1994 coolant loss problem

[NikBerndt]

I have something weird going on with my 94 4L 4x4 for the past while I have been losing coolant rapidly with no signs of problems. It is not blowing white, the exhaustdoes not smell sweet, my oil levels are still fine. I drove to kelowna 2 hours from where i live and on the way back the next day i noticed the temp gauge was going wacky from the bottom of normal to almost red then back down and it kept on doing that til this past day. I let the truck cool and popped the rad cap checked it filled it up. I added in some line sealant ment for small cracks in the head and or block. its been fine up until about 3 hours ago i went to get into it and the windsheild was green and fogged up. I realize that is a heater core problem, but would that explain why it was going wacky the other day or could there be more then just that wrong with it? the truck has 200100km's on it and is the first problem like this ive had. Im just hoping its not a head gasket or a cracked head, any advice would be appreciated? has anyone had this same problem by chance?

 

[turboranger2.3]

bypass heater core see what happens.

un-hook your 2 heater hoses and join them.

is you carpet wet under heater core. or passenger floor

 

[NikBerndt]

no it isnt. but i have been looking for the directions to replace it and check im not 100% sure how to do it

 

[turboranger2.3]

WET is wet

you by pass it, to test, if that is were the leak is. follow

2 hose leading into to fire wall. ????


onced bypassed .and stop loosing coolant.

take a guess at what it is. follow.

 

[martin]

Takes less than half an hour on a 91, yours should be the same but I'm not sure when they changed it from a ten minute job to a ten hour one. http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/HeaterCore.htm. that should help.

 

[adsm08]

Your temp gauge probably went wacky because the coolant was too low. That sensor is meant to read water temp and doesn't do well reading air temps. If the coolant gets low enough that it isn't submerged the gauge can do funny things.

 

[trail B2]

When my 93 4.0 head gasket went it had none of those traditional signs.No white smoke,no water in oil, no oil in water.What it did do was over heat and loose water over a shorter and shorter time frame.

I don't think A person should ever tear apart a motor on a suspicion and you should do a block test if you have suspicions.I had another truck that I just bought a used motor for that I knew had a gasket or crack problem.Checked it as I was readying to take it apart and that wasn't the problem. Just replaced the head gasket on my Taurus and it looked real obvious and tested positive.

The point i'm really trying to make is what I did and many people do with head gasket problems is keep working on everything in the cooling system instead of checking the radiator for exhaust gases.

 

[adsm08]

The point i'm really trying to make is what I did and many people do with head gasket problems is keep working on everything in the cooling system instead of checking the radiator for exhaust gases.

Not that that is the easiest test in the world. Very accurate, but not easy. Yu gotta go get the kit and everything.