Beginning of winter I had a small leak on top of the water pump and it turned out to be the top radiator hose was going bad. Good deal, $25 bucks and voila, fixed.

Now I'm getting a small leak on the bottom of the motor. I believe all the radiator hoses have almost 180K on them, it looks like a few of them are starting to go bad. OK no big deal, I'll replace those. However, it looks like it's leaking from a few other spots as well. The oil cooler has a small amount of seepage on it, although nothing in the degas bottle yet, and I'll get to that when the weather starts to break, unless it forces me to do it sooner.

Here's where it gets a bit tricky. I'm getting coolant SLOWLY dripping down the front of the motor. You can see a small drip on the harmonic balancer and front of the oil pan. So I'm thinking it's leaking at the water pump. This pump, from Napa, is only a year old. I don't have my coolant filter in yet, but have maintained proper SCA levels since I've had the truck, 2 years.

Is it possible the gasket has gone bad and not the water pump? In a perfect world I would replace everything with Motorcraft parts, but money is a bit tight at the moment. Any thoughts, ideas guys? None of this is leaking bad, it takes almost a month for the coolant to drop below the ADD line on the Degas bottle, but I want to get my ducks in a row when I go to fix this.

Sorry about the novel, but no work today and I'm getting bored, it's either this or I start drinkin!

 

I'd day go to autozone rent a pressure tester and pressurize the system and see if you can make it leak so you can find it

 

For chits and giggles I would check and make sure no bolts have come lose

 

Good idea Mike, thanks for the input.

 

I'd start drinking .. it's 5 o'clock somewhere ...

If you can't find the source check the fitting that the heater hose connects to on top the water pump. It has an o-ring that seals to the pump and mine was 1/2 missing. Took me forever to find the leak.

 

Thanks for the tip Jim and I decided to wait a bit before cracking a cold one.

 

Both of mine have had a tiny leak at the t stat housing. Took me forever to find on the first one. Could smell coolant after getting out, no drips, no wet spots under truck. Kept looking and finally it showed itself while on a camping trip. It started leaking enough to see a small line of coolant on the water pump. I guess it had been evaporating on the hot engine is why I could smell it but not find it. Take a paper towel and wipe all around the housing to see if it picks up any moisture. Hope this helps.

 

Where did you get the upper hose Todd? Mine are all orginal with 200K on them and just the other day thought about posting to see if they should all be replaced?

 

Just at Napa. $25 bucks

 

Thanks Todd, I'm thinking about replaceing them all.

The coolant filter will help you out alot by getting the sand and junk out of there. I haven't had any problems since I put mine on. If the water pump is leaking out the weep hole its history.

 

No problem Glenn. Where is the weep hole on these? I know I need to get the coolant filter done, it hard to get motivated when it's cold out.

 

Its on the end towards the pulley, bottom side IIRC. Its an indication that the seal is going bad.

I'm not trying to steal your thread but I was also wondering if there is a place to buy all the hoses at a discount?

 

Thanks. I'll have some trouble shooting this weekend.

Youre not stealing. Unfortunately I don't know where to get a discount, but if you find a place, let me know!

 

Forgot to mention that I put 203 t stat and got a new OEM housing neck at beginning of winter.

 

tshrager - I've got the same leak. I noticed a very small amount on the driveway and it's dripping off the front lip of the oil pan. It's weird because it is not everyday and everything up top is dry and I've been running my newly installed coolant filter setup for about 5000 miles. Did you ever get yours fixed or are you still chasing it?