A couple days ago I had a Check Engine light with code P1299 come on when I was pulling into my driveway with my 2004 E-450, (meaning the Cylinder Head Temp Sensor had went into fail-safe limp-home mode). I didn't notice a significant decrease in power at the time, but I was also coasting pretty much the rest of the way as I drove down the driveway and parked.

So, next day I check the codes, and popped the hood and checked it out as it idled. The top radiator hose got very hot after 10 mins, the bottom one still felt completely cold. Also, there was a small amount of water dripping from the timing belt cover/splash shield plastic thing(?) (which seems to correspond to where the weep hole on the water pump would leak, if I could see it past the timing belt cover thing. and a loud chirping sound coming from somewhere on the drive belt. The degas bottle never gurgled or sucked coolant, and the level in the bottle stayed consistent the entire time. As it idled, the temperature gauge got up to half-way before I shut it off. The belts are relatively new and undamaged looking.

I fixed my radiator recently, after my bus started spewing coolant outside of Buffalo Jump, MT. (Where Native Americans used to push entire herds of buffalo off the cliff- seemed like a very fitting place to have a radiator bust). but that was the first repair I've ever done. So I'm new to this, and I just wanted to ask you guys if there is any factors I might have overlooked, or tests to perform, before I go changing the water pump.

There was one other thing that seems off, but I'm honestly not sure what the part is. Below, there is a long metal tube that goes from behind the battery, on the left side to the right. I noticed that the curved black, 6-sided fitting, (which runs behind the battery's + terminal) had a lot of condensation on it. So much so, in fact, that it was actually forming a small puddle on the ground. What is that and could the issues be related in any way?




Quick Note: There were 2 other codes, P1233 (Fuel Pump Driver Module Offline) and P1237 (Fuel Pump Secondary Circuit Malfunction). This seems to correspond to an old issue this thing has had, namely that it used to tell you the gas tank was full when it was empty, and now it reads empty 100% of the time. It's never stalled, so I think it is probably an electrical/sensor type issue. It will occassionally go for 100 miles and only take like $5 worth of gas, and othertimes it will go 20 miles and take $100 worth of gas. Annoying, but not a big deal. I include it here to not leave anything potentially relevant out.

I would really appreciate some help. Thanks for reading.

 

the black pipe with the condensation looks a lot like a part of your air condition for the vehicle. With the Temp issue it sounds a lot like a thermostat issue to me. What I have noticed about Ford and the engine cooling system ( mainly early 2000s and below) is if you change out part of the cooling system then you might as well prepare to replace the rest including the heater hose assembly and if applicable the external coolant by pass hose if you don't see a by pass hoes then it you probably have an internal by pass which doesn't require attention 99% of the time.

 

Yeah, that's kind of what I was figuring on the A/C, it runs to a place near the A/C pulley. Is it normal for it to condensate so much? Especially since I was running it for 10 minutes with the heat on.

I was planning on replacing the thermostat in Montana as well, but the bolts seem to be in there pretty tight and they seem really brittle and rusted, and I figured I would wait until I was home, so if the bolt snapped off in my driveway it wouldn't suck as much as it would halfway cross the country.

Alot of things I've read say it might be the thermostat, but if it were stuck closed how could the upper radiator hose get so hot? It just seems to me like the thermostat is opening, but since there's not enough suction from the lower radiator/water pump, it's just opening, and sitting in the upper radiator hose. But if anyone has a better idea of how this works, (or why I'm wrong) I would really like to hear it.

 

Did some more research and observation, here's what I got.

The chirp continues, and is not effected by spraying water onto it.
There is no play in the water pump pulley when it's stationary, or moving.
There is a wobble in the A/C clutch pulley when it's moving, but I can't reproduce the play when the vehicle is off, moving it by hand.

The leak actually appears to coming from the bottom of the big A/C block directly behind the battery, (Evaporator Core I would guess) connected to the firewall. It is dripping down into the front axle, (passenger side) and then dripping down onto the timing belt cover, making puddles underneath the battery, (and non-directly) in the center of the vehicle.

It's a pretty consistent leak, and appears to be clear water, but I don't have a great sense of smell.

There is a slight burning smell coming as the engine gets up to temp, but it doesn't overheat. The level in the degas tank never differs, and it doesn't chug down liquid from the degas bottle, even when it gets to temp. This differs from how it worked during changing the radiator and flushing the system.

And the Check Engine light has not reoccured, but I've only let it idle long enough to get the radiator hose get hot.

 

What about the coolant tank cap? I watched a video about the coolant tank caps going bad and not holding pressure because the spring inside the cap loses its strength? I don't know what year your truck is but according to the video I watched, all trucks from 2003( I believe this is the date he gave)-2009 had the same cap. Diesels and gas alike. Just a thought and something to check out. I watched the video and walked out into my garage popped the hood on my truck (09) and checked mine and I have the updated cap. If the system can't build the correct pressure the coolant can boil pretty easily.

 

Thanks Bigdawg5565, I hadn't considered that. I'm currently house sitting, away from my shuttle bus conversion/mobile home (the E450), but I'll check it out when I get home. Before I left I replaced all the battery terminals and lugs, (in case it was electrical) and replaced the thermostat.

I also noticed the crankshaft pulley was totally rusted over and wobbling pretty noticeably, (that's my chirping, I think), so I'm going to replace that. For kicks I'm going to replace the water pump, tensioner pulley, and belt as well, and flush the coolant system again.