Temperate Woes: Where is the coolant going? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Temperate Woes: Where is the coolant going?

variable

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City, State
Edmonton, AB, Canada
Year, Model & Trim Level
92 EB
I have a 1992 4.0L Explorer - the Eddie Bauer edition. I bought it used at about 120,000 kilometers, and am currently around 140,000 kilometers (about 86,000 miles I believe). Recently I’ve been having heat issues. I’ve had a few other issues in the past, but I’m worried about where these issues may lead.

Since I’ve had the Explorer until a few months ago, I don’t think I ever saw the temperature gauge pass the “RM” in normal (except for the time the block heater blew out, but that’s a different story). In the last few months however, I’ve been driving around with windows open and the heater blowing at full to keep it from entering the red zone – it comes close, but never quite leaves the normal range. Also, I’ve needed to add additional coolant, as it seems to be losing a worrisome amount.

Today I replaced the thermostat, all the coolant, oil, etc. Today was also the first day I did any research about my vehicle online, and what I found will no doubt cause me to have a troubled sleep tonight. From what I can see on this site (Dead Link Removed), it seems as though I may have a cracked head, or possibly a leak in the lower intake manifold gasket. My question to you all: What can I do to determine exactly what the cause of my coolant leak is (provided that the thermostat replacement doesn’t make everything perfect)? Are there distinct signs of certain coolant leaks?

Thank you all for your time and knowledge.
 



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Take a look at the spark plugs. If they are glazed white, that is a sign of coolant in the combustion chamber. Also, look for white foamy deposits or light brown "chocolaty" oil in the crankcase. Take a look at the dipstick and the back of the oil fill cap for the deposits too. A quick and dirty test is to take the cap off the radiator (when it's cold), make sure the system is full, and start the motor. If you get bubbling back out the radiator, it probably means you have compression leaking into the water jacket. Two other tests that can be done relatively easily are a radiator pressure test and a compression test. The radiator pressure test will tell you if the system is leaking, but not where. The compression test will tell you if there is a problem in the heads or with the head gasket (also can tell you something about the condition of the rings and valves).

 






Also, look under the vehicle for loss that direction, if there is some, but it seems to far back to be the radiator, it's probably one of the freeze plugs in the block that has rusted out, those aren't too tough to have replaced (I had that prob 2 summers ago, it was leaking about a quart / day). Also, I'm sure this has nothing to do with it, but make sure you're using at most a 50/50 mix of antifreeze water mix (or heck, it's summer use water with water wetter in it :D (yeah it gets hot in texas.)
 






It took about 5 days (much time hunting down parts), but I have completed the repair, and there is no sign of leaking right now. Thanks for your help everyone!
 






What was wrong with it after all, Variable?
 






The gasket at the bottom of the intake manifold seems like it was the cause... the one that came out was pretty beat up. I also replaced a bunch of other things in the cooling system, like the heater hoses, so I can't be sure. I'm 95% sure it was the intake manifold gasket though.
 






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