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Performance Upgrades - Maintenance - Modifications - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street Trucks. Covering the Explorer, ST, Sport, Lincoln Aviator, Sport Trac, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Aerostar. Featuring H.I. - Human Intelligence.
I put in a new radiator a few months ago on my 94 explorer and the other day i checked my coolant level and for the second time coolant has disappeared. Had to throw nearly half a gallon in.. What could it be and should i do something about it now?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
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Check your oil, make sure it isn't getting in there. Any light grey, white smoke when it is running? Is it getting into the overflow canister? Any hot anitfreeze oders? Are your windows fogging when the car has been running? Last you can go to a parts store and rent/borrow a radiator pressure tester. Good luck with it, Arne.
When I yanked the engine out of my 1991, the radiator came out first. Naturally, at the end of the ordeal, the cooling system was bone dry. I recall having to top it off several times over the days following re-installation. Various air pockets will start moving after a few drives, even if you think you bled the system. The system is designed to be self-bleeding, it can just take a fair amount of time.
Do what Arne said and keep checking it over the next week of driving. If the level still drops by half a gallon each time, then you know there's a problem. If you put in less and less then maybe you have a reason to be optimistic.
I had a mysterious issue with my truck some years ago. No obvious leak or drip or pool under the truck but the coolant was always low no matter how much i topped off, I used straight antifreeze due to winter conditions. Later discovered it really only seemed to happen while driving, meaning idle and warm up it didn't seem to leak. It took 2 months for the first notice of low fluid, which could have happened even earlier than I thought, and the eventual ful-on failure.
It ended up being a couple of things, chiefly, LIM gasket and the original radiator split the seam on the lower passenger side. Why I didn't get steam until full failure I don't know
Check your oil, make sure it isn't getting in there. Any light grey, white smoke when it is running? Is it getting into the overflow canister? Any hot anitfreeze oders? Are your windows fogging when the car has been running? Last you can go to a parts store and rent/borrow a radiator pressure tester. Good luck with it, Arne.
I can smell hot antifreeze when the engine is hot. No leaks from my observations, I replaced lower and upper hoses as well as thermostat. I don't know where the smell could be coming from. No coolant in the oil checked yesterday. I'm at a loss of words for what it could be
How much antifreeze have you put in it total since the radiator install? Like how much when you installed the radiator plus the half gallon you put in recently?
Buy or borrow a radiator and pressure cap tester. I did quite some years ago and it's been invaluable to find elusive leaks as well as finding out that some (house brand) new supposedly 16 psi caps will open at 13 psi or even less.
Buy or borrow a radiator and pressure cap tester. I did quite some years ago and it's been invaluable to find elusive leaks as well as finding out that some (house brand) new supposedly 16 psi caps will open at 13 psi or even less.
+1 on the advice to buy a pressure tester. In addition to the cap, there are so many places where a slow coolant leak can evaporate before it runs very far, much less hits the ground.
How much antifreeze have you put in it total since the radiator install? Like how much when you installed the radiator plus the half gallon you put in recently?
Well it takes about 2 and a half gallons when dry so i put about that in. After a week or so it was down about half a gallon and i filled it up. Then ofcorse a week ago i put another half gallon in.
Well it takes about 2 and a half gallons when dry so i put about that in. After a week or so it was down about half a gallon and i filled it up. Then ofcorse a week ago i put another half gallon in.
