where's my coolant!

[Dash Riprock]

Remember the three verifiable symptoms rule of troubleshooting!!! It is possible to have condensation collect on things like to oil fill cap in cold weather. That being said wipe it down maybe change the oil and monitor the situation as you verify your other symptoms.

Yea, it seems odd that the coolant in the oil would only show up on the filler cap.

 

[vervepipes]

that was a tip a friend told me, i'm due for an service so what i'll do is chnge the oil, flush and re-fill the coolant, inspect the plugs and keep an eye on it from that starting point.

 

[KEN97EXPLORER]

97 Ford Explorer

I Have A 97 Explorer With 238.000 Miles On It , And After Reading All Of The Post's It Sounds Like The Same Problem That I Have On My X.
I Will Fill The Coolant Tank With Water And Antifreeze And 2-days Later Its Empty With No Leaks . I Have Check Every Single Possible Spot With No Sucess. Do Not Know What To Do And Besides The Car Is Running Great With No Other Major Problems. Help Please If Its Possible.

 

[BrooklynBay]

In would suggest that you connect a pressure tester to it. It might have a small pin hole leak which isn't so obvious until it starts to warm up. Check my product review.

 

[Bigg_billy]

Head gaskets go in a variety of ways, since coolant passages are closest to the cylinder disappearing or boiling coolant is a nice first symptom, but as the gasket withers is will spread to the oil passages next. Your plugs are the best indicator, there'll be a wet or white one near the area. Sometimes a leaking intake manifold will let some in there and there'll be multiple white or extra clean plugs. But water in your cyliinders will lead to scoring and excessive ring wear so you shouldn't let it go. THe pressure pump is good because you can pump it up, take all the plugs out, turn the engine over and coolant may spray out. In my Dodge Ram though, I thought a blown gasket was the problem, it turned out to be a pin hole in the hose that went over the rear of the engine, each time the engine was hot, some would piss out on the rear of the engine and evaporate. The discoloration on the oil cap is most likely from blow by of antifreeze in the cylinders (coolant getting by the rings). When the gasket goes to the extent that coolant is getting pushed into the oil passages, the oil with be milky. You want to catch it before it gets this far. At any case, after you do the gaskets, be sure to put some Marvel mystery oil in your oil, run the engine and drain it all out and put in new oil. You want to be sure you rinse as much water and sludge out as you can.

Bill

 

[khoward]

have you been smelling coolant real strong in side the truck if so check your heater core they tend to leak under the dash on the passenger side

 

[Bigg_billy]

Yup, another ggod point, if you can smell it it's leaking, if not your burning it............

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome back Bill. I didn't see you post in a while.

 

[Bigg_billy]

Hey thanks, good to see ya,

Life's been crazy but I've been watching , especially the tranny section, I see you and Glacier are still holding the fort, the tranny work you guys helped me with is still holding up. Had a couple codes I was asking about (P 0171and P0174) so the guys steered me to the intake side. I put a new air filter and PCV in, and reset the code, so we'll see how it goes, good so far. Kind of forgot all the work there is to be done here helping folks so I answered a few questions while I was here. I'll try not to drift away again.

Take care,

Bill

 

[ma96782]

2nd Gen error codes 0171 and 0174:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172289



And O rings on intakes:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170707


http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172451



Aloha, Mark

 

[vervepipes]

Update on mine since the thread has been resurrected: my water punp is now leaking several drops per minute, so I think the pump before was leaking slowly enough that I couldnt spot any leakage. I'll see if I keep my coolant after I change my pump

 

[Bigg_billy]

Yes we nicknamed you Lazarus, your thread died....and came back to life....but like Pet Cemetery it's never quite the same.........



"A knot is never nearly right, it's either exactly right or hopelessly wrong"

 

[Dash Riprock]

Update on mine since the thread has been resurrected: my water punp is now leaking several drops per minute, so I think the pump before was leaking slowly enough that I couldnt spot any leakage. I'll see if I keep my coolant after I change my pump

Hell since we are all updating here, my coolant leak has been mitigated, but not fixed, by using Bars Leak in the radiator. It worked perfectly and the coolant leak has stopped. I think Ill put a post in the General section with my experience so others can make use of it.

Here is the history on the problem : http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158616