93 f150 4x4 5.0
My truck started overheating the other day. I replaced the thermostat and topped off the coolant and when the radiator was nearly full, I noticed cool pant pouring out of what seemed to be, the oil pan gasket. Could this be a head gasket issue? I checked the oil on the dipstick and its normal. I need some advice

 

The coolant that leaked from above was from a crack in a hose. I repaired that.

 

if the oil pan was pouring coolant out you'd see it on the dip stick. My guess would be the thermostat housing didn't get seated all the way. Did you put the thermostat in the housing then the gasket on top. I use a little bit of rtv silicone on both sides of the gasket just to hold everything in place since there thermostats in kind of a tight place on the 5.0's

 

Yeah, installed a new thermostat housing gasket and it sealed nicely. No leaks from that

 

I've read that it could be coming from ta freeze plug. Where are they located in the 302?

 

The freeze plugs on any V8 are on each side of the engine block a ways below the exhaust manifold. They are round, about 1 and 1/8 inches in diameter.

 

Check at the seam where the timing cover and the block meet. Thats where mine is leaking from and drips down to the rim of the oil pan

 

Ok. That seems a bit more probable. I'll check it out tomorrow.

 

You can replace some of the freeze plugs with the motor still in the truck. I thought i had one leaking but it ended up being a broken head bolt that was leaking coolant out between the head and the block. It is tricky to figure where coolant is leaking from, there are a lot of places it leaks down from.

 

Thanks fellas. It turned out that it was the seal on the water pump that apparently goes bad when the pump starts to fail