LittleJohn
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2017
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Vehicle Year
- 1996
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Automatic
'96 2.3L 2WD over 200k mi
Never checked the actual radiator fluid except for when I bought the truck 2 months ago. I've always just looked at the resivour. About 3 weeks ago I noticed it was empty but that turned out to be the hose got disconnected rubbing against the air intake so I used a hose clamp and thought it would be fine.
This past weekend I notice it's empty again and realized I never looked under the radiator cap and when I did it was just about empty. I had driven it over 120mi that week without any overheating, no burning smell, no smoke/steam. The temp gauge never goes over 3/4 which is only when I'm sitting still. I'm amazed I didn't toast my engine.
Filled up the rad, drove it about 30 mi the next day and lost maybe 1/4 in the fill tube on the rad. Again, never saw or smelled anything and have not noticed any big drips (it leaks a good bit of oil so I might have missed coolant in the oil puddle)
Under the hood, I found a hose with some yellow/green sludge (old coolant) kind of solidified on the bottom running all the way to the lowest point, traced it back and I think I found the leak. It's at a joint where three hoses come off and I think they go to the heater core (one goes to the firewall and all of this is on the passenger side close the blower motor) Maybe the clamps are bad, or should I just replace everything right there? (The hoses, clamps, and plastic joint.)
Never checked the actual radiator fluid except for when I bought the truck 2 months ago. I've always just looked at the resivour. About 3 weeks ago I noticed it was empty but that turned out to be the hose got disconnected rubbing against the air intake so I used a hose clamp and thought it would be fine.
This past weekend I notice it's empty again and realized I never looked under the radiator cap and when I did it was just about empty. I had driven it over 120mi that week without any overheating, no burning smell, no smoke/steam. The temp gauge never goes over 3/4 which is only when I'm sitting still. I'm amazed I didn't toast my engine.
Filled up the rad, drove it about 30 mi the next day and lost maybe 1/4 in the fill tube on the rad. Again, never saw or smelled anything and have not noticed any big drips (it leaks a good bit of oil so I might have missed coolant in the oil puddle)
Under the hood, I found a hose with some yellow/green sludge (old coolant) kind of solidified on the bottom running all the way to the lowest point, traced it back and I think I found the leak. It's at a joint where three hoses come off and I think they go to the heater core (one goes to the firewall and all of this is on the passenger side close the blower motor) Maybe the clamps are bad, or should I just replace everything right there? (The hoses, clamps, and plastic joint.)