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Antifreeze disappearing....

luvmyjaithyn

New Member
Joined
April 12, 2010
Messages
8
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City, State
Portsmouth, VA
Year, Model & Trim Level
1992 Eddie B
Hello!

I must start with the fact that I know nothing about repairing trucks except what I've had done to my 92 Explorer (EB).

The problem I keep having is that the antifreeze is not leaking on the ground, the thermostat was changed, heater core changed, new radiator, pressure tested, new radiator cap....yet no one seems to know where the antifreeze is going. I have to put a whole container of 50/50 in there at least every 3 days or my temp gauge starts to go nuts. She drives well, but the symptons I have at the current time:

Heat goes in and out and blend door seems to be stuck (the lever does easily go from cold/hot).

Oil is spraying (just a little) out of my 2nd spark plug hole from the right side. **Poss due to me topping off the oil when apparently it was not needed.

Poss valve stem leak....poss head gasket issue (no one seems to be able to exactly tell me, but they are quick to quote me a price :( )

She was having an start up issue but that was resolved with fuel injection cleaner and a new oil change. But she does blow white smoke/steam upon startups. It goes away after I start driving but it will stay if she sits there warming up.

Please let me know what you think. I'm not opposed to having the head gasket done. I love this truck. She drives great and I'm attached. The only things I had to get repaired is minor maintenance or stuff that some previous mechanic did a rush job on.

Thanks in advance for any help!! :)
 



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possibly u blew the head gasket or the lower intake manifold is leaking.
 


















I have the exact same problem with mine. After searching all over this forum I'm fairly confident that it's the head. From everything I read on here the heads on these are notorious for developing small cracks and then burning off the excess antifreeze (which is why despite all you're adding you won't see much turn up in your oil).

If you want to verify, grab a baby food jar and take a sample of oil when you do your next oil change. Take it to a big truck stop shop & they can do an oil analysis for $15. If there's antifreeze in it then bingo - head or head gasket. Beyond that I'm not sure how to narrow down if it's the head or the gasket. A compression test on the cylinders can narrow it down to one side maybe.

My advice? Just keep adding antifreeze, save some money for new heads, and run it till she blows. All that'll happen is coolant all over the engine and you won't have enough compression to get it going again. Unless you would rather put work into this one, then try a shop. But you may have to pay for a head gasket and new heads if you go in....I think it'd be cheaper to pick up a used engine & freshen it up while you wait for yours to go...If you have the means and time.
 






When the vehicle is warm, place your hand in front of the exhaust tailpipe. Does water condense on your hand? If so, your coolant is entering a cylinder or two.

Another way to do this is to remove one spark plug at a time and start your vehicle. If water or steam comes out of the spark plug hole...........you got a problem.
 






i wish someone had told me this. im doin my cylinder head this weekend. his symptoms were just like mine. also check under the oil cap. there might be some sludge. i had light green sludge. looked like gelly
 






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