Help with sons 2003 Ford explorer

[gracekt]

Hello- my son got my Dad’s 2003 explorer and looking for guidance / experience in helping him do repairs….
His coolant is holding…..I wasted $60 in coolant…..b/c we replaced the t-connector which was broken…..and thought that was the issue….put 3 gallons of coolant in….drive it home and it was smoking again….coolant everywhere - zero coolant in resovoir…..where it’s supposed to be…..when I stopped and got out…..all of it was on the ground - I couldn’t see where it was leaking out? He did get into a fender bender and broke the headlight on passenger side….wondering if the radiator got punctured? How can I tell?

 

[Fix4Dirt]

welcome to EF!!!! check all the hoses, depending on their age, those can be likely culprits, especially on bends. perhaps some dye in the coolant could help to trace it to see where its coming from. the radiator can crank easily in my experience, so it wouldnt be far out if that is the case. another possible point could be the thermostat housing, that thing seems to crack alot... imo the easiest way to tell is maybe just put water in it, run it and see if you can tell where its coming from. if you need maybe disconnect the fan so that it doesnt blow the coolant/water around and make it look like something it aint.

 

[Josh P]

Harbor freight sells a coolant system pressure tester. How bad is the damage from the accident?

 

[Mbrooks420]

You’ll have to visibly find the leak. Check the side tanks of the radiator, they often crack where they meet the core. A minor accident could have surely tweaked one.

Fill it with water and see where it leaks down to.

 

[fordysenior]

Try local auto parts stores -- some of them, such as O'Reillys, will loan out a pressure tester. You pay for it, and get your money back upon return of it. Also, if the intake manifold has been replaced, check the back passenger side of it. Replacement manifolds usually have a coolant connection that is not used by all vehicles. Those connections, if not used, are plugged with a cheap cap and bad clamp. There is a lot of posts about it if you do some search on this site.