, and screen although the screen can put up a fight when you try to remove it.

Two of the bolts that secure the upper intake are under the Ford 5.0 plaque. That plaque is held on by 4 screws that require a torx driver. The bracket holding the throttle cable and TV cable is held on by two nuts which I always find a bit difficult to get at and usually, when I have done it, one of the studs unscrews instead of the nut unscrewing from the stud.
If you don't have the brass bushing for the TV cable the plastic/nylon bushing may get destroyed in the process of removing it.
Other than that it's a lot of removing vacuum lines, coolant lines, and a few electrical connectors and just keeping track of there they all go. Most of the time all of that stuff is so stiff it's easy to tell where it all goes when you try to put it back together.

[alchemist]

The EGR coolant lines are 5/16", they would be good to replace as was mentioned. The other thing that is a common replacement while the upper intake is off is the PCV valve, grommet, and screen although the screen can put up a fight when you try to remove it.

Two of the bolts that secure the upper intake are under the Ford 5.0 plaque. That plaque is held on by 4 screws that require a torx driver. The bracket holding the throttle cable and TV cable is held on by two nuts which I always find a bit difficult to get at and usually, when I have done it, one of the studs unscrews instead of the nut unscrewing from the stud.
If you don't have the brass bushing for the TV cable the plastic/nylon bushing may get destroyed in the process of removing it.
Other than that it's a lot of removing vacuum lines, coolant lines, and a few electrical connectors and just keeping track of there they all go. Most of the time all of that stuff is so stiff it's easy to tell where it all goes when you try to put it back together.

This was very helpful. So are you saying you take the whole bracket off the throttle body and that takes care of the TV cable, throttle cable and cruise cable?

[VicCrownVic]

What I did was disconnect the ends of the cables from the throttle lever and left them in them attached to the bracket then removed the bracket from the backside of the intake. I also have the brass TV bushing, so I didn't have to worry about destroying that in the process.

I don't remember if it was my 89 or my 91, but one of them had two large electrical connectors (salt and pepper shakers I think they are often referred to) that also attached to that bracket, I want to say that was the 89 that had them attached to the bracket. I think 90-91 they were moved to the firewall out of the way when it comes to removing the upper intake but I might have my years backward. It's just one more thing to remember to put back when re-assembling everything.

[alchemist]

Is it pretty simple to remove the cables from the TB? It looked like a bunch of weird plastic pieces that could break.

[VicCrownVic]

With all the plastic involved the possibility exists for things to break, but so far I have not had any issues with that happening.
The throttle cable and the cruise cable are both tied together by a plastic coupler that snaps onto a ball stud on the throttle lever, that's no big deal to snap on and off without any issue.
It's the TV cable that is the issue if you don't have the brass bushing because you have to worry about the peg that goes through the bushing breaking and it is very likely that you will not be able to use the old plastic/nylon bushing.

If you don't have one already you can get the brass bushing on Ebay. The following listing shows a good picture that I think is CV/MGM setup. The Ford part number, F3SZ-7H303-B, is also listed if you want to shop around to see if you can find it somewhere other than Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-AOD-transmission-kickdown-TV-cable-HD-grommet-clip-Mustang-PA-brass-ATX-/111593282913?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19fb7a5d61&vxp=mtr

Throttle and cruise cable assembly is on the right in the picture and TV cable is on the left. You can see the ball stud and plastic/nylon bushing.

[gadget73]

The throttle cable pulls straight down. Its just a ball stud. The other one pulls out if its a plastic bushing. The bushing will probably fall apart though. If you have a brass bushing, remove the small clip on top, then the cable drops out.