Can't figure out why I'm overheating..a few symptoms..

[LDelSanto86]

On Sunday my 2005 Explorer started overheating and I noticed the smell of burning coolant. I immediately pulled into a Walmart and noticed coolant dripping slowly..I popped the the hood and realized it was only slowly dropping because the reservoir was empty. I ran in, grabbed a bottle of leak stop and a bottle of coolant and filled it. It still overheats but when I blast the heat it's just enough to keep the Check Gauge light from turning on. When I first start up, the heat comes out cold for a few minutes. So some of the problems are;

-Obviously overheating
-Heat Blows out cold for a few minutes
-Leaking/Burning coolant from somewhere (the smoke was coming from the intake area which is scaring me..)
-shifting hard when overheating.



Anyone have any ideas? Please don't say head gasket! Haha thank you!

Edit: This is where the smoke was coming from..

 

[Number4]

Your text says '05, your details say '03. From the looks of the engine bay, I'd say it's an '03 2 door sport?

Just to clarify, not sure all the differences. But the Sport intake could be different than the 4 door, don't know.

Can you remove the '4.0 SOHC' cover? Might be the tstat housing is cracked.

Also, if you resize the picture to be 600 pixels at its widest, it'll be easier to see it on smart phones.

 

[LDelSanto86]

Your text says '05, your details say '03. From the looks of the engine bay, I'd say it's an '03 2 door sport?

Just to clarify, not sure all the differences. But the Sport intake could be different than the 4 door, don't know.

Can you remove the '4.0 SOHC' cover? Might be the tstat housing is cracked.

Also, if you resize the picture to be 600 pixels at its widest, it'll be easier to see it on smart phones.

I'm sorry, you're correct, my last vehicle was an '05 and it was early when I posted. Yes, '03 2 door Sport. I thought I read somewhere that a cracked tstat housing was somewhat common with these, is that true? I'll take the cover off
Before I leave work..if I can clearly see the housing and i run it for a few minutes, would I be able to clearly tell if the housing is the problem?


Sorry about the size, I'm on mobile myself..was having trouble!

 

[Number4]

See if you can download an app called: Crop-Size Image Tool. It's great for resizing then exporting back to your images. Doesn't overwrite the original.

If the tstat housing is leaking, you should be able to see where from.

 

[LDelSanto86]

See if you can download an app called: Crop-Size Image Tool. It's great for resizing then exporting back to your images. Doesn't overwrite the original.

If the tstat housing is leaking, you should be able to see where from.

Thanks for the tip! I scaled it down.


I popped the SOHC cover off, and I drove home from work (it's a relatively short drive) and it was running extremely hot. I was blasting the heat the entire way home, but it wasn't until about 2 minutes from my house that it actually started blowing out hot, before that it was cool. I popped the hood as soon as I pulled up and moved the throttle..I couldn't see any fluid or anything squirting out. Is that a bad sign? I mean, I know it's leaking, and I know it's burning, but I couldn't locate from where.

I read somewhere that if you pop the small hose off of the radiator, and put an air hose up to it and slowly pump air in, since it's a sealed system, you should be able to hear air escaping through wherever there is a hole..is that a bad idea, or is that something that may actually work?

 

[Number4]

It's low on antifreeze and the system has air in it, is most likely why you don't get heat forever.

Air compressor makes sense, just don't apply too much air I suppose.