Good Morning. I have a 2001 F-150 XLT, 5.4 V8 Triton, 4X4 that has a small amount of coolant dripping on the starter, actually I used an inspection mirror, and couldn't find any on top of the starter, only on the underside. But it has to be dripping from above somewhere, then rolling around to the underside. I have been smelling coolant for the past several months, and could not find the source. Truck is not overheating, and I have had to only add a small amount of coolant to the tank in the past couple of months. I thought maybe it was the coolant tank cap so I replaced it. I never find any coolant under the truck on the driveway. I checked to make sure it wasn't the heater core. Could the water pump have a tiny leak and is dripping and finding it's way back to the starter, or worse is it a possible head gasket leaking? I have a neighbor that used to work in a radiator shop and has a device that he said we could hook up to the radiator and pressurize the cooling system and that may help us find where the source of the leak is. I just discovered the coolant on the starter yesterday and took the picture. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciate. Thanks, Goose

I crawled under the truck because I wanted to confirm I had an oil leak, and inadvertently found the coolant on the starter.

 

That is a common problem with that engine. 1st make sure none of your heater hoses are leaking. If dry there then one or more of the head bolts can break causing the head gasket to leak oil usually but also coolant. When we found them at the dealer and it was still under warranty, Ford would send us an entire new engine.

I've never tried it but you might get away with just replacing the head gasket AND head bolts. The bolts are torque to yield meaning you actually stretch them when tightening and are NOT reusable.

 

Don't the 2V 5.4's have the bad crossover tube on the front of the intake manifold? And the heater hose with the problematic fitting underneath?

Don't have one but I've seen those things described. Apparently coolant flows backward and gives the wrong impression of the leak source.

 

I replaced my water pump last year on my 2001 F150 4.2l with 175k miles. It was only the pump gasket which had broken and was dribbling a little amount coolant, not much but enough to be noticeable when water was hot and under higher pressure. The fan could be splashing coolant on other locations which should be more obvious when system is fully pressurized.

As you may know, water leaking into crankcase from a bad head gasket will be intermixing as 'chocolate milk' into the oil at some point. Engine compression check on my engine was approx 150 psi on all cylinders. OTOH a busted head gasket may or may NOT show up as uneven compression on cylinders. You may want to invest instead in a cylinder leak-down tester if you suspect that problem.

The issue I had to address was the compression gauge itself and getting the right adapter to fit into the F150 4.2l spark plug threaded holes. I finally had to fabricate one from cutting up and using an old spark plug and JB Weld epoxy to get the compression tester to screw in correctly. I didn't want to invest in the more expensive testers that fit my Ford.

 

I would pressure test the system and snoop. All I can think of back there is the heater core. Guess could dribble some into HVAC case then leak from evap drain.

That metal pipe behind water pump can rust apparently, I did mine proactively when replacing the intake plenum.

Heck, maybe that is leaking. If so, spend the cash for OEM. The Dorman are junk and have pathetic volume compared to OE.

 

Inspect the valley for coolant, and the HVAC drain
If the pipe leaks, the coolant will exit the rear of the engine and reach the oil pan or starter
Did see a few of those at the dealer myself, but it's uncommon IMO for a head gasket to leak coolant externally on a 5.4 unless you have broken head bolts
So, the heater core and HVAC drain needs to be inspected
I'd go easy with the pressure tester

 

Yep, and that is what was common, the broken head bolts .Take it with a grain of salt when I say I might be biased in my assessment in calling it common, just that I've done so many of them years gone by.

Always the passenger side bottom rear corner.

 

Then I have to agree with you about what's common or not when you do several thousand