jimstix66
New Member
- Joined
- July 25, 2009
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Weymouth,MA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 98 XLT 5.0
Hi All,
I have a 98 Explorer, AWD, 5 litre with just shy of 220,000 miles on it. It had been slowly leaking coolant for some time. I'm not much of a mechanic so I just added a little here and there.
My daughter then started driving it most of the time and I showed her how to add it and told her to keep an eye on it. So a couple weeks ago she calls and tells me that it's needing coolant every day and she doesn't drive far.
I take it to my mechanic who tells me the radiator is spewing coolant and he can't find the leak until he replaces the radiator. Ok, sounds fair enough. Well he replaces the radiator and then calls and tells me the motor keeps overheating and that the engine must be junk.
I don't believe it so I get my cousin who's a pretty good 5.0 mechanic and we take a look at it. Long story short, the "new" radiator is bad. My mechanic replaces it and admits that was the problem. He thinks the leak is at the intake manifold and because of the mileage doesn't want to take it off. He's afraid the bolts sheer off then it's a nightmare.
While I'm ok with all that, since I've gotten the truck back the temp gauge barely makes it up to the C if even that. What's the deal? They replaced the thermostat when it was overheating so it shouldn't be that unless that "new" one was bad too or should it?
I did a site search and didn't see anything so I thought I'd throw this out there and see what people come up with. I'm towing a small pop up about 200 miles for a camping weekend and will be keeping a close eye on the gauge but I'm most perplexed.
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Jim Stanton
I have a 98 Explorer, AWD, 5 litre with just shy of 220,000 miles on it. It had been slowly leaking coolant for some time. I'm not much of a mechanic so I just added a little here and there.
My daughter then started driving it most of the time and I showed her how to add it and told her to keep an eye on it. So a couple weeks ago she calls and tells me that it's needing coolant every day and she doesn't drive far.
I take it to my mechanic who tells me the radiator is spewing coolant and he can't find the leak until he replaces the radiator. Ok, sounds fair enough. Well he replaces the radiator and then calls and tells me the motor keeps overheating and that the engine must be junk.
I don't believe it so I get my cousin who's a pretty good 5.0 mechanic and we take a look at it. Long story short, the "new" radiator is bad. My mechanic replaces it and admits that was the problem. He thinks the leak is at the intake manifold and because of the mileage doesn't want to take it off. He's afraid the bolts sheer off then it's a nightmare.
While I'm ok with all that, since I've gotten the truck back the temp gauge barely makes it up to the C if even that. What's the deal? They replaced the thermostat when it was overheating so it shouldn't be that unless that "new" one was bad too or should it?
I did a site search and didn't see anything so I thought I'd throw this out there and see what people come up with. I'm towing a small pop up about 200 miles for a camping weekend and will be keeping a close eye on the gauge but I'm most perplexed.
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Jim Stanton
