97 Explorer * Idler Pulley * Loss of Serpentine Belt * Over heated * Anti-Freeze Leak

[cotoole]

Hello,

Had the misfortune of ignoring a squeaking of my Idler Pulley which resulted with the bearing freezing up / Belt popping off. Wife unit had to drive for about a mile before she could pull off the road. There was some antifreeze under the hood and it was not apparent where it came from. Had to have the vehicle towed home. It has been HOT here.

I replaced the Idler Pulley and Tensioner Pulley and put on a new belt this evening. Everything was fine until after I let it get hot then it started to leak antifreeze somewhere.... While test driving, I attempted to get HEAT (mind you it was 100F here today) to come out after running the A/C with no luck.

I obviously have a leak somewhere after the thermostat pops. Has anyone had a similar problem and where did you begin to probe? Can anyone reference some documentation on coolant system?

Thanks, Chris

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

If the thermostat pops open and you have a leak... thermostat gasket? Just gonna have to look for it I guess. I'd replace the thermostat and thermostat gasket, after that I'd do hoses, if that fails then water pump. But pressurize the system if you can, see if you can force a leak.

 

[cotoole]

Appreciate the feedback.. I do not have a pressure tester so I decided to go ahead and replace the thermostat. Excellent Forum here for replacing the Thermostat as well as the housing at

http://bengrosser.com/howto/fordthermostat/

After getting the top off and removing the Thermostat...

I got to see a nice size HOLE in the lower thermostat unit.

Hard Lesson Learned... REPLACE the IDLER Puller and Tensioner SOONER than Later... Now I get to join the club that replaces the Thermostat Unit.

Excellent information on this Forum!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the stock 95-01 section.

 

[cotoole]

As a one of my college professors use to say.. Through pain, comes learning.. I thought he was a Richard Cranium back then too..... But I learned alot.

I have finally got the Explorer back online and running..

I greatly appreciate all the help on the Forums. The 97 Explorer is a little different and I had to do a few different things to expose the Thermostat housing.

As with most catastrophes, mine started with ignoring the Idler Pulley squeak. Then ignoring the bearing rumble... The bearing finally froze up and it unscrewed the entire Idler Pulley. I was fortunate that it fell into an area that collected the belt, pulley and the bolt was still on the pulley. It could have been on the road we were driving on and gone.. We had no choice but to drive a bite before getting to a place we could pull over. The heat melted a hole in the the lower section of the thermostat assembly. This was NOT revealed until after I got a new Idler Pulley, Tension-er and belt. Was happy to have it run but then Antifreeze spewed from the hole after the thermostat popped.

I ordered the part and it took 4 days to get one in.. Apparently there is a back order on these in the Raleigh NC area.

Follow the directions that were posted for the 96 replacement.

Remove the air intake
Remove the Throttle Body,
Remove the line going to the alternator (disconnect the battery)
<sigh.. Through pain.. comes learning> Remove the Belt / Idler Pulley.
Remove the bolt holding the top radiator line in place..
Remove the top radiator line.
Remove the top of the housing
Remove the line going to the heater
Remove the line on the bottom going to the water pump (that little guy)
Remove the connectors to the sensors.
NOW.. There is ONE line going across the the assembly down to a sensor
on the fly wheel.. This was difficult to find the places where the plastic
fasteners hold that line. Take the time to follow it and get it out of the
way. I wasted a good hour trying to work around it.

With all this stuff out of your way you can get access to the 3 bolts holding
the assembly.


There is not much room to move anything in there.. I replaced the small hose going from the water pump to the assembly.. This looked like the absolute worst one to try to replace in the winter.

Good luck... This was NOT easy but is doable.. Worst mistake was not getting that line going to the fly wheel OUT of the way.

Good Luck!