Strange RAD fluid leak

[Brando]

01 Sport 180k, topped off radiator late last week with about a quart of rad fluid.

Last night truck was in street at inlaws house, i backed it up 10 feet pulled it into drive and parked, when i got out there was a pretty heavy drip of fluid up the drip to where it was parked and quite a bit of fluid underneath the vehicle, at first i though it was oil but discovered it was Rad fluid/water, pretty dirty, i got a flashlight and looked underneath, dripping had slowed to almost a stop.

Started the truck pulled it out of drive into street, very slight dripping from underneath. with the flashlight i could see splattered fluid underneath it seems to be emanating form somewhere above where the from drive line connects..there appears to be some sort of overflow tube coming down form there, but the drip wasn't coming from there that i could tell.

I started the truck again in the street, no major leaking just a few residual drips. Drove it home, did not run hot, heater works fine.

Today, no drips or signs of dried drips in my drive, used hose to wash off underneath and clear of any residue from previous leak, hosed down drive. opened rad cap and found it low, added about a 1/2 quart of water. started truck ran for 5 minutes, no drips, yet. Turned off let drive dry out, going to start truck and let it get to temp and see what happens.

Any thoughts on what could be happening here?
Is there an overflow somewhere besides the one to the overflow box?

Thanks

 

[wood1]

If it's dark and dirty maybe a flush is in order. Is it possible the coolant is coming from the weep holes in your water pump? When the seals go it starts to, er weep...

Frost plugs rot out too, could be a number of things depending on where it is coming from, kind of hard to understand what you where describing.

 

[Brando]

where are the frost plugs , are they difficult to replace? What about the water pump seal?
I am headed out to start it and let it get to temp and see if it starts to leak again. I will try to get a photo of where i was describing.

 

[Brando]

Ok, started it up ,took a minute or two but it started to leak again, i discovered that it is coming from something up near the front/top of the engine bay..see photo, circled in red, green arrow indicates where fluid has leaked and gathered on top of engine block, i assume that once that fills up this is where the leak im seeing under the vehicle emanates from.

It is clear that there is a bad seal and it has been leaking for some time, what is it and how hard is it to replace?


Click on thumb to see larger image
You can click on the photo in imageshack for an even bigger image

 

[wood1]

Frost plugs are in the sides of the engine block, no where close to where your arrow is. I'm not terribly familiar with the overhead cam engine. You should be able to figure it out if you pull that cover off. Could be the lower intake manifold gasket, thermostat housing or gasket... you really should invest in a maintenance manual. Once you figure out where coolant flows (hoses, etc) you will figure it out. You are going to need one to fix your leak anyway. I wouldn't drive it, if you overheat that engine you will do more damage than a gasket.

 

[ophidia]

Really looks like the thermostat housing to me. I just dealt with that a couple of weeks ago and your situation is quite familiar.

 

[jweb1369]

I just had to replace my radiator. I had a similar problem. I couldn't locate the leak, but it damn sure would leak about a quart every 10 miles I drove. The radiators these explorers (and most vehicles made past 1990) have plastic side reservoirs that are attached to the metal by some kind of adhesive or seal. The radiator specialist (old hoot) I went to tested it out for me and showed me the leak. His words, "The seal that connects the plastic to the metal is more tender than the skin on my dick". There is no fix, and you just have to install a new one if it leaks from the seal.

 

[Brando]

well, just to see what happens i added a bottle of bars stop leak and let it idle for about 40 minutes. When it fist started the deal leaked just a bit, but it didnt take long to stop.
It ran the whole time without leaking basically, i drove it for about 30 minutes and it was still dry as a bone, radiator and overflow were at the same level.
I am going to check into having it fixed correctly but for the time being it seems as if stop leak works.

 

[budwich]

more than likely that you have the "standard" intake leak and / or front engine cover leak. Lots of post with similar conditions. Me too, stop leak has "held" for over two years.... even though I have the gasket set, its the time and effort along with the crustiness of the wiring/sensors (96) that have made me reluctant to touch the issue.