wesalexleft
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- August 2, 2009
- Messages
- 148
- Reaction score
- 2
- City, State
- Memphis, TN
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2003 Mountaineer V8 4.6L
Coolant woes**leak found, need advice**
2003 4.6L mountaineer. This is my son's daily driver to and from college. It sits for a while at a time followed by the 6 hour road trip home and back on occasion. Last trip home, it ran hot. He pulled over, called and asked for advice. He let it cool down, added water, and finished the drive home. It's been sitting for quite a while with the occasional city drive while he's been home. I drove it the first cool day, and there was no internal heat. Dreading the blend door issue, I looked into it, butto found the coolant again low again. I've topped it off and begun tracing down the problem, but so far no luck. Making the blend door seem like a blessing, the 4.6L head gasket fears took over. I've looked, but no signs of coolant leaking anywhere. I've checked the thermo, hoses, carpet, and intake as best I could with limited view and no leaks. I've done a block leak test and no hydrocarbon found in the coolant. Pressure tested the coolant system and I don't believe it's losing serious pressure. I pumped it up to 20lbs cold, and it did drop to 15lbs over 30 minutes, and then stabilized there for the next 2 hours. Not sure if this is a sign of problems, but I depressurized, left the pressure guage on the resivoir, started the engine, and at operating temp, the guage read about 4-5 pounds pressure. IDK what normal pressure should be. I'm waiting on an oil analysis kit, but the dipstick looks and feels like normal oil. Oil fill cap looks good as does the filler neck. There is some very dark oil sludge, but no milky white residue. I tried pressure testing the coolant cap, but either the cap is bad, or the adapter didn't get a good seal, so I'll be picking up a cap tomorrow. I also have a inspection scope ordered to try and look beneath the intake manifold for possible signs of a leak that may be boiling away without being seen. Any other possibilities? It's running normally, minus a possibly bad IAC. one other worth mentioning, the intake manifold is original, but does have the aluminum crossover for coolant. The truck was bought end of '03 and I believe has an improved intake manifold. The only things nor done are visibles of heater cores, but no wet carpets.
Thanks!
2003 4.6L mountaineer. This is my son's daily driver to and from college. It sits for a while at a time followed by the 6 hour road trip home and back on occasion. Last trip home, it ran hot. He pulled over, called and asked for advice. He let it cool down, added water, and finished the drive home. It's been sitting for quite a while with the occasional city drive while he's been home. I drove it the first cool day, and there was no internal heat. Dreading the blend door issue, I looked into it, butto found the coolant again low again. I've topped it off and begun tracing down the problem, but so far no luck. Making the blend door seem like a blessing, the 4.6L head gasket fears took over. I've looked, but no signs of coolant leaking anywhere. I've checked the thermo, hoses, carpet, and intake as best I could with limited view and no leaks. I've done a block leak test and no hydrocarbon found in the coolant. Pressure tested the coolant system and I don't believe it's losing serious pressure. I pumped it up to 20lbs cold, and it did drop to 15lbs over 30 minutes, and then stabilized there for the next 2 hours. Not sure if this is a sign of problems, but I depressurized, left the pressure guage on the resivoir, started the engine, and at operating temp, the guage read about 4-5 pounds pressure. IDK what normal pressure should be. I'm waiting on an oil analysis kit, but the dipstick looks and feels like normal oil. Oil fill cap looks good as does the filler neck. There is some very dark oil sludge, but no milky white residue. I tried pressure testing the coolant cap, but either the cap is bad, or the adapter didn't get a good seal, so I'll be picking up a cap tomorrow. I also have a inspection scope ordered to try and look beneath the intake manifold for possible signs of a leak that may be boiling away without being seen. Any other possibilities? It's running normally, minus a possibly bad IAC. one other worth mentioning, the intake manifold is original, but does have the aluminum crossover for coolant. The truck was bought end of '03 and I believe has an improved intake manifold. The only things nor done are visibles of heater cores, but no wet carpets.
Thanks!