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Coolant leak.

jimpierce

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August 8, 2011
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City, State
Mountain View Ca.
Year, Model & Trim Level
94 ford aerostar
last week I saw a sludge trail out from under my van. '94 Aerostar with the 4.0 v6.
I started the van and all checked ok. I figured somebody spilled something.
Nope. My radiator water has always been clean so the brown sludge threw me off.
I'm leaking pretty good. Leak is from the front of the engine, it seams.
My first thought was water pump. Not sure but I don't think that's it.
From what I can see (which isn't much threw all the hoopla) the leak seems to be coming from behind or under the mounting bracket for the AC and power steering pumps.
Any ideas?
 



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and for my next question.............

the problem is the intake manifold. It has sprung a leak. Gasket I'm guessing.

How hard is this to replace. I've never done it to a van or fuel injection before.


anybody ever used this? Blue Devil.



 






That's a fairly hard repair job, to replace the upper intake manifold gasket. Here's what I'd do. I actually did this to my previous Aerostar.
Get the Bar's Leak copper liquid and pour it in according to the directions. You don't need to flush out the antifreeze.
After leak has stopped, make sure you have 60/40 mixture antifreeze to water and remove the BOTTOM gasket from your radiator cap......NOT the gasket in the top of the cap.
This will keep your system Un-pressurized and most times leaks will stop for good.This also prevents blowing hoses and expansion plugs.
BUT, you MUST KEEP 60/40 ratio in there to prevent boilover. This works for me.
At 100K miles I routinely remove the pressure seal from all my vehicles.
I never blow hoses or gaskets when using this method.
At present, my Lincoln LS,2005 Mustang convertible, 4.0 Aerostar van and F-250 w/460 c.i. engine all have UN-pressurized systems.
P.S.......Make sure your hose to the expansion tank is good and doesn't suck air.don-ohio :)^)
 












the yellow arrow is right on where the leak is. I posted the pic with out the arrow too.


I am familiar with Bars. I like the no pressure idea. That doesn't effect a smog check would it? hmm. Won't matter any way, if I go that route I will stick with my plan of a new (used) van next February. I'll make sure of which seal you call "bottom" lol I would guess the one that sets on the throat with the spring behind it?






 












That picture doesn't quite show the scene. But, I am starting to think it may not even be just a gasket. When I start the engine and watch the spot, it seems to fizzle up just below the rubber tit from a gasket. I'm going to try and get a better picture of the spot. My soon to be nephew in law will be here Sunday so I can get a second set of eyes on it.
 












Did you pressure test the system as previously suggested?

I have not been able to do that. As soon as this damn cold passes I will actually go get more hands on. It takes it a minute to leak as well, after the engine starts.
 






I'm happy, I think, that it is a gasket leak. With the engine cold I pulled the radiator cap while watching the area of the leak and saw the water run out from under the little gasket tit.
But, being a wild and crazy kind of guy, I pressure tested it (shade tree style) and sure enough, it is coming out of the gasket area. If you look carefully at the above photo you can see the little gasket tit I'm talking about.
Now I have to decide if I want to tackle the job or not. I'm not seeing much out there in my price range that can come close to doing what my Aerostar does as a work truck. GAH!
 






Try what I said unless you really want to replace that gasket.Mine leaked right there too. The gasket you remove is the smaller one,not the big one up inside the lid.
Make SURE you have a 60/40 antifreeze to water ratio or it'll boil. don-ohio :)^)
 






Try what I said unless you really want to replace that gasket.Mine leaked right there too. The gasket you remove is the smaller one,not the big one up inside the lid.
Make SURE you have a 60/40 antifreeze to water ratio or it'll boil. don-ohio :)^)

I just added the Bars Leaks





stopped the leak right now. I'll get the antifreeze and pull the gasket tomorrow. As long as the radiator doesn't boil off, sounds good! New cap is only $10 any way.
 






I have the seal on the cap pulled. I'm going to run it a few days before I drain it and add the antifreeze mix. It is as hot as it gets where I live now so if its going to have a problem, I'll find it. lol
 






Hope she's fixed for now. I ran mine many miles after I did this. don-ohio
 












How many miles are on it? My first van had cooling issues. Ran great all winter and spring but the first warm day here in phoenix it would boil over. I went from may to august with the heater on nursing it.
 






Well,if Iwere inPhoenix AZ I would probably run a 15 lb. pressure cap AND 60/40 antifreeze to water mix. Really hot there in summer. don-ohio
 






How many miles are on it? My first van had cooling issues. Ran great all winter and spring but the first warm day here in phoenix it would boil over. I went from may to august with the heater on nursing it.

107k miles. The only time mine has run hot was when the thermostat went out. Replacing that was quite a task. lol
 






A friend of mine made a suggestion, that instead of pulling the rubber seal off the OEM radiator cap (which I already had done) use a 7lb cap instead.

So I did. For a day. I got the cap yesterday and went to Walmart to get my coolant and distilled water today to get it all squared away.

When I got back to my shop, I noticed a small puddle under the van. WTH??

It had started leaking again, slightly. The 7lb cap is now for back up or after I have the gasket replaced. lol
 



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