2004 Explorer 4.0 V6 COOLANT LEAK HELP

[ziob]

hi all,
have an 04 explorer 4.0 v6 thats been sucking coolant from the reservoir. can't find any stains or obvious leaks....no puddles under car...no bad hoses, nothing on thermostat housing basically clean as a whistle not even a little wet anywhere. Mechanic shop did pressure test, cylinder test checked plugs nothing in oil that would mean bad head gasket. Any ideas on anything else to check? not even a decent smoke or smell from exhaust its going somewhere but nobody can figure it out.

any ideas?

Also has anyone used some sort of stop leak that is good enough but won't clog the crap out of everything.....i remember they made a bronze powder that worked and wasn't that silicate stuff that gums up everything.

 

[Exproblems]

hi all,
have an 04 explorer 4.0 v6 thats been sucking coolant from the reservoir. can't find any stains or obvious leaks....no puddles under car...no bad hoses, nothing on thermostat housing basically clean as a whistle not even a little wet anywhere.
any ideas?


thing.

I've got a similar issue going on with my Explorer, losing a little coolant every few weeks or so and finding nothing on the ground or steam rising up when cold outside. I looked towards the back and base of the lower thermostat housing on the top of the intake manifold and saw some "greenish crud" laying on the manifold. The edge line at the base of the lower t-stat housing was dry to the touch, but this is where I suspect it is leaking from. It is a very slow leak and the greenish crud appears to be dried up antifreeze. I took a picture of it with my camera so I could zoom in on the picture to see what it was and if I can figure out how to post the picture up here using "photobucket".com I will, and you can compare it to your vehicle.

 

[Adam Black]

Just because there is no oil in your coolant, it doesn't mean the head gasket is good. When you do a compression test, see if any bubbles are coming out of the radiator.

 

[Exproblems]

When you do a compression test, see if any bubbles are coming out of the radiator.

Do you mean to say, do you see any bubbles rising up in the "Expansion tank"?

 

[theluke19]

I've got a similar issue going on with my Explorer, losing a little coolant every few weeks or so and finding nothing on the ground or steam rising up when cold outside. I looked towards the back and base of the lower thermostat housing on the top of the intake manifold and saw some "greenish crud" laying on the manifold. The edge line at the base of the lower t-stat housing was dry to the touch, but this is where I suspect it is leaking from. It is a very slow leak and the greenish crud appears to be dried up antifreeze. I took a picture of it with my camera so I could zoom in on the picture to see what it was and if I can figure out how to post the picture up here using "photobucket".com I will, and you can compare it to your vehicle.

Had the same issue with mine just recently - Didn't really have much leaking below the vehicle, because the coolant would burn off on the engine before hitting the ground.

View from above engine bay - down onto the top of the thermostat housing:

This is a shot of the seal that was no longer a seal.

 

[Exproblems]

hi all,
have an 04 explorer 4.0 v6 thats been sucking coolant from the reservoir. can't find any stains or obvious leaks.....

Here goes nothing on the photo insert, hope it works. Edit: I managed to insert the link to the picture, but not the photo itself into the post.




http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w618/rocket1015/bth_010_zps23abfff2.jpg

 

[Exproblems]

Had the same issue with mine just recently - Didn't really have much leaking below the vehicle, because the coolant would burn off on the engine before hitting the ground.

]

So your leak was from the lower t-stat housing?

 

[ziob]

my thermostat housing is fine no crud, nothing clean as a whistle....they did a pressure test no bubbles in reservoir....plugs were fine not discolored at all from burning up coolant...they even did the exhaust test with the fluids and it didn't change color so nothing obvious on any of these tests....any other ideas? can't find even the tiniest leak or evidence of one anywhere not even a stain.

 

[ziob]

anyone ever use any of the new bars head gasket fix or bars gasket and coolant sealing products? hesitant as i've heard they usually don't work or gum up your coolant system making the problem worse....in my case we can't identify the problem unless we do exploratory surgery so i'm contemplating dumping some in to see what happens? any thoughts.....wife drove it for 3 days to and from work probably max 200 miles run time 40 minutes and 45 miles mostly highway each way and it ate up almost 1/3 gallon.

 

[esclamada]

I used ford's stop leak pellets, it's only available at the dealership or online (ebay) Mine is a 4.6L and the intake manifold was leaking inside the valley of the engine and goes to the back down the transmission bell housing. After putting the pellets the leak stop but I know that the intake manifold needs to be replaced soon, so it's a temp fix.

I suggest putting the leak pellets, run it for a day or 2 and then drain the coolant after and put in new coolant. IMO the excess pellets are not good for the cooling system.

Here's a picture of that product;
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...39010486.10799.110528882348605&type=1&theater


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[Exproblems]

anyone ever use any of the new bars head gasket fix or bars gasket and coolant sealing products? hesitant as i've heard they usually don't work or gum up your coolant system making the problem worse....in my case we can't identify the problem unless we do exploratory surgery so i'm contemplating dumping some in to see what happens? any thoughts.....wife drove it for 3 days to and from work probably max 200 miles run time 40 minutes and 45 miles mostly highway each way and it ate up almost 1/3 gallon.

I know of a product called "Bars Stop Leak", they make a version for radiator leaks and they have a bigger bottle of it for Head Gasket Leaks. I've seen it mentioned before on the TV show "2GuysGarage" and they recommended using the product for older, high mileage vehicles. They could've just been promoting the product because of the advertising on the show, but they did say it works and was a good product. Who knows? It's a decision you will have to make for yourself if you decide to try it.

 

[ziob]

i might try adding a small amount at a time of bars head gasket fix i don't wnat to dump a whole bottle in and gum up the system completely but maybe a little bit at a time to see what happens.....any ideas? i mean what do i have to lose if its an internal small head gasket, intake , cracked head etc. leak the worst case is it does nothing and they have to tear it down anyway right? its irritating because there are no obvious signs of where the leak is either visual, or from mechanic pressure and other tests.

 

[esclamada]

I've tried bars leak before with my 89 Sable and 97 Taurus, they worked great except that it leaves a rusty residue on your reservoir tank (makes your coolant brown) while the Ford pellets doesn't (it's a hairline crack on the radiator and it gave me time until I have the time to replace it). There's definitely a leak, a sealed cooling system doesn't lose coolant at that rate you mentioned. Have another mechanic/shop pressure test it before putting any stop leak product. I suspect that the shop/mechanic you dealt with is not competent enough to do the test.



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[ziob]

went through 2 mechanics 2 different stations know them both and both are competent....basically all the tests didn't show obvious signs of what it was so the next point was either keeping adding antifreeze and run it until it really shows itself or open it up for exploratory surgery.

 

[esclamada]

it's hard to find mechanics nowadays that would take time to investigate further, majority of them (especially the dealers) just throw parts at it at your expense. A 3rd one or just do it yourself is better ..

http://www.harborfreight.com/radiator-pressure-tester-kit-65053.html


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[ziob]

i'll think about it...i was there when a friend did it and the system stayed pressureized and with the cylinder tests no bubbles back into the reservoir.....completely stumped.