Thought it was leaking coolant, but it was water. What the...???

[Maggies_dad]

2010 Explorer XLT 4x4, V6

Hi all,

I've had this Explorer for a few months. It was a well-maintained fleet vehicle, and I've had no major issues with it. I've been monitoring a tiny coolant leak from the thermo housing. It will only get worse and I will replace it eventually.

So I topped off the coolant yesterday. First I've done this since I bought it. Last night, I loaded up the dog and went for a drive...about 50 miles. I checked the coolant every so often, and saw no sign of leakage on the block or anywhere else. Temp was fine, no problems. Stopped on the way home, parked on a slight incline and left it running while I got out to whiz. Five min later, I came back and saw fluid dripping at a pretty good clip from the rear of the engine area. I didn't get under there to pinpoint the leak. Probably should have.

I pulled forward and checked the fluid, fully expecting it to be coolant, but it was water. Colorless, odorless...water. Felt like water as well. Checked the engine, no signs of leakage on top or below. Temp gauge normal.

I'm wondering what this is about. I've read some things about rain getting channeled/leaking into the floors on driver side. I did once notice wet floor carpet after I first got the vehicle, but haven't seen it since. The carpet is dry now. We have had some heavy rain lately.

I was running the defroster on low, but with heat, not AC. It was a cool evening. Even if I had been running AC, the size of that puddle was larger than what I would expect to see from condensation after just a couple minutes.

Coolant level this morning was unchanged from when I topped it off yesterday.

Any ideas on what this could be?

 

[michael loibl]

Running the defroster will engage the air-conditioning, even if you have the temperature control set to hot

 

[Maggies_dad]

Thanks. I know the AC comes on, but only to dry the air. I wasn't expecting as much condensation as I saw on the ground. Probably nothing.

 

[gdgiordano]

Thanks. I know the AC comes on, but only to dry the air. I wasn't expecting as much condensation as I saw on the ground. Probably nothing.

I have gotten some HUGE puddles from AC condensers. They depend on weather conditions and stuff too

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

Probably unrelated but if you have a wet carpet on your passenger side after a heavy or even moderate rain it could be due to one of the water channels failing in your right A pillar. If you pull back the interior trim near the bottom of the A pillar and pull the carpet back a bit you'll see a channel that runs quite a ways back, probably to the back of the car. There are some wires tucked into that channel and also probably run to the rear of the car. Where that channel starts and the A pillar meet there is a bondo or fiberglass type material. I ran a hose over the top of my car and let the water run into those front drainage vents right behind the hood. After about 30 seconds water started coming through a crack in that bondo stuff. If it rains hard enough and long enough the water fills that channel hidden under the carpet and then starts to soak into your carpet.

The fix for this is to reroute the water which is easier than it sounds. Near the bottom of the Apillar there is a hole that has foam and insulation in it. Take some needle nose pliers and pull out the insulation and foam, when you get all that out there will be like a plastic flap or door at the bottom of that hole. Take a big flat or Phillips head screw driver and a hammer and stick the screwdriver in the hole until you're firmly on top of the plastic flap. Then smack the screwdriver with the hammer hard until the flap opens or breaks. You might have to hit it in a few spots to push that flap down. After I did that my passenger side carpet never got wet again when it rained.

I could see if your car was out in the rain and it was raining often enough for the water to pool in the footwell and then really drain out when parked on an incline. Must've run out of one of the plugs or something near the back of the car. Just my guess... the fix I described is the ford approved fix for that issue.

 

[Mitchs07explorer]

2010 Explorer XLT 4x4, V6

Hi all,

I've had this Explorer for a few months. It was a well-maintained fleet vehicle, and I've had no major issues with it. I've been monitoring a tiny coolant leak from the thermo housing. It will only get worse and I will replace it eventually.

So I topped off the coolant yesterday. First I've done this since I bought it. Last night, I loaded up the dog and went for a drive...about 50 miles. I checked the coolant every so often, and saw no sign of leakage on the block or anywhere else. Temp was fine, no problems. Stopped on the way home, parked on a slight incline and left it running while I got out to whiz. Five min later, I came back and saw fluid dripping at a pretty good clip from the rear of the engine area. I didn't get under there to pinpoint the leak. Probably should have.

I pulled forward and checked the fluid, fully expecting it to be coolant, but it was water. Colorless, odorless...water. Felt like water as well. Checked the engine, no signs of leakage on top or below. Temp gauge normal.

I'm wondering what this is about. I've read some things about rain getting channeled/leaking into the floors on driver side. I did once notice wet floor carpet after I first got the vehicle, but haven't seen it since. The carpet is dry now. We have had some heavy rain lately.

I was running the defroster on low, but with heat, not AC. It was a cool evening. Even if I had been running AC, the size of that puddle was larger than what I would expect to see from condensation after just a couple minutes.

Coolant level this morning was unchanged from when I topped it off yesterday.

Any ideas on what this could be?

 

[doug625]

I have gotten some HUGE puddles from AC condensers. They depend on weather conditions and stuff too

Same here, and most of the country is extremely humid right now which would add to the amount of condensation.