Help ID'ing part - 1993 2.3 Engine

[Dredwolf]

Thanks in advance. I do a lot of my own work, and thanks to this forum, brought a $500 truck to life for my daughter, with a clutch job, rear main seal, front input seal, fuel sending unit, filler neck, water pump, seat swap, heater control fix, etc, etc.

Little truck runs well now, and gets her to work and college..but it is has a coolant leak on the driver's side of the engine, under the intake, and the coolant runs down that side of the engine, between the oil filter and the motor mount. It seems to be leaking from the underside of part I am not familiar with. The first part of the part number on it resembles a casting code for Mustang heads, but I can't make out the rest. Please help if you can, I am trying to not disassemble her transportation without replacement parts ready.

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Pic showing bottom area where leaking:

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Thanks,

Dredwolf

 

[Dredwolf]

more info....

Just some more info, the waterline in the pic coming from the part runs under the intake and up.

I borrowed an inspection camera, and it looks like the leak is coming from a fitting on the part to the engine block. I'll try to use the camera and get a better picture of the part number on top.

 

[Mark_88]

Howdy,

The part that is in the center of the images is actually like an oil catch can that fastens to the block (or sits in a hole) near the back of the engine and is not connected whatsoever to the cooling system.

As you have found through further investigation, the leak of coolant is probably from the intake connection or the block itself. On older models there was a coolant line running though the intake to help with fuel efficiency but it was taken out with the fuel injection systems.

It is possible that you have a loose "freeze plug" as they were called, or perhaps you have a block heater installed that is leaking. Could also be from a head gasket, or even a crack in the head or block.

I would hope for your sake that this is something to do with a block heater since that would be the least expensive. All the other issues can be quite expensive to fix or time consuming in terms of labour and replacement parts.

Having replaced three or four heads on my own trucks I can tell you it is not hard to fix a broken head or cracked block by replacing the parts...they are relatively easy to work on and can give you many years of trouble free motoring.

Keep us posted as to your progress...I would suggest pulling the inner fender but that is actually more work than putting the truck up on a hoist or even ramps...I really hate working and looking up at things...but sometimes we haven't got much choice...

Oh, and welcome to TRS!

 

[tomw]

The coolant flow to the bottom of the lower intake did not go away with EFI. I have it on my old truck which is EFI. If you have it, there'll be a small diameter hose teed into a heater core hose, which traverses the engine, going around the back end of the cylinder head, and thence forward to the lower intake.
From the pictures, I would suspect either the intake to cylinder head gasket IF you have coolant being plumbed into the intake, or a head gasket.
The former would require intake manifold gaskets, and cleanup of both intake and cylinder head gasket surfaces before replacing the gasket.
If it is a head gasket seeping, you might be able to re-torque the head and get proper sealing. It all depends on how long, how bad the seepage is. With a cold engine, and no pressure in the cooling system, break all head bolts free. Just loosen them a few turns, so you know they have unseated and are free of the head. Tighten them back using a small wrench, such as a 3/8" drive ratchet wrench. Snug, not tight. Now use a torque wrench, and tighten them in sequence to 1/3 of the spec. Repeat, going to 2/3 and do a final pass at full torque. If you are lucky, you will have stopped the seepage. If not, I'd bet removing the head and a good cleaning along with a new gasket would work.
I do not think your vintage had 'torque to yield' cylinder head bolts, so re-torquing is possible, and may seal. I did this on my own likely 10 years ago, and found that, IIRC, a couple or several bolts were not as tight as all the rest. No leaks so far. Ahh, cr*p, that's the way to get something started leaking by mentioning how well it has gone so far...
Any way,if the coolant has been maintained, you should not have rust formed which would prevent the head gasket from sealing by a re-tightening procedure. If your coolant has been neglected, this likely has less chance of success.
You will also need a cam cover gasket. I personally have had bad luck with cork or rubberized cork gaskets. They all loosen up and seep oil over the sides & rear of the engine. I believe you can get a real 'rubber' gasket for the high $teens instead of the $7-9/10 for a cork. Next time will be a rubber gasket if I can find one.
tom

 

[Dredwolf]

thanks!

Thanks for the welcome and the info. I have a decent collection of tools, and put the radiator pressure tester on the truck this AM, and pumped it up to 15psi looking for the leak, but no luck.

I did go ahead and pull the inner fender liner for access, but it looks like the intake has to come off to track this down. No big deal, I already pulled half of it once to install fresh plugs and wires. I hope its not a blown head gasket, because my garage is occupied with a '91 Explorer getting a new set of heads for that very problem, and I have a '89 F150 greeting me each day when I get home because of a blown freeze plug (replacing with brass).

I'll keep this updated, hopefully it's not a block.

 

[scotts90ranger]

My guess is intake gasket, or head gasket but most likely intake gasket...

 

[tomw]

If you want to get the freeze plug problem fixed quickly, you can get 'rubber' plugs that will install easily(relatively... access to behind a motor mount is tough) and get you back on the road pretty quickly. I have seen them available in seemingly all sized, and all you need to do is use a chisel or screwdriver to puncture & lever out the old plug, wipe the block surface clean, insert the rubber plug, and tighten the nut. They will last as long as a standard plug. If you keep the coolant maintained, factory plugs should never need replacement for the life of the engine. Perhaps if you live in Detroit, where the roads are salted regularly when they can afford it, freeze plugs can corrode from the outside in, but I doubt it.
tom