She's HOT

[Longjohn119]

I was with a buddy once traveling back from Wisconsin following the Mississippi River (The Great River Road) when we hit a 'blizzard' of Mayflies ( Shadflies) that was so thick it clogged up his radiator and we overheated about 20 minutes later ... we let it cool off and luckily were not too far from a car wash and viola!, cooling worked again just fine ...

Actually the worst part was a couple of days later trying to wash all the dried bug splatter off the paint and grille .... where I was born (Prescott WI) they get so bad some years the shut down the bridge and get the snowplows out to remove the mayflies from the roadway ....

 

[Arnie897]

Move this thread out of the 911 if you want...

Bumping this again...

As you know, it's cold outside now and my problems have gone away since the summer when I originally posted this. However, I have discovered something new that may be related to my earlier problems.

My coolant level was down, WAY down, about 3 full quarts when I changed my oil recently. The oil was not milky in color however I am unable to find the leak...and the truck is holding it's temp in the mid range.

My friends tell me that every time I shift they see a nice little puff of white smoke from my exhaust pipes.

My last explorer was retired because of the famous cracked head syndrom that is so common around here. I will not retire this one, so I am determined to figure out what the problem is. Any suggestions?

Just a video to give you the idea....sorry about my friends swearing in the background.
http://www.midwestoffroad.com/Arnie897/PuffTheMajicExplorer.wmv

 

[Arnie897]

Forgot to add the other symptoms:

~runs rough at a very low idle 500rpm
~engine misses when it's cold
~no diagnostic codes yet

 

[1IronMike]

I'm leaning toward a cracked head or head gasket right now. Hope I am wrong.

 

[Arnie897]

I also hope you are wrong, but I'm leaning the same way. How do I check to see if one of those has failed without taking the top of the engine apart?

 

[JTX]

If its a crack head gasket you can usually see air bubbles when the radiator cap is off and the radiator is full of water. Have someone push the gas while you check, not sure if this is a reliable way to find out but i heard it works.

 

[dman726749]

last winter, trans replace, this winter, top end rebuild, man your gettin good at this stuff

Wish i could help, but i dont have the time to make it up there for the fun.

 

[Arnie897]

I'll try the bubble method. Is there something I can put in my coolant to see where it's going though?

The sad part is that I don't have time or money to fix it anyway....it would be another fun winter project though. I just need to determine what is wrong so that I can spend all of my time researching how to fix it. So....let me know when you're free Dustin.

 

[dman726749]

haha free time haha, thats a good one....going to texas over xmas break then starts student teaching...haha free time haha......wish i had some, but the next time i could get away is going to be spring break.......

 

[351wExplorer]

at work we have this thing that you put on the rad cap, and you put some liquid crap in there and it will turn colors if you have a leak somewhere. ive never used it only seen some other techs use it.

do you have aftermarket rad hoses, if you have a hose that goes up to high air will get trapped in there and will not bleed out.

i run a rigid fan off the motor, an 4-fan up front of the rad that runs all the time, and a 160 thermo... i can run silver lake all day and not over heat, highest i have seen so far is 190.

 

[Arnie897]

Right now I don't have the overheating problems. I just need to find where my coolant is disappearing to. Like I said before....my last Explorer cracked it's first head at 150k. I have 160k on this one and I really have no idea how to fix it.

I wonder if there is a pimped out head that is ported and polished along with some super gasket out there.

Perhaps it would be more cost effective to get a junkyard motor with 48k on it and swap it in?

 

[Glacier991]

A radiator pressure tester can possibly help you..... I am not sure buy I think Autozone rents them for no money, just a deposit. If your oil is not milky, you know you are not leaking into an ara that will mix with the oil... the other prospect is into a cylinder. Pump it up and see how fast it falls, if it falls pretty quickly, start pulling plugs and checking for the presence of water in the cylinder. You might see it, or you might find it using a little strip of paper.

I too suspect you are talking head gasket...or head.... but it is also possible to leak at the intake manifold gasket I believe.

 

[351wExplorer]

stupid question but do you have a catch can still????

not saying youd overlook this, but did you overlook this. haha

somtimes it is the simplest things

about the thing i said we have at work, the liquid turns blue or somthing if it is leaking into the head, because somthing gets into the coolant and reacts and changes the colors... id suggest checking this out

 

[dman726749]

there is also dye you can put in fluid and then look at with a black light to see where a leak is comming from (althouh this prob wont work since your leak apears to be inside the engine)

 

[Arnie897]

So get the pressure tester and some dye? We'll see what happens.

If it is a cracked head or the gasket do ya'll think that it will be less money to swap in a different engine?

 

[Glacier991]

I do recommend the tester. The other stuff isn't dye actually.... it is a substance that reacts to the presence of carbon monoxide as I understand it.... if you are getting exhaust components into the AF... someone more knowledgeable can check me on this....

 

[Billy177]

pull your plugs and see what the look like and go from there

 

[351wExplorer]

arnie you know if the motors bad i have a 302 that needs rebuilding along with a c6.... im only a couple hours away, and would love to help ya swap it

 

[Buckshot]

302 anda c6? Hmm.....Arnie - I hope your motor's ok...I could use a 302.....

 

[351wExplorer]

it desperatly needs a rebuild... been sittin outside since last year this time

although--- if you have the money--- i have a 302 that has never been ran with about 5k invested in it.. the guy that built it for us said it should be pushin 400-450 hp, i wanted to use this but my pops said it was to much for my little truck so i got stuck with my 351w

but yes i have a 302 and a c6 that needs to be rebuilt also