Twice now, in about a month, I've been greeted first thing in the morning with a puddle of coolant under my truck. Most of it leaks where the EGR delete hose attaches to the intake manifold, and there's also a puddle on the coolant resevior that comes from the little hose from the radiator. This only happens when overnight temps drop into the mid 20s. At first I thought it was a bad coolant tank cap, not releasing pressure, but pressure should drop with the cold. Coolant looks as clean as brand new. Any ideas?

 

You can see that the clamp is stretched out of round so it's not sealing. Either new one or bend it back for now until you get a new one.
The adapter where it meets the intake is leaking. Probably the O-ring. You can see the "snail trail" coming from up there. This is why I welded up my stock cooler and used that instead.

 

You already know this Chris. The advantage of constant tension hose clamps is they compensate for the compression of the hose over time, but they also compensate for temperature shrinkage.. The clamp on the bottle may have just lost tension or is not the correct size. I ran into this a few years back when I got tension clamps from McMaster to use on the vehicles. They are very size specific.

I'd replace the worm clamps.


Edit, Pete's got it covered.

 

Well now that you point it out it's obvious.

I already welded the cooler, and got a leak at the o-ring. And before you ask, it was a brand new Motorcraft spec o-ring. Probably paid $10 at the dealer for that stupid thing.

I am so tired of this. I've never had a vehicle that leaked so much. Of course some of my frustration stems from the efforts of trying to keep the IPR delete from leaking. Good luck with that! If it turns out that I have to remove the intake manifold, for the umteenth time, I'll probably thread that hole with a pipe tap and screw-in a freakin' hose barb with some Perma-seal. There goes another weekend of my life for someone else's crappy engineering.

Can anybody tell me what's the i.d. of the hole on the bottom of the manifold that the EGR cooler interfaces with? I'm sure the o-ring is still on the stock cooler, and that would get me in the ball park, but I'm an-al and I need precision.

 

May have been a spec'd o-ring, but is the groove in spec for the o-ring? That ain't a Ford item.

Edit, since Pete's going all detail on pics, here's an issue with worm clamps, which I don't try to use anymore. Clamping isn't 360.

 

I was talking about the o-ring I used with the stock cooler that leaked. The o-ring I used on the Dieselsite delete came with it. It's been less than a year since I put it in. I'm sure if I called them they'd be happy to send me another that will fail by next Christmas if not sooner.

 

I'm not sure if the leak is the o-ring or worm clamp. The red coolant shouldn't be leaving a white trace.

 

A pressure test would show it but look @ the "snail trail". Its looks to me it's running out of the adapter dripping down to the hose & clamp before continuing down the hose.
A pressure test upto 15 psi and watch it sweep. Then you'll know.

 

It looks to me like its running over the adapter just to the left and above the yellow arrowhead; right in line with the trail across the hose clamp.

Pressue test is a good idea. Where's the best place to tap-in to the system, radiator to degas hose? Intake to degas hose? Or does it not really not matter?

 

Yes, that's the same place I'm talking about.
You can just T in on the small line at the degas bottle. Or if you have an adapter for the cap. I made an adapter by disassembling an old cap.

 

I made an adapter out of an old cap for flushing the system but it's not even close to air tight. Hopefully I'll have time to do the test tomorrow.

I just sent that pic to Dieselsite. I can't wait to hear about how it was installer error or some other excuse. I sent them an email in November when it first happened. In it I asked " Do you have many complaints of leaks? And what are the typical fixes?" Their reply: "Not at all."

 

I don't mean to send you down the path. I just don't know if they spec'd the groove or the o-ring to fit tightly into the Ford part taking into the possible thermal expansion factors and heat aging of the ring. It might work fine in FL. It's basically the same issue with the blue and orange hoses leaking during cold weather.

Pete's suggestion may work well, but you may have to try it when it's at low temp.

If I'm not following I'm trying to get other things done in life right now.

 

No biggie Jack. And thanks for your support!

 

Oh and by the way, you should be able to unbolt the two long bolts that go through the intake to retain that adapter and remove it without taking off the intake. Just drain 2 -3 gallons out from the radiator first.

 

If it's that easy I may just source a slightly fatter o-ring for the adapter. Thanks for the tip!