Coolant leak...

[medievil]

Any thoughts??
94 explorer 4.0l
I have a coolant leak on the passenger side just to the left of the Thermostat housing and under the Alt/tensioner pully bracket at what seems to be a seam..
It is not a simple drip, drip leak.. it streams out if the engine is running.
There is no water in the oil...

 

[boggs1227]

could be many things ...

corroided radiator hose tube ( the metal one )
bad hose
cracked lower intake
lower intake gasket failure ( but this really only occurs on the drivers side)
cracked pump houseing or the pump is shooting coolant out the weep hole
blown out the gasket/o-ring for the thermo-stat

 

[medievil]

could be many things ...

corroided radiator hose tube ( the metal one )
bad hose
cracked lower intake
lower intake gasket failure ( but this really only occurs on the drivers side)
cracked pump houseing or the pump is shooting coolant out the weep hole
blown out the gasket/o-ring for the thermo-stat

Well it is to the left of the thermostat housing and above the water pump. just sitting, engine off, I can see it slowly seep in what looks like a welded seam under the valve cover but to the right. I dunno if there is a gasket there so could be a crack I suppose

 

[medievil]

I've actually came to the conclusion it is probably the intake manifold gasket, just dread getting it fixed...money is tight right now

 

[boggs1227]

are your sure it's not the stat o-ring that gave way ....really simple to fix and replace part ...i would go that route before takeing the top half of the motor apart

any pics of the area that you see coolant ?

 

[medievil]

are your sure it's not the stat o-ring that gave way ....really simple to fix and replace part ...i would go that route before takeing the top half of the motor apart

any pics of the area that you see coolant ?

Nope, no pics, been looking for a close up pic of the area, but pictures of that motor are hard to find on the net...

I will check the thermostat o-ring tomorrow just in case, but considering where the thermostat is and where the leak is seeping from, I just dunno how it could be...

It is leaking just under the valve cover(just to the right of it not from the cover itself) on the passenger side in front along what looks like a seam or weld

 

[boggs1227]

this side of the valve cover ?

if so it may be a cracked lower intake or gasket ( have talked to someone on here that had a cracked intake before )

 

[medievil]

yup, that side...thats why I was leaning toward the gasket... it's not leaking internally, nothing in the oil. there is a seam right at the edge of the cover that goes down about 1 1/2 inch's, at the very top you can see seepage run down

 

[boggs1227]

yeah sounds like that maybe the back water jacket may have gave loose and the coolant is somehow going forward or that the gasket on the side of the lower intake is where the gasket failed ....would not surprise me that the back water jacket does not have a bolt on the other side of it like the front of the intake that always develops a leak and gasket replacement ....thanks ford


eehhh' look at it this way ...soon you'll have a new intake gasket that won't need replaceing for another 100k+ more miles

 

[medievil]

yeah sounds like that maybe the back water jacket may have gave loose and the coolant is somehow going forward or that the gasket on the side of the lower intake is where the gasket failed ....would not surprise me that the back water jacket does not have a bolt on the other side of it like the front of the intake that always develops a leak and gasket replacement ....thanks ford


eehhh' look at it this way ...soon you'll have a new intake gasket that won't need replaceing for another 100k+ more miles

Got to a position (Moved hoses) where I can actually see where it is leaking when running this morning..
Just to the right of the Valve cover and to the left of where the Heater hose attaches, actually just behind the Alt mount in the picture above...

not just leaking either... spraying in that little corner...has to be that seal that goes down the seam right there...

 

[doonze]

this side of the valve cover ?

if so it may be a cracked lower intake or gasket ( have talked to someone on here that had a cracked intake before )

You know an engine that clean on anything NOT on a showroom lot is SICK right?

Your making the rest of us look bad..

That's just not right....

:

 

[Maniak]

Got to a position (Moved hoses) where I can actually see where it is leaking when running this morning..
Just to the right of the Valve cover and to the left of where the Heater hose attaches, actually just behind the Alt mount in the picture above...

not just leaking either... spraying in that little corner...has to be that seal that goes down the seam right there...

Sounds like your describing the lower intake manifold gasket/seam. If its coming from either of the white arrows on this pic, its the lower intake manifold gasket that needs to be replaced. Most likely, re-torquing(sp?) them won't work.

 

[medievil]

Sounds like your describing the lower intake manifold gasket/seam. If its coming from either of the white arrows on this pic, its the lower intake manifold gasket that needs to be replaced. Most likely, re-torquing(sp?) them won't work.

yup, thats it exactly!! what all has to come off to get to it??.. prolly not going to tackle it myself, but just want a frame a reference

 

[boggs1227]

You know an engine that clean on anything NOT on a showroom lot is SICK right?

Your making the rest of us look bad..

That's just not right....

:

lol thanks ! maybe i do keep it a little to clean ,now i like maniak's engine and the custom paint work and detail he put into his 4.0 ...nice


medievil... if you look at maniak's engine sitting on the stand basiclly you got to remove the yellow intake,blue fuel rail and the green intake plenum and of course all the wires /harness's/sensors that are attached to the 3 big main items you need you remove to do the repair.

not really a hard job to do ...last time i took the engine down to the lower intake ( not removeing the lower intake) ...with all the correct stuff to work with in front of me i can do it in about 45 min.....maybe a hour to remove it all the way down to the lower intake it's self .

 

[Maniak]

This thread is for the upper intake, but once you have it off, the lower is easy to pull.. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182596&highlight=intake
You can actually leave the fuel rail attached to the lower intake as it makes putting it back together easier as you don't have to try to get the injectors back in (or worry about ripping injector o-rings).

boggs, thanks for the comment on the motor.. I did the same to the 460 motor, which I think came out nicer as I painted the block on that one too. I just couldn't leave it plain..

~Mark

 

[burgundy1994xlt]

Very nice boggs. On my way to having mine look like that. Lots of work but well worth it.