coolant problem and noises

[Xeek]

so my ranger has been loosing coolant since i bought it. i did a complete flush about 5 times before putting it back together. new motorcraft thermostat and coolant. even added stop leak. burped the system properly. and im still loosing coolant. about 2 weeks after doing that i had to add about 2" worth of water. and i havent checked since but im sure i need more.
the guage likes to stay at N and will just spike up to L and then fall back down, over and over. it never finds its middle and stays there.
my fan is pretty cracked also, and the clutch works properly.
every now and then itll hit L or slightly past it and i can smell coolant briefly

and i have no idea if theyre related but now that its chilly in the mornings i have the windows up, and i can hear coolant being sucked through the hoses into the heater core behind the dash when i hit the gas pedal. itll stop if i let off the gas

and i hear popping from behidn the dash. kinda likesquishing a soda bottle then blowing into it making it pop. thats all the time, driving or idling, and is random in how often it does it. no matter what the climate controls are set to it still does it also

 

[Turdle]

The coolant noises you hear are probably due to it being low, you are hearing the pump fill the heater core.

You did not mention a new radiator cap. Try one.

 

[Xeek]

ok. i need to try and fill it up anyway. its just difficult since i cant get enough time to let it cool off before needing to drive again sometimes.

as far as the cap. i never mentioned it since it wasnt 'new'. but i stole the one off my exploder thats a known working good one. stant with the pressure lever on it. and i noticed it doesnt lock. as in i can unscrew it and take it off without flipping the lever or even pushing down on it for the 2nd half of a turn. the old one i cant remember for sure, but i think i had to apply pressure to turn it the 2nd half. but i had the same problems when that one was on to.

if you really think thats still the issue, ill try and brand new one then.
i still dont understand where its leaking. i used to see water on the ground near the lower rad hose/rad itself. but i havent seen any lately and its still leaking. unless it all has to do with the cap? not holidng pressure so it boils and steams out of the cap as im driving? nothing looks like it was steam cleaned by anitfreeze tho lol

 

[1998Explodasport]

Have you tried pressure testing the coolant system? It's the easiest way to find a small leak.

 

[Xeek]

no i havent. dont even know howto.

 

[Xeek]

well I made some time to put a new cap on and top it off. Geez this was the lowest I've seen. Had to add about 1/3 of a gallon and fill the overflow. Ill see what happens over the next few days

 

[Benjam]

Good thing you already know your way around a 4.0 for when you do heads?

 

[wood1]

If you think it's ingesting coolant you could pull the plugs. Any very clean plugs would tend to suggest you are burning coolant in that cylinder.If that is the case you start pulling your motor apart. Might be lower intake gaskets, could be head gaskets, could be the heads. Most guys would suggest replacing the heads if a head gasket is out. They are cheap and the factory heads are crap.

You should first rule out an external leak. Ever change the hoses and heater core? I didn't change my old hoses on my '93 and ended up changing the heads when the lower hose blew in the driveway idling on the autostart... runs great now!

 

[Xeek]

oh thanks ben -_-

im hoping not for heads. ive checked out the coolant and oil. both are clean from the others presence. im pretty sure id have the 93tm heads being its a 94. so those have a better shot at surviving the cracking issues
i suppose i cant try pulling the plugs. god thats gonna be a PITA. i have ac in this truck lol

the guy that i got the truck from replaced the water pump, radiator and hoses. i dont see a sticker on the lower hose, but the upper has a goodyear label on it. heater core doesnt leak inside of outside.

 

[Anime]

Leaking is commonly from the hose connections, especially when using regular worm-drive clamps. When they cool down, the clamps stay expanded and the hose shrinks, and so it leaks some every time the engine is cooled down, especially if it's in cool/cold weather.

The other source of external leaks is the gaskets, especially the water pump gasket. The Dex-cool and regular Prestone type seem to eat gaskets now, you need to go with something like Zerex Green or switch to Zerex G-05. The water pump bolts also can get pretty loose from the fan clutch, removing the fan and clutch and torquing those, or even pulling the pump while you're at it and replacing the gasket, using Permatex thermostat/water pump gasket sealer can put a stop to the leaking.

Otherwise there's always the radiator pinhole or leaky expansion plug problem.

I would guess that it's a cracked head though, usually if it's that low on coolant but you don't see any huge puddle, it's being burned. The coolant you're smelling might be the stuff that's being burned in the engine. Get a whiff of the exhaust every now and then and that should tell you if it's burning coolant or not.

Keep in mind that when the coolant gets low and creates an air bubble, that's what seems to cause a thermostat to stick closed - or it stays closed because the air bubble is keeping the hot coolant away from the thermostat and so it never opens. It's worth topping off the overflow tank every day or even twice a day or more if you have to so the coolant system stays full.

On the plus side, you can use this as a great excuse to add some headers along with the new heads and redo everything intake/exhaust related to take advantage of the new better flowing heads.

 

[Xeek]

yea. whatever is wrong, worst case a gasket. i atleast want to make it last for a little while.
ill try and see if i can rent a co2 sniffer thing. then possibly pull the plugs this weekend

and thats where youre completely right
im pulling my exploders engine this weekend for a rebuild. then its going in the ranger. 410 cam, jba headers, 93tms. prob new valves again and a connecting rod or two... prob will take me a few months to get it fixed, so the ranger has to last during then
then it comes down to fixing the rangers up with new gaskets and any repairs and shoving it in the exploder

 

[Anime]

Worst case is both heads are cracked. A blown head gasket would still be a PITA since you have to pull heads and the gaskets aren't cheap, but better than $300-400.

You don't need a CO2 sniffer, you can tell just by the smell of the exhaust standing near the back of the thing when running if it's burning coolant that much. You could also get someone else to hit the gas and see if it spits white smoke when at operating temp, though it might smell like coolant just on startup (white smoke at startup doesn't count though since the catalytic converters are cold) Otherwise the plug test is good.

I'd say it'd be better to put the Explorer engine in the Ranger as-is if it's fine, then work on the Ranger engine and put all the goodies on that if you want, then put it back in the Ranger and then rebuild the Explorer engine for the Explorer.

Seems risky to keep driving the Ranger without fixing the coolant issue completely, you risk losing a motor or at least a lot of hassle if it overheats somewhere.

 

[Xeek]

lol. exploders motor has all the goodies. and blown rings and whatever else. that needs to be redone first. i want the stock engine back in the exploder.

i couldnt really smell anything. might have one to many boogers or something going on. but i put my hand there and it got clamey.. ill just have to see what the plugs look like this weekend

 

[malohnes]

Please don't overlook that when driving the system is charged with pressure and the "leaking" can be only during driving conditions or when the engine is running above idle. I had this issue until I found a loose bolt on the thermostat housing as there was no dripping or pooling and I just replaced heads and gaskets, so I knew that wasn't an issue.

Also, I disagree that a clean plug on a cylinder could be from coolant leakage. This is true only if there is no glycol and only water. Combusted coolant has a very different buildup on plugs then normal, proper fuel/air combustion.

Don't assume the worst until the simpler stuff has been ruled out. Like electrical, coolant leaks can be very tricky to pinpoint.

 

[Xeek]

well i used the co2 pump tester. rad was still full when i got the autozone so i had to fake like i didnt know what i was doing to let the truck purge some coolant out.

the test fluid stayed blue for about the 3minutes i did it. so i think im clear from heads/gaskets


i guess the next thing would to be to go back up there when a buddy is there and take the $75 pressure tester out in the parking lot. maybe i can find where the leak is coming from at that point