Coolant leak, but from where!??!?!?!

[speedfreak87]

98 4.0l (efi if it makes a difference) xlt, ext cab 4x4 blah blah blah.

About a month or so ago, I noticed my coolant was disappearing out of the over flow tank, filled it, and boom gone again wtf? Drove to work one day got out and i could smell it.. hmmm... no puddles, not oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil. I decided to chase it down and fount that the hose that goes to the heater core was leaking at the intake, cool, easy fix. BOOM! done. well, seeing it's been nice out, I've been driving my other car more so the ranger has been sitting, I come home and notice a small 5" round spot under the truck, I check it out and it looks like it's the rear main, fuuuuuuuuuu.. oh well, i'll deal with later. check the oil, and it's fine, clean, etc. So I'm thinking maybe it's residual from the hose replacement. So I park it once again for about two weeks and notice the spot again.. wtf.. check oil and coolant both are fine.. back the truck up and check the spot, kind of oily, but then it dries on my fingers.. that's not oil, it's coolant, so I slide under and notice it's wet allll the way up the back of the block and I see a drip of coolant hanging off the edge of the head.. the truck runs fine, no smoke, no loss of coolant nothing. As far as i know, there isn't any coolant lines back there, and the wet is coming from above the freeze plugs, sooo, where? intake? I need to get this fixed asap as my other car is going into storage for the winter very soon.. HALP!

 

[swtjames23]

How many miles on the truck? Has it ever overheated? Does the coolant appear to be coming from the seam between the head and the block?

My first thought is the head gasket.. I know that's probably not what you want to hear but it's really not that tough to replace them, just takes some time.

Clean it all up real well and then drive it, let it sit. Check again. See if you can pinpoint where it's coming from. Post up what you find and we'll go from there. Don't stress I'm sure it's something you can fix.

Just my $.02.

 

[speedfreak87]

That's the one thing I don't have right now is time. The next 3 weeks are booked for me. I'm going to choke and take it to the dealer.

It has 160k+, never over heated, in fact until now, never had a leak, doesn't burn or leak any oil, the oil still looks new and it's over mileage for a change, trans fluid is new, clean and not burned. the truck is great. The leak looks like it's above the block and head seam, My guess with out pressure testing it is the intake. it does spot unless the truck sits, if I drive it everyday, no spots. only sitting. *shrug*

 

[shane96ranger]

It is common for the intake manifold gasket to crack (it is a one piece design). They leak very slowly, and you won't ever see a leak for a while. Mine leaked on the drivers side, all the way up front.

 

[Ranger44]

Washing it down is your best bet. Even use a mirror if u have to.

You may even consider buying a dye kit. This should make it easier to detect the source.

More than likely its the lower intake or outer part of the head gasket seaping. Or possibly a corroded freeze plug.

 

[speedfreak87]

I'll keep you posted on what it is.

 

[dankhimself]

I would buy an intake gasket, then have at the engine, if you find that the intake gasket wasn't the culprit, you are gonna replace it anyway, so you can run to the store and grab the head gaskets and hardware you need. I hope its just an intake gasket, but the head isn't the end of the world.

 

[speedfreak87]

dealer called, not as bad as I thought. Heater control valve, and radiator. Not sure how the HCV was leaking onto the engine, but whatever. they are fixing a few other things while it's there. Really wish I had the time, but oh well, it's going to snow tomorrow and I need the truck.