Have a 96 explorer that looses antifreeze. IE every few trips my wife will have to add into the overflow. Overflow will be low or empty. I'm talking it takes maybe a hundred or more miles for this to happen.

Weird issue is that last time we had a leak you could smell and see it. This one you cannot see or smell. Never any on the ground. Never smells like antifreeze.

Whats going on? It does have 180K on it but has been babied and still runs great though the AC may not last much longer. We've done all typical maintenance and at about 150K replaced most of the stuff that can go wrong excepting I was not pulling the engine to replace a timing chain(must be the same engineer that required lifting the vette engines to replace spark plugs.....)

Thanks for all input!

PS I have a new tuner for my 7.3 that can read codes-- is there a port on my wifes 96 Exp that I could maybe read any codes on it also?

Jeff

 

Try Checking the heater hose. I had a mercury topaz that had the same problem. It leaked but i could not see it or smell coolant it was such a small hole that it leaked slow enough not to put enough coolant on the engin to smell.

 

It might be burning it via a leak in the head gaskets. You would never see the leak as it all goes out the exhaust as water vapor. Check your plugs and see if any of them have odd coloring. Check your compression, somtimes a leak will cause compression to go down. Eventaully you'll start seeing white exhaust as the leak gets worse due to the amount of steam in it.

Also, check your oil and make sure its not foaming after running the engine to temperature. The leak could be into the crankcase, in which case it will thin the oil and cause excessive wear on the engine.

 

I just replaced my Heater Control Valve which was leaking, but only while the engine was running. I, therefore, say no leaks when parked. It's an easy fix and we'll see if it fixes my slow "leak." The part was about $17 at AutoZone. I suspect that this may also help your A/C problem.

I thank another user of this forum who mentioned this fix in another thread, but I don't remember who it was.

 

Also check your transmission fluid. If the coolant is going into the trans, it wont be long before it needs a rebuild, and as tg sez coolant in the engine oil is BAD news.

The last mystery leak that i had to track down was on my wifes 95 Taurus.

I warmed it up & squeezed the upper radiator hose, & that was the only way that I could get a pin hole leak in a heater hose to show itself.

Try doing the same & check all hoses, the heater valve as mentioned, the weep hole in the water pump & the seams where the plastic tanks are crimped onto the radiator core.

 

Thanks for all the input so far!! Medical problem in the family puts it on the back burner again. But I'll check the oil and tranny fluid right now.

BTW on the heater control valve. Originally had a leak there. Replaced it. New one leaked also. Had to go to new #2 to get a good one FWIW. Guess it does happen at times. FYI.

Jeff

 

Wife drove it a couple hundred miles and came home about an hour ago. Just checked. No foam on the oil on the dipstick. Checked tranny. Looked right and smelled right but how do I know for sure on the tranny?
Thanks, Jeff

 

Rost what color is your Exploder. I have family there and I visit every 2-3 months

 

Silver or Grey depending on your opinion. Ironman, triathlon stickers on it and shooting stickers like TSRA, camp Perry etc.... though we live in the country about 8 miles out of town and wife works from home mostly, going to town and on trips for a newspaper a few times a week.

Jeff

 

Sounds like you're OK so far. I'd remove the radiator cap with the engine cold & let it idle til it warms up & watch for bubbles in the coolant. Bubbles = leaking head gasket.

 

Had the same problem for about a year. Leaked just enough to have to top off about once a month. Checked the plugs, motor & tranny fluids but did not find the problem. Lucky me it got worse (I guess).

It turned out to be the seal in the radiator, the area between the plastic and the metal. Replaced it this past December and haven't lost a drop of anti-freeze since.