1993 - Please help, leaking coolant... w/pics

[Oskie_78]

Hello everyone, I need some advise here please. I have a 1993 explorer that is leaking coolant near the passengers side near the firewall. It sometimes even leaks inside on my passengers side floor mat too. I've tried looking under the truck, but I can really see anything. I'm thinking it's probably a bad hose or something. If anyone can point me in the right direction what to look for and where to look I would really appreciated. Thanks.

here or some pictures

 

[MrShorty]

That's would be the right area for a leaking heater core or the hoses going to the heater core or the bypass valve (if you have one).

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

i would put money on it that its just a split hose or a bad fitting.
good luck with your search!

 

[boogerinPHX]

Look under the dash for any leaking coolant; if there's some there it's probably the core. This can be time consuming and expensive to fix. Start with those two hoses in your picture. Are they greasy to the touch; do you see any cracks on the hoses or evidence of moisture(mud/grease) on the firewall below them? Inspect them and your radiator's upper and lower hoses from one end to the other. If you still don't see anything obvious; remember the actual leak isn't always directly above the puddle on the ground. Airflow from the fan can blow a leaking fluid around until it hits something else then drops to the ground. You should also look at the Radiator itself and the thermostat housing as well as the water pump and the engine block itself (cracks leaky gaskets etc.). Look at everything else first before you check/remove the heater core. The core can be a real pain in the bum because you might have to remove the dash first just to look at it. Good luck!

 

[Oskie_78]

So would I look for a bad hose from under the truck? I took a quick look yesterday but I couldn't see anything. Maybe I need to jack it up.

 

[DLinkOZ]

I would definitely look at the heater core. Different vehicle, but when it happened to me it drained out the firewall (there was actually a drain tube for it). Core is cheap and easy to replace (but can be time consuming).

 

[gmanpaint]

I don't see the bypass valve anywhere, but I do see someone has been working in that area previously. The hose clamp on the left in your pic going to the firewall, is not a stock clamp. Someone may have eliminated the bypass valve, causing coolant to constantly flow through the system (at least thats how I think it would work).

Did this start leaking after you ran your A/C for the first time of the year? Has it been running hot? Any smell of coolant leading up to this or just all of a sudden?

Hoses, and plastic tees/valves break with age. I would take the advise given to check them all first, then think about the heater core being bad. That is a very big time consuming job.

 

[Oskie_78]

Did this start leaking after you ran your A/C for the first time of the year? Has it been running hot? Any smell of coolant leading up to this or just all of a sudden?

exactly, I started smelling coolant from the a/c first for a couple months but, the a/c was still work and cooling. now it leaks on the passenger side floor mat and the a/c is not cooling anymore.... so what can cause this? bad heat core or hoses, clamps, etc.?.... btw, the truck has had lots of work before I bought it from my sister and ran great until now.




thanks for yalls inputs

 

[Oskie_78]

btw, heres a picture of my explorer... I hope can fix her, she's my fishing truck.

 

[gmanpaint]

If it is leaking on the inside of the cab, it can only be a couple of things wrong.

A bad hose at the outside firewall, causing the leak to run inside. Simple fix

A bad heater core. Either the core guts have croaked, or the hard lines from the core leading to the firewall heater hoses have burst. Hard fix