05 dumped coolant

[atracnitrix]

The rig in question is an 05 Explorer with a 4.6 and ~180k miles on it. I have been losing coolant at a pretty slow rate and it has never been a huge concern for me. However, after letting it sit for about 4 days since I was on vacation, I came back to it and there was a puddle of coolant underneath the engine about the size of a large pizza box. The coolant had some oil in it but the engine bay is pretty dirty. Ambient temps while I was gone ranged from 45-80F. The explorer didn't overheat and ran just fine coming back from the airport. Gauges we're all normal.

What would cause the sudden loss of all this fluid at once? Thanks in advance for the words.

 

[scott9050]

Do a pressure test and it should become obvious in seconds. Mine did this a dew weeks ago, turns out my thermostat housing was split but I have the 6.

 

[lincolnshibuya]

The rig in question is an 05 Explorer with a 4.6 and ~180k miles on it. I have been losing coolant at a pretty slow rate and it has never been a huge concern for me. However, after letting it sit for about 4 days since I was on vacation, I came back to it and there was a puddle of coolant underneath the engine about the size of a large pizza box. The coolant had some oil in it but the engine bay is pretty dirty. Ambient temps while I was gone ranged from 45-80F. The explorer didn't overheat and ran just fine coming back from the airport. Gauges we're all normal.

What would cause the sudden loss of all this fluid at once? Thanks in advance for the words.

is your intake manifold original or when was it replaced? the 4.6v8 is notorious for coolant leaks in the intake manifold.

 

[atracnitrix]

Do a pressure test and it should become obvious in seconds. Mine did this a dew weeks ago, turns out my thermostat housing was split but I have the 6.

I'll have to do that this weekend. Thanks.

 

[atracnitrix]

is your intake manifold original or when was it replaced? the 4.6v8 is notorious for coolant leaks in the intake manifold.

It's the original. What exactly goes wrong on them?

 

[IIGood]

It's the original. What exactly goes wrong on them?

If they're anything like the intake manifolds for the 4.6L in the Mustang, they're made of plastic. On the first iterations of the Mustang's 4.6L, it was all plastic...and this plastic was prone to cracking at the crossover where the thermostat sits. Sometime around 2001 (I think?), Ford upgraded the intake manifold slightly to make the crossover out of aluminum. While this improved design stemmed the cracking issue a great deal, it still wasn't bulletproof. The intake manifold on my 2003 GT (4.6L, with the aluminum crossover) split right where the plastic meets the aluminum.

Sooo...yeah, there's that.

 

[rocco123]

Don't know how to post it, but I made a small video on my youtube page explaining exactly where the intake crossover leaks.
Basically there is a channel where an o ring sits and the plastic channel of the assembly crumbles the o ring will never stay in place and it leaks.

 

[rocco123]