She's HOT

[94explorer2x4]

Ok their is coolant leak dye that you can put into the coolant and when you use a uv light the stuff glows bright and makes it real visible. if you use this and run it in the coolant for a week then pull the plugs one at a time and expose them to the uv light and you will see the dye on the plugs if it is leaking into a cylinder. the "tube" that was mentioned earlier was a "block tester" as it is called. you need to get the engine really hot and open the radiator I know it says not to do that on the cap! do it verry verry carefully as not to be burned. and remove a smal amount of the coolant then put the end of the tube in the radiator with the engine running and if it detects any carbon monoxide from the cumbustion chamber escaping into the coolant the fluid turns from blue to green. that means that either the head gasket is leaking or the head is cracked and leaking cumbustion gases into the coolant. arnie check your pm's

Oh yeah and if you take out your spark plugs and just smell them you can possibly smell the coolant on them. They will just smell kinda sweet.
also dont do this one for too long at a time just smell your exhaust like I said not for too long at a time and if it smells sweet that means that their is coolant leaking into the cylinders. now if that is the case you will now need to pull the heads off and have them tested to see if they are good. no if you have the tools and some know how you could do it yourself in a week and you will need head gaskets, intake gaskets, exhaust gaskets, valve cover gaskets a set of head bolts. if you go to the dealer they have a valve grind kit it is called and it comes with all the gaskets you need except for exhaust and valve guides. this way when you take the heads to a shop they can replace the valve guides and do a valve job. total cost between $300-$500 dollars the $500 is just incase you break something.

 

[BigDakota]

Sorry to here the X is still being a pain...I agree with some of the others on the coolant getting into the combustion chamber. If there are puffs of white smoke from the exhaust..BINGO and bummer!

I think you are going to have to do some weekend wrenching on the motor.
I am hoping when you pull it apart you will find the bad head gasket and see where the coolant has been leaking into the chambers. There is a product you can spray onto the surface of the heads to show for cracks..it goes on white and any hairline cracks will turn reddish...I just cannot remember what the name of the stuff is ... maybe another person here can come up with the answer.....

 

[Arnie897]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll head to the parts store and see if they have any of these products that have been mentioned.

Now, is this something that I will be able to do myself or should I have a shop do this? I can swap trannies and stuff, but when it comes to tearing apart engines....I seem to be lacking the fine motor skills needed to deal with small parts. In general I don't like dealing with things that require lots of detailed adjustments and such....but I can if it's not too difficult. Should I do it myself?

 

[BigDakota]

If you can afford it, find a shop to do it...you will need "the fine motor skills" to do this...It is s big job to pull it all apart and then to get it all back together with out any extra parts , but in the bigger picture of things..most backyard mechanics can do it, it just might take longer to get it done. The key is to have everything lined up..manuals,tools,parts needed..etc

I like working on my own vehicles, but there are times I would just rather drop it off at a Shop/Garage and have them do it. It all depends on the $$$$ and so 99.9999 percent of the time I do the work myself

 

[94explorer2x4]

There is a product you can spray onto the surface of the heads to show for cracks..it goes on white and any hairline cracks will turn reddish...I just cannot remember what the name of the stuff is ... maybe another person here can come up with the answer.....

it is a form of magna flux in a can that is not the actual name but it is what it dose.

 

[Arnie897]

Changed all the plugs yesterday.....All were brown and smelled burned, not sweet. However, under the hood there is a very sweet coolant smell. Do ya'll think that the coolant may be leaking from somewhere where the antifreeze is just getting burned on contact?

 

[Tbonejr]

Something to try

My explorer was loosing coolant just like that. I couldnt find where it was going to. Went a year trying to figure it out. Then finally I smelled the coolant under the hood. By accident I was looking under the hood and my wife cut the heater on and WHAM - I seen some drops of coolant coming from this little black thingy. Its a vacume valve that sits over the manifold that opens and closes whith the heater. The heater line runs threw it. I cant remember what that thing it called. Its some kind of heater control valve. The coolant was dripping onto the manifold and its was hard to find. Cost me about 25$ and 15 min (Well actually a year and 15 min) And I was fixed.

Sorry for not being able to remember the name of this thing but it 2 AM and Im at work trying to stay awake.

Hope this helps

 

[cllns96]

Try that vaccum valve where the heater controls it, or since u say it idles rough when it is cold.. it is common problem for the SOHC that it has a blown O-ring which could have a bad intake gasket along together where it could be leaking some of coolant there. I highly doubt it is the head gasket or the head itself. Hope u find it and fix it ASAP.

 

[Arnie897]

I'll try and locate the black valve thing you are speaking of Tbone.

And...I have the OHV with 161k on it...

 

[BigDakota]

Hey Arnie..are you sure your friends saw a puff of white smoke when you shifted gears..?? If you are smelling antifreeze under the hood, it seems thats where the leak is....kinda confused on the symptoms described in an earlier post!!

 

[Arnie897]

New screen name? Anyway....yes....there is the puff of smoke as shown in the video earlier posted. Also, I do smell the antifreeze under the hood only, not inside the cab.

 

[BigDakota]

Yea..different screen name..It was available and fit what I have..

I must be slipping..I missed the video earlier on...umdaaa!! I see the dual puffs..It could be having rich fuel moments. You say the plugs were clean but just a little leakage would not show/smell. Too much heat being generated to allow any residue of miniscule amounts.
I had the control valve on the hoses go bad on mine a few months ago. I would shut the heater off and the coolant would run out of the vacuum cannister on the valve!!

 

[Arnie897]

Found a small leak towards the top drivers side of the radiator (coming from whatever line that is hooked up a few inches below the cap)....hopefully that is the only problem I have. Any idea what that line is?

 

[Buckshot]

tranny cooler I think. Driver side on 97 top line is in from tranny, bottom line is out to the tranny cooler I think. I may have those backwards - can't remember.

 

[Buckshot]

Still don't know which one is in which one is out. Feel the lines or search. But here's a diagram...

 

[Tbonejr]

I just put a tranny cooler on my 96 and the top line is the inlet from the tranny and the bottom is the outlet to the tranny.

 

[Arnie897]

Thanks for the diagram. Is the tranny cooler built in to the radiator or are they just "pass though" fittings. And what exactly is that thing on the other side that is the same size as the radiator?

 

[Jasonx521]

I believe you are talking about the condensor? for the A/C system. i had a leak from the radiator from about the same location on my X, and used a little rad leak sealant and problem fixed. I also thought that I had a bad head gasket, but couldn't find any evidence... I ended up having the rad and engine flushed and cleaned by a shop and replaced the t-stat, then reapplied the rad sealant and no leaks and temp is right where it should be, oh, and also replaced the rad cap, and little hose that goes to the overflow container.

 

[Tbonejr]

The radiator has a built in Tranny cooler. The lines do more than pass through the rediator they wind around in the radiator. The Tranny fluid can easily get 300 + deg. I know this is off the subject but there are 2 simple things you can do or have done. #1 would be get and external tranny cooler they are cheap areound $50. I got mine for $25 off ebay. Your fluid needs to run through your radiator 1st then the external cooler this is a tremendous help for your tranny. #2 would be go to the autoparts place and get a drain plug kit around $8. you have to drop your tranny pan but its worth it. You can then drain around 4 quarts of fluid out a cpl times a year and replace with fresh fluid.

It just makes me feel goooood to know my tranny is running nice and cool and feels so fresh and clean

Sorry so long

 

[Buckshot]

Arnie - theres a bit of misinformation here....the diagram has nothing to do with AC and you should already have a external tranny cooler. Search for tranny cooler on this site and you will find that in our 1997 the driver's side radiator is a stage 1 tranny cooler and then there is an external tranny cooler in front of the rack and pinion on the main suspension crossmember. The earlier generations had an external tranny cooler in front of the main radiator.

Aldive's remote tranny cooler filter thread has some good info on this.

I just worked on these fittings on a 1st gen and if you have the 4.0 ohv engine I know these the fittings are the same. My radiator connections were identical to his gen 1, but the tranny cooler was in a different spot.

You can get a replacement fitting and just tighten it down. Inspect the flare on the hardline though - the more time-consuming solution will be if the hardline flare has a notch in it which may be where the leak is coming from.

We just disconnected the flarenut from the fitting and the fitting from the radiator (two different sets of threads) and used some high-temp silicone on both and tighted them back down. No leak.

BUT, this should have nothing to do with your dual smoke puffs out the tailpipes. Maybe that was condensation in the pipes or something else from the off-road trip where the pics came from if it hasn't been repeated or chronic?