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coolant leak


swamprat

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my friends son has a 2002 ranger with 3.0 in it. he was driving home after work and hit some deep water that flooded a road he was on. He made it home with truck sputtering but next day when started truck antifreeze poured out of it. He said looks like from front of engine. im not able to look at truck cause he is in northern ohio. He doesn't know much about trucks. what he explained to me he thought leak was from behind water pump. Is the timing cover there? How would hitting deep water make it leak? not a small leak but a stream of coolant.
 


RonD

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Yes, there is a front cover over timing chain that can leak on the 3.0l Vulcan engine

Image of 3.0l with water pump removed here: https://www.ranger-forums.com/attachments/2-9l-3-0l-v6-tech-32/72009d1452679781-coolant-fitting-engine-3-0-ranger-leaking-1.jpg

Image of 3.0l with front cover removed, here: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bRVz90PlZT4/maxresdefault.jpg

Front cover here: https://www.taurusclub.com/forum/attachments/maintenance-repair/185202d1482118258-best-view-coolant-leak-f0933891.jpg

Its more than possible it's just the water pump gasket leaking, or if he doesn't know engines it could be the weep hole on the underside of water pump bearing that's leaking.

Hitting the high water could have cause the fan blades to slow suddenly which "may" have put a strain on the water pump bearing, fan clutch should have absorbed that change in velocity so just guessing.

Or if engine was warmed up the cold water splashing on the front cover could have shrunk the metal enough to allow the coolant at 16psi to push thru the gasket.

But hard to see the relationship between high water and coolant leak :)

You do need to lower the front of the oil pan to remove front cover to change the gasket
 
swamprat

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its a steady stream coming out. it dumped half of the coolant out in a few minutes at idle the next day. I was wondering ice cold water hitting a warm cover could make it crack or warp the cover. I will talk to his mom tonight and see if he can look at it better
 

RonD

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If engine is stone cold he can take off fan belt, and then fill up rad with water
Start engine and get a better view, without fan turning, to see where leak is

Make sure he knows not to run engine without water pump longer than 2 minutes, but if coolant is coming out that fast then I would shut it off sooner than later in any case

Also have him check the oil, front cover leak can put coolant in the oil, and not good to run an engine that way
 
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I'm betting he cracked something at a water jacket, either the front cover, or the block.

My dad did something similar many moons ago. We were out on the river all day with the canoe and a 2HP gas outboard. By the end of the day the clamps had rattled loose a bit, and when he went to start it up it fell off into the river and cracked the block.
 
swamprat

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I was thinking he cracked the block or something. I haven't heard from him this weekend, he was suppose to work on it and get me some pics of it. He might be better off to find a good used truck and sell this thing cheap. They have had lots of problems out of it. Thanks for all the help
 
pjtoledo

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where 'bouts in northern Ohio?
 
pjtoledo

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swamprat said:
carey Oh
Click to expand...


he's in luck, if it gets too bad there's a huge quarry he can dump it into. :annoyed:

check the water pump for play. the fan spinning while under water may have put a lot of stress on the pumps shaft/seal/bearings
 
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