I have myself another problem. For the past two weeks I noticed that my truck has been dripping coolant on the driveway. The other day while installing my side steps, I noticed that coolant was slowly dripping down from the front of the tranny. Any clue where this is leaking from? Hope its nothing major.
Thanks guys.

 

It could be as simple as a leak at the heater core hoses that attach at the firewall. It is possible for the coolant to be leaking down the firewall and other components and look like it is originating from the front of the tranny. try looking where they go into the firewall on the passenger side. otherwise, you will have to try to look back in there from the top to see if you can spot where it is coming from. Check your oil and see if it seems thin and has bubbles. If so then it could be a head gasket. But I don't think that would be your prob. Usually doesn't leak all the way out . Check for pin holes in your heater hoses. Let the truck warm up real good then shut it off and look for tiny fountains of antifreeze coming from the hoses. It could be just shooting from the hose down towards the engine.

 

So I checked the heater core hoses and no leaks. I also checked the other hoses and nothing. Where else can this be coming from? The head gasket should still be good as this was a rebuilt engine a year nd a half ago.,

 

Intake coolant crossover at the rear of the engine is the next possibility. The seals for it are actually the lower intake-to-cylinder head gaskets. Check near the upper rear corners of the heads and along the crevice between them and the lower intake plenum for dampness. There are two crossover points for coolant through the lower intake plenum; one across the front and one acrosss the rear.

 

Thanks for beating me to it Greystreak I didnt want to throw that one in. Didn't want to scare him...at least not yet.

 

I dont really work on engines too much your gonna have to help me out here. Were you guys are talking about, is that external or internal of the engine? Gan I get to it and chage it, or do I have to have it opened up? Is is bad for the engine to be leaking from hear, does it cause major damage?
Thanks again

 

Billybob, yeah I was hesitant about posting it but if thats the problem he's gonna want to look into it before it gets bad enough to leak into an intake port. Then its worse news.

Its internal to the engine in that it is a gasket between the lower intake and the cylinder heads. The gasket seals between the two and if it begins to leak on the outside, it has the potential to leak on the inside which can be life-threatening to the engine. The reason being that the intake handles mostly AIR and if the gasket deteriorates enough the leak could spread into the intake ports in the cylinder heads thus releasing water into the combustion chambers. Water doesn't compress like air and if this happens serious engine damage is the result. Not trying to scare you here, just letting you know that if this is indeed the location of the leak, you don't want to put off fixing it for too long. The lower intake has the fuel injectors and the fuel rail mounted to it. The cylinder heads are beneath the valve covers. If you look closely at the lower intake between the fuel rail/injectors and the valve covers, you will see several bolts along the edge of the lower intake these bolts hold the intake to the heads and the gaskets in question in place between the two. Along the edge of the intake near the corners on both the intake and the heads are the areas that will be wet if either of these gaskets have failed. There are two; one for each cylinder head with the intake set in the middle. Replacing requires removing all of the components attached to the upper (with the 5.0 stamped in the top) and lower intake manifolds and then removing the manifolds to access the gaskets.

This project (as it probably seems) is a pretty hefty undertaking if you have never torn this far into your truck AND because its so time consuming, its also pretty expensive to have a shop handle.

 

I had a coolant leak that just turned out to be a leaky thermostat gasket. $30 fixed her right up. Hopefully yours is just as minor.

 

I used to have a lot of problems with my Bronc leaking coolant. I have since replaced everything, and I mean everything, that could leak. Every rubber hose and new clamps, intake manifold gasket, t-stat and gasket, radiator, heater core, cap, coolant recovery tank, I think that is all oh yeah and a leaky freeze plug. Every time I fixed one leak, another one would pop up. I must have the cleanest water passages of any Bronco around! And you need to look carefully to find all of the hoses, there are more than just the radiator and heater hoses. Just when I thought that I had done them all, one underneath the distributor burst. I think that my 90 5.8 has three other hoses besides radiator/heater. One goes from the throttle body to the radiator (a metal and rubber one, I paid $50 for a replacement from the dealer) and there is another one that goes to the throttle body (that is the one under the dist. that burst on me) and there is also a small bypass that goes to the water pump.

But since then it's been over two years and I've not had any more leaks.

One thing that I do is to tighten all of the hose clamps twice a year, once when it starts to get cold and once when winter is over. I have noticed that these trucks seem to be prone to coolant leaks at the hose ends if you don't check them once in a while. And usually, if they start to drip there for a while then you can no longer tighten them to stop the drip and you need to replace the hose. So re-torque them twice a year.

 

xrated,

Way I have found easiest is to simply pressure test the system and nail down the source. Many parts houses ( Autozone, etc ) actually have a pressure testing cap that you can use for FREE and place on your radiator and then pressurize the system with....then just look around for the source. This is a good way to find an external leak at a hose, clamp, radiator, etc...

 

it's probably your water pump, coming out the hole at the bottom of it..easy to see..just look for a trace of green water..not to expensive to replace..

 

Dont rule out the freeze plugs--- found a small leak in my 1992 drivers side under the motor mount. Hadnt tackled the job yet but found a post on the same plug, ---(drip identical) small hole in the plug. Just cant figure out why when it sits up for a few days it leaks . Drive it everyday wont leak. Previously i though too it was the lower manifold cross overs, just changed them to (edlebrock) no sign of leaks untill i got out the magnifiers.I always wondered why it would be the hardest plug to get too (acess) course isnt it like this for every one----LOL TR