coolant loss in 87 2.3l Ranger

[Tampergeorge]

Disappears at irregular intervals. Sometimes 1 gal in 15 miles, sometimes 1 quart in 50. I've seen foam in the radiator, and due to its age suspect a head gasket is aging. (20 years by now) So I pulled the head and #4 looks crappy with carbo. no leak there I guess. But the top edges of 2 and 3 cylinder wals are gold tinged. like I'd expect water to do under those conditions. Gasket shows no obvious leaks, but then it ciould be so slight no real damage would appear. What do you folks think? George

 

[BrooklynBay]

Connect a cooling system pressure tester to the radiator to see where the leak might be coming from.

 

[Tampergeorge]

I did the coolant pressure gage earlier this year. No help locating the leak. I'm thinking that head gasket would leak under some pretty specific conditions (temperature/pressure) only. That would account for the "sporadic" nature of the leak. No water or vapor was ever seen at the exhaust, nothing in the oil. And no leak beneath the engine. It is the foam in the radiator that leads me to a head leak. George

 

[BrooklynBay]

I had a similar problem a while ago on my 89. The radiator, and overfill tank kept running dry. It turned out that the radiator cap had a bad rubber gasket, and it was losing coolant to the overfill tank.