Coolant leak from bottom of engine, need location ID help

[squd92expsp]

hey everyone. I just spent a couple months fixing a bunch of stuff on my explorer just to have this new thing pop up that has stumped me. When I backed into the parkingspot at home this afternoon, I noticed a stream of coolant falling underneath the engine bay. Looking in from the wheelwell and crawling underneath, I found where the leak is coming from, but I'm not sure what that from is. On the block, there are large round indents on either side. I couldn't get my camera in to take a picture of the one that's leaking, but I did get a shot of the one next to it. I circled it in the picture and drew an arrow to the bad one.

The bad one is inbetween cylandars 4 and 5. I was hoping someone here might know what these indentations are. The one that's leaking is rusted out really bad and kinda popped out. If someone knows what they are, are they replaceable? Fixable? Something an advanced DIY person could do or something a professional mechanic with specialized tools would have to do? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Masterd]

Freeze Plug?

 

[squd92expsp]

Thanks.

It's a lot easier to find info on something once you know what it's called. I've now searched around for freeze plug, and it is what that is. Now to just keep searching till I find how to replace it.

 

[jrsweger]

Clean out the old one and tap a new one into place.

 

[biggs92EB]

well you are lucky its that one, i have one leaking inside of my bell housing. They just pull out, but can be a pain, just make sure you dont knock it inside of your block. The way i did it is i drilled a hole into the plug, screwed a self tapping bolt into the hole, then put the vice grips on the bolt and yanked it out, the new one is easy, put a little anti sieze around it and tap it in with a socket that is about as big as the plug.