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Coolant leak?


03ranger4x4

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Truck is as my name suggests. 4.0 v6. Gave this truck back to my dad, so I dont drive it unless I need to borrow it. Anyways, borrowed it to move something the other day and noticed the coolant tank was empty, and sqeezed the upper rad hose and it felt like it didnt have liquid in it. Topped up the tank, and the rad. About a week or so later I go to use the truck again and the tank is empty again, so one way or another it is DEFINATELY leaking coolant.

When warm, if you stand near the front of the truck I can catch a wiff of coolant, but I will be damned if I can find out where this leak is. I looked all over, and even used an autozone coolant pressure tester. Seems to hold up to 30 psi just fine without a noticable leak...though the needle did slowly creep down after the ten mins I left the device attached.

I already checked the oil...its not leaking in there. Doesnt puff smoke. Friggin better not, only has 120,000 miles and I never ran it hot once. No reason for the head gasket to leak.



Moral of this whole thread. Has anyone had a similar situation? What turned out to be the problem? Where can I check that is often over looked? I notcied theres a small coolant line that runs to what looks like the PCV valve right behine the t-body. Could somethng along that line be leaking slowly and not be noticable?

I want to get this fixed before something blows while my dads out using it and he gets stuck somewhere and needs to drop a ton of $$$ to get it towed and fixed. Ive kind of been his mechanic when I have time to kill..
 


hondaxr650

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The most common place I see leaks on a 4.0 sohc is from the lower thermostat housing. They either crack where the 2 halves are molded together or from the gasket between the housing and the cylinder head. Take a look down there and check to see if there is coolant around the base of the t/stat housing or in the engine valley.
 

03ranger4x4

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Thanks man, I was honestly thinking it must have been that, if i look closely at the housing it does look like there are minor sediment stains like water/coolant has been seeping out and evaporating off. I just havent been able to spot a confirmed leak yet, theres just never any moisture.

The cooling system has never been serviced on the truck yet. So i think its time to do the whole 9 yards.

Im going to check rockauto to see how pricey things get, but I think Ill do the everything in one shot. New t-stat, all new hoses, new waterpump, and new t-stat housing plus a proper coolant flush. This way its good for another 120k

So just got done with rockauto, for about 117$ looks like I will get everything I need. Waterpump, Upper AND lower t-stat housing and gaskets, and all new hoses and t-stat.
Gotta love that site. 117$ sounds about the price a typical mechanic would charge for the waterpump alone before labor.
 
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