Losing Coolant without apparant Leaks | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Losing Coolant without apparant Leaks

exploded91

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May 18, 2012
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Year, Model & Trim Level
91 Explorer xlt 4x4
Hi there. I have a 91 Explorer that my dad and I recently finished an engine rebuild on. We suspected a blown head gasket a couple of years ago and just got done putting it all back together. Has nice shaved heads, all new gaskets, and cleaned block (all acid dipped). After getting everything put back together last month, I went back to school and let my dad test drive. He said it drove fine for the first 200 miles, other than a bad starter he replaced, and then all of a sudden started losing engine coolant after driving. I have come home from school for the summer and we have been beating our brains out trying to figure out where the coolant is disappearing to. There are no puddles left under the car, and the leak is substantial enough to drain the reserve tank after driving about twenty miles. The leak is only apparent after engine is allowed to cool, i.e. overnight, and we have tried looking with UV dye. While we saw some fluid on top of the intake manifold, behind a coolant hose, this was not near the amount of fluid we have been losing. The motor still starts and runs fine, does not overheat, and does not show any signs of a blown gasket or head. My dad did see that the heater core had begun to leak and bypassed it entirely to see if that was the problem, and leak has persisted. I would like to think that all of the time and money we just sank into this truck was not for nothing. PLEASE HELP!!
 






Well I hate to suggest it after all the work you've done, but check your spark plugs for one unusually clean one (indicating coolant in cylinder). You might also notice vapor in the exhaust (hold hand in exhaust for a bit, see if it gets wet).

You can also pressure test the cooling system and see if it's weeping out somewhere.
 






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