Running hot, and lean

[Danimal86]

well, i was driving home from work today, and i noticed a couple things with my explorer, first of all, i was getting really good gas millage....normally i get about 230 miles to a tank (mixed driving), well, i am at 240 miles and still have a little less than a 1/4 tank. then i also noticed that my car started running hot. i've never had a problem with it overheating, i recently replaced the radiator with the bigger radiator. it would never go past 1/4 on the temp guage...now all of a sudden, it is running at 3/4 on the temp guage.

putting both of those together it seems that my car is running lean. i have a hho generator (haven't been using it for a while) plumbed into the air intake, so there can be some extra comming in through the hole, but cant be much. it started about a week ago.

any ideas on what i can do to fix it?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

fuel pressure regulator? timing, even tho that might be a little hard to figure out why it has changed. even when i fuel pressure regulator lets go, they run real rich, but you never know. if it runs lean, it will also run hot.

 

[Danimal86]

well, i was driving into work today, and it started overheating again....i ended up checking the water in the radiator, and it was pretty low, but there was plenty of water in the reservoir. i thought that if the water level ran low, it would pull out of the reservoir. i pinched the hose (from reservoir to radiator) to feel for any clogs, and couldn't find anything. so, if it is just a problem with the cooling system, why did i get a sudden increase in gas millage?

 

[Danimal86]

well, my explorer is still running hot....now its loosing a lot of radiator fluid. I can drive the car for a while, with no problem, but when i stop, i can smell the hot fluid. then it starts to run hot. when i park and turn off my car, there is a good amount of fluid that drips down from behind the front axle....anyone have any ideas what might be causing the leak?

 

[410Fortune]

water leak behind front axle = check the radiator for leaks, the plastic side tanks where they meet the aluminum core are pinched together, once they get hot this can develop a leak... you can buy time by pinching the aluminum a bit

Next check your hoses, the upper and lower hoses to the radiator.
I have found the factory spring style clamps work great UNTIL they are used and re-used a few times... then when things get hot they can leak

next would be the waterpump and thermostat housing

If you are having a hard time finding your coolant leak, rent a pressure tester for the cooling system... this is a VERY handy tool. You introduce about 16# of air pressure via the radiator cap and any small leak should spring to life.

For your lean condition and overheating you should NOT HAVE ANY LEAKS IN THE AIR INTAKE, your HHO port could be the issue... from MAS to TB NO LEAKS = LEAN LEAN LEAN

LEAN = overheat
overheat = cooling system strain

the MAS measures the amount of incoming air to the throttle body, the computer adjusts spark/fuel based on this... if air is getting sucked into the intake after the MAS you have a problem... even a little bit of air = no good.

 

[Danimal86]

thanks for all the advice....i looked under the hood and under the car and couldn't find anything....about 6 months ago i replaced the radiator, and hoses, so i lightly checked them, and didn't see any cracks. the thing that puzzles me is that the fluid is dripping out from back behind (towards the rear end of the car) the front axle. if it was out of the water pump or the radiator wouldn't it be farther forward towards the front of the car?

 

[410Fortune]

water pump or thermostat area

when it leaks it will drop down all over stuff, so where it ends up on the ground is not always where the leak is,. you have rack and pinion steering, battery cables, plastic shrouds, hoses, etc the coolant will trickle down all of it.

 

[Danimal86]

sounds like a big mess.....thanks for the advice! i'll crawl under the car tonight and see what i can find.

 

[410Fortune]

trace the path of green residue
Lots of light and lots of room to work really help

 

[msmith65]

If the overheating appeared same time as the rise in gas mileage, that points to a vacuum leak that is causing the engine to run lean. Does it knock while accelerating?

 

[ldearroz]

Try and check for leaks in the connection for the upper heater hose. Mine leaked from there. Check the thermostat also, I also replaced mine temp goes sky high.