Noticed a weep from the left freeze plug in the 4.0 Aerostar. Looks like it's the one near the motor mount. Anyone have any tips for replacement? Ordered the a Melling mpe278br in brass in case there's more than 1 leaking.

 

I remember my 3 liter 1986 started to leak through a freeze plug back in 1990.

Took it to a Firestone where they removed the bad plug and installed an adjustable plug with some kind of orange color sealer. Never leaked again.

if you search for "freeze plug" in this forum, there was a thread about it a year or so ago.

 

Leak got worse overnight. Ended up doing it. Needed to remove left engine mount. Bit of advise. Need to be careful tapping old plug out. They are not very deep in depth . Didn't need to beat it out , just tapped side with screwdriver.. Minor fright as it dropped into the block and most time was spent bending and fishing it out with a magnet. I nearly had the contents of my toolbox out on the floor with extensions sockets etc. Used 1 1/2" brass replacement from autozone.

 

Glad to hear you got it fixed.
For future reference, this one is available at O'Reilly's. I put some in my 3.0 years ago. Didn't have to remove motor support.

 

Best to drill a hole in the center with long bit.
Use hole with a rod to pry out if one has to do it in the engine bay.

Even with the copper expansion plugs, I like to coat the sealing surfaces and the coolant face of the plug with a liquid sealer such as Permatex 300. The copper ones can corrode out quickly if the electrolysis or coolant chemicals are off.

 

Thanks x1000 for the link. Went and ordered a few of those as I know if one is bad the rest can't be too far behind.