help! foamy stuff in airbox
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help! foamy stuff in airbox
91 f150 5.0 4x4 
ive been using up antifeeze for a while now, about a half gallon a week. plenty of heat, and no running hot. the needle is always straight up and down, twice i have seen to needle drop to the 25%? range while stopped at a stop sign. the truck runs good, although the last week or two my mpg's have dropped a little. so tonight i noticed that what i thought was antifreeze was dripping on the wheelwell under the overflow tank and the airbox. i popped off the air cleaner and the bottom of the box was covered in white foam. the crankcase filter too. could this be antifreeze? where from? this truck has me really fired up!! any thoughts will help. nate
ive been using up antifeeze for a while now, about a half gallon a week. plenty of heat, and no running hot. the needle is always straight up and down, twice i have seen to needle drop to the 25%? range while stopped at a stop sign. the truck runs good, although the last week or two my mpg's have dropped a little. so tonight i noticed that what i thought was antifreeze was dripping on the wheelwell under the overflow tank and the airbox. i popped off the air cleaner and the bottom of the box was covered in white foam. the crankcase filter too. could this be antifreeze? where from? this truck has me really fired up!! any thoughts will help. nate
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Did it smell like anti-freeze? Was the overflow full? When was the last time you serviced the coolant system (Hoses, radiator, thermostat, ect.)? Was there any foam in the line running from crankcase to the filter in the air filter housing?
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yeah the overflow was empty, and it was coming out of the hose too. this truck is fairly new to me, but the antifreeze looked brand new when i got the truck.? never had it serviced and ive never had any problems with it. no leakage on or around the motor of any kind. and no leakage on the ground when im parked, until today. thanks nate
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the foam might smell like antifreeze, i cant really tell what it smells like.little foam under the oil cap. no foam on the dip stick, and no high oil level. i noticed a little puddle under the front pass side. under the axle. it may be coming from the front of the intake or some where on the water pump. how can i tell if this is the intake or the heads. im leaning towards the intake, and i cant believe that the water pump would do this. what would happen if continued to drive 40-50 miles a day until after x-mas, until i have more money. thanks, nate
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From: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Water pumps will start to leak out the weep hole in the bottom when they start to let go. Since you've already found a puddle in the air intake box, and some under the oil fill cap, try cleaning those two areas, and then drive the truck for a short period, and check those areas again. It sounds like a gasket problem, but one never knows. I've seen trucks with the air intake box mounted up near the radiator collect water from simply driving through rain, and the white goo will appear under the oil fill cap for that reason as well. To make sure it's not the pump, physically get under the truck, and look for the weep hole at the bottom of the pump, and see if it's showing any signs of recent fluid flow. Normally, no fluid comes out of this hole, so it shouldn't show any.
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Natron343 - you ask how long you can put off a repair. If anti-freeze is coming out the weep hole your time is limited. When the pump seal leaks the anti-freeze flow through the inner bearing and out the weep hole. It doesn't take long for the grease to wash out and for the bearing to fail. Then you are done.
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I just replaced the water pump in my 92 F150. I have the 300 CID I6 so it's probably a little different set up but what is probably the same is removing the fan/clutch and pulley from the water pump. This was a little big of a chore. The fan is clutch driven so it turns freeley and independently from the pulley. Both are bolted to the to the water pump. Ford made a special tool which you use to hold the pulley so you could remove the fan nut. The fan nut is a big ole 1 5/16ths inch nut. You have to hold the pulley still and they get a big ole wrench on this nut. Otherwise you'll never get the pulley off so you can get the water pump bolts off. Luckily my neightor is a welder so he cut me out a big ole chunk of steel and drilled some holes in it so I could bolt it to the pulley and hold it that way. If you're gonna replace the water pump yourself you'll need something to hold that pulley.
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im still burning up the green stuff. nothing coming out of the weep hole. i can see it leaking a little from the front of the manifold. i tried some aluma seal stuff in the radiator today and i noticed that the upper rad hose was warm but the rad cap was not, infact it was cold(it was 17 degrees in MN this morning).this all kind of started happening when i started to use my heat. im going to try turning the temp all the way to cold for a couple days to see if it matters.? if the manifold had a gasket leak or was cracked would that cause anti freeze to leak into the air box? i think im going to put it in the shop, i have a feeling it will be getting bad news!? 
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