Coolant disappearing, where's it coming from though...

[Afrojoe]

So I've know that I had a few minor leaks since I got my Explorer last year. I just recently replaced my valve cover gaskets and cleaned up that minor oil leak. Now I have a coolant leak that seems to be getting worse. I had thought it was this hose here

This is on the bottom driver side of the radiator and runs up to the water pump I believe. But tonight i looked under the vehicle to see if it was leaking and I find this.

The pulley picture is the crankshaft (I think, it's the lowest center) as you can see it has a ring of wetness around it along with wet oil and gunk? And above it you can see that there is rust/residue aswell. That would be the bottom of the water pump correct? Would this indicate a leaking water pump? Any ideas what it is or what to check? Water pumps are cheap so I'm not worried about replacing it. I just didn't want to yet unless it was needed. Coolant drips down that hose in the first picture and also end up in other regions like this trans line.

Side note, what's that brown oily type gunk? I'd like to avoid changing that oil pan gasket at all costs lol. But if that needs to be done to I'd like to know. Thanks guys. You're always really helpful.

 

[96eb96]

Coolant looks like its from the waterpump seal.
Also the last pic could be the front main crank seal weeping (or maybe the pan a tiny bit too). Mine wept a bit too, but with Pennzoil platnium 5w30 High mileage it seemed to have stopped.

I think you have the OHV, I replaced my WP many years ago. It had play in the shaft, maybe check for that.

 

[J_C]

Yeah at this age I'd just go ahead and replace the water pump if it hasn't been done in recent years or thousands of mi., unless you see coolant higher up like maybe the thermostat housing is cracked. You can go to some trouble instead to cover electrical items then rinse coolant residue off, then blow standing water away with compressed air or even a leaf blower, get it completely dry then watch for new leakage with it idling in the driveway, but if there's a lot of coolant around the water pump then I'd just make an assumption.

 

[Afrojoe]

I do have the OHV. I've owned her for about 12,000 miles but other than that I have no idea how old the pump is. I do get some pulley noise from that vicinity at times so I think I'll go ahead and plan to replace the water pump my next off day. I replaced the thermostat back at the beginning (had a blown head gasket when I bought it). Oh and 96eb96, I'm using 5w30 Castrol Full Synthetic right now. Not sure if I got high mileage last time I changed it or not but I'll look into changing oils and seeing how it does. If anything I'll clean the gunk off and keep an eye out for how it returns. Thanks guys. I was just looking for confirmation and seems I got it. I love the community here. People are always on looking to help others.

 

[J_C]

If you're not low on oil by a quart between changes, I'd just stick with the syn 5W30 you're already using, or top off what's missing with high mileage oil. With only minor loss you're probably better off not having the high mi oil swell the other seals that don't need it yet.

 

[96eb96]

I do have the OHV. I've owned her for about 12,000 miles but other than that I have no idea how old the pump is. I do get some pulley noise from that vicinity at times so I think I'll go ahead and plan to replace the water pump my next off day. I replaced the thermostat back at the beginning (had a blown head gasket when I bought it). Oh and 96eb96, I'm using 5w30 Castrol Full Synthetic right now. Not sure if I got high mileage last time I changed it or not but I'll look into changing oils and seeing how it does. If anything I'll clean the gunk off and keep an eye out for how it returns. Thanks guys. I was just looking for confirmation and seems I got it. I love the community here. People are always on looking to help others.

replace the idler and maybe the tensioner pulley too. they are a common failure point. that could be the noise.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Quickest way to check your idlers/tensioners is get on the "open side" opposite the belt, and rock them back and forth, every time on the Fords we own we have a noise, and there's play in either, I replace it, and it almost always goes away, Chrisfix has a good video about diagnosing a squeak, worth the watch.

 

[96eb96]

Quickest way to check your idlers/tensioners is get on the "open side" opposite the belt, and rock them back and forth, every time on the Fords we own we have a noise, and there's play in either, I replace it, and it almost always goes away, Chrisfix has a good video about diagnosing a squeak, worth the watch.

The OHVs have pulleys that self destruct without much warning. Was a thing many years back on the forum.

 

[Afrojoe]

I already pulled and replaced my water pump yesterday. Painted the new one ford blue (except for the inside and other contact areas lol). Put it on and let the RTV harden overnight. Filled her with tap water this morning to take the lady to work. Hooked up my obd2 and opened up torque pro on my phone. My X took forever to warm up (longer than it use to at least) and then it'd go down to like 180 at times and others up to 200 which was worrisome because I could have swore she always ran at 194 flat with the old pump. (What's your OHV run at?) Dropped her off and on the way home it's doing good and stay at 188-197 until it slowly creeps up to 200 and then suddenly 240. So I turn the car off while it's rolling (I've got the 5r55e) and put her in neutral. Only I put it in park, the parking prowl ratchets and I think I just blew a belt until I look down at my gauges and I'm in park so I quickly shift to neutral and roll into a local restaurant parking lot. I get out to look and there doesn't seem to be any leaking other than steam from the radiator cap. So I let her cool down and drive her home. Doesn't overheat again. Reaches like 202 at one point and went back down again. Soooooo. I'm thinking I'll replace the thermostat because I don't know what else it'd be and I'll run some radiator flush through the coolant system. Hopefully the parking prowl didn't mess up my transmission. I'm worried about it but she drove all the way home and shifted from 1st-2nd fine so let's hope. Thoughts and opinions appreciated. How worried should I be aboutilized blown heads and transmission issues, which are my deepest worries? Edit: Also the old water pump had an audible turning of the pump so I'm sure that's a source of some noise. Currently I'm to worried about problems so everything sounds bad. "Is that a new noise?!" "What's broken?"

 

[Afrojoe]

TLDR Version: Car hot 240 degrees, turned off car and put in park while moving then into neutral, cooled down, drove home fine, worried about heads and transmission.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Might've been air in the system, that's sorta what it sounds like, did the level in the radiator go down?

 

[Afrojoe]

I'm about to go check I've been letting her cool down. I've been waiting by looking at 302s. I wanna drop one in if there's every anymore major problems with the ohv, but then again that's a lot of work.

 

[Afrojoe]

Well there's I district tractor sound now. So I'd guess there's a vacuum leak? Unless running to 240 changed my overlap and cammed me out lol. I dunno. I think I'll just have to drive her and see what happens. One thing at a time I guess.

 

[96eb96]

Mine seems to run in the low to mid 180s. I have a motorcraft stat with a newer radiator.
Ohvs can trap air. Even the owners manual says coolant may drop up to 7500 miles after a service.

How old is your Tstat? Don't forget about running the heater, we have a heater control valve.
If in doubt get rent a coolant tester from a parts store.

 

[Afrojoe]

My thermostat is about a year old. Roughly 13,000 miles. I replaced it when I bought the truck and replaced the head gasket. I'm thinking it's not a state issue because water is still coming through and I wanna say I bought a stant thermostat so if anything it should be stuck open. I added another half gallon and partially filled the reservoir. Thoughts on the tractor idle? Torque pro says I have 26 in/hg at idle. Is that reliable info, I couldn't really tell you, but it's supposed to go off sensors already in the car. I'm not sure the oem pressures so I have no idea if that's low. I think I'll drive her out to get radiator flush and see how she does.

 

[Afrojoe]

Well it for fine all the way there and back. Got close to 200 once when I did a fairly quick 10-50 but that was it. Trans shifted fine. Still sounds a little off but that could be because the radio was off lol. I've got a bottle of Peak "Super Flush" I'll run that through it the next day or so and I'll see how it all works out. Guess the 302 will have to wait *wink wink*. (Although I'd really rather buy an older mustang and 302 or something to make a mad max style vehicle I could ride hard and put wet)

 

[96eb96]

Download an app called Forscan, it is much better than torque for our cars.
Monitor BARO, IAC %, EGR, and misfire counts,

 

[Afrojoe]

I'll try it out. I know Torque doea misfires and can even tell you the cylinder because I have a interment misfire on cylinder 1. It's usually only once and I never even feel it. Very rarely cylinder 3 will misfire. Thanks for the tip. Right now I'm changing power steering fluid and trying to find my fuel pump fuse so I can change my fuel filter.

 

[96eb96]

I'll try it out. I know Torque doea misfires and can even tell you the cylinder because I have a interment misfire on cylinder 1. It's usually only once and I never even feel it. Very rarely cylinder 3 will misfire. Thanks for the tip. Right now I'm changing power steering fluid and trying to find my fuel pump fuse so I can change my fuel filter.

Forscan has every pid that the dealer has. I can show a dashboard full of transmission info if I want. A must have. You can check things like ABS wheel speed and turn your wipers on.

Next thing is compression and leakdown tests.... but basics like fuel trim and all the pids must be in spec.

 

[Afrojoe]

Alright guys. Forscan demo downloaded. Super Cleaner+Flush with distilled water added. Antifreeze and more distilled set aside for future use. Power steering freshened up. Fuel filter replaced. Car still runs. No fires. So far water pump is doing good and no more overheating has happened. Trans hasn't exploded. I think any major catastrophe has passed me by so that makes it all good. Got some decent preventive/tune up work done this set of off days. Now to find something to work onow next week. Maybe extending axle and transmission breathers.