I am losing about a quart of coolant per week on my 93 explorer.

1) Found signs of a small leak coming from passenger side, coming down near the oil filter. Also a tiny leak on the drivers side, barely noticeable. Does this strongly indicate head cracks or could it be something else? No sign of coolant in my oil and smog sniffer found nothing in the exhaust - good news there.

2) I also have a leak from the water pump, which seems to be the source of most my coolant loss. Never replaced one of these myself, but two different mechanics want $430 for the pump and thermostat - seems a little steep to me. Thoughts?

So, I need to replace the pump for certain. Regarding the other leaks, is it worthwhile / safe to try a block sealer? Could tightening the lower intake manifold perhaps offer a fix, or would I be seeing different symptons if the problem was from there?

I am going to monitor them closely - curious, how long does it take for the coolant to turn white after leaking?

Thanks much!

 

from my experince on my 93 xlt explorer it could be this mine always had the hint of antifreeze smell when you shut it off I would lose a little water also I did try the "block sealer" it won't work if you have the same problem I did.

mine would look like it was leaking from the thermostate housing but it wasn't it was the intake manifold gasket leaking it lasted about a year then one day she started to lose water fast like a blowed hosed, well I took it to the mechanic and for $200 he fixed it yeah right after that #1 cyclender started to leak water into the cylder so here came the block sealer it worked for that the motor still runs today just the tranyy gave out also does your truck use oil mine did until we fixed the intake gasket.

so my advice to you is if yours is leaking in front and back have the heads pulled and put a top half gasket set on and buy the new heads bolts also

if it was just the water pump you could do it your self

fyi I just pulled a 92 with 108,000 miles had a leak like you was talking about after I pulled the motor you could see that both the front and rear gasket was trying to push out.

how many miles is on your rig???

 

suggestion:

I would not recommend putting any sort of stop leak in the system. First concentrate on the leak from the front. Clean it off and let it run and see if it's the water pump. Also, make sure it's not the thermostat housing leaking onto the waterpump.

The other 2 leaks you refer to could be the result of the fan pushing the water pump/therm housing leak towards the back of the motor.

I'd hold off on pulling heads until doing the pump and further testing.

Mike

 

I agree with the last reply. Clean the engine and keep an eye on the front end. if it was the head I think you would have a small amout of smoke from the steam. The inside of the head is alot hotter then the outside. Chances are it is the fan blowing it onto the rear.

 

Sounds like good advice, thanks everyone. Earlier today I cleaned-up the easily accessible coolant 'drip' areas and did some highway driving.

I'll run a daily tissue test to see what happens.

Oh, the truck only has 83000 miles on it - most highway.

 

Ok here's a quick update, thank for your help.

From underneath the car, the coolant is clearly coming down straight over the water pump / fan shaft. From the top, I can't see any evidence of the leak. Nothing really there before the engine cools a little, then it takes off.

Where should I look for signs of a thermostat housing crack versus water pump? I just an oil-change kind of guy, this is all a little beyond my expertise.

Good news so far is that I don't see any evidence of leaks from the heads. Could coolant from a leaking pump get blown back consistently on one side (passenger) and not really on the other?

Thanks all!

 

The thermostat housing is on the motor side of the upper radiator hose. You'll probably have to remove the air cleaner duct assembly to get a good look at it. If it's leaking ABOVE the water pump, then I would suspect the therm housing gasket or the upper radiator hose. One question... does the temperature stay consistent once it's warmed up?? I was a bit confused by your comment ' Nothing really there before the engine cools a little, then it takes off. ' Do you get a lot of bubbling in the radiator when it's running, and what's the status (full, empty, overflows) of the overflow bottle??

Mike

 

Ok, some more experimenting and I take back the part about it not leaking right away. Strangely, yesterday's highway cruising did not result in any outward signs of leaks while today's surface steet / hill attacking driving resulted in definite leakage.

The temperature does stay consistent when the car is heated-up. Runs like a gem, actually. However, the reservoir will lose about half its contents after a couple hundred miles of driving. It fills up a bit when the engine is hot.

Is the water pump weephole visible on the bottom side of the housing, next to the pulley? Looked like that's where some is coming from. More may be coming from up-top, not sure yet.

Not seeing anything from the heads yet - my mechanic thinks they're both leaking, but compression test was ok and I don't see anything overt going on...

Thank you Mike and every1!