Drove to the west end of the city today and start smelling antifreeze.
I pull over and there is antifreeze pouring from the bottom of my van.

I pop the hood and can't find the leak on the topside anywhere.
I've also lost my heat. Zero heat.

Did I mention that it is currently -32c with a windchill of -44c??

Drive around and find an autoparts store. Throw in some pre-mix antifreeze and some stop leak for good measure.

1/2 hour drive home with window down because windows fogging up.
(anyone care to calculate the windchill? -32c ambient temp. 70km/hr)

This week is really starting to SUCK!!

Now, is it likely to be my waterpump?
No heat at all. Bad antifreeze leak.
Rad is FULL and still no heat.

Strange thing is that she did not overheat on the way home. That -32c helping me?

 

You need to find the leak first.

Once when I was living in Detroit, I was driving to school one winter morning, and the overheat light came on. Before I had a chance to find a place to pull over, the upper radaitor hose exploded, and I got vapors pouring into the cabin. It seemed that I had parked facing the wind over night, and parts of the radiator had frozen over. It wasn't -32, but it was awefully cold, and it did not help keep the engine from overheating. I also had no heat up otthat point.

 

check the freeze plugs in the block sides and heads for leaks
also lower hose and hoses to rear heater if you have one.

can you blow or force water thru heater hose and core?

the rigors of winter driving can break scale loose in the cooling system causing all types of problems, plugs, excess pressure, leaks

probably an air bubble trapped in heater core or heater hoses.
difficult to get the air out in winter cold. can't bet the engine up to good temp with thermostat wide open for max. coolant flow. who wants to park outside on hill with front end up and wait for it to burp?

 

If you have one!.

If it's the waterpump, it will keep dripping, no matter what stop leak you put in. You'll have to climb under & look for signs at the bottom of the pump. You have no heat because the coolant level in the engine is too low to be pumped thro' the heater core, which is on the engine side of the thermostat. Check the hoses to the heater core, also the heater bypass valve on mine split 2-3 years back (on the passenger side, back behind the airbox, black plastic looking thing with butterfly valve in it & vacuum line operated).
Sounds like your rad is O.K.

If it's a core plug...... lets not go there!

Good luck Aeroman.

 

Core plugs rust out on the 3.0l if the coolant isn't changed on time.

Agreed about the no-heat: once you get air in, you are best off using the bleed procedure that Ford recommends; it really works.

 

Where was the coolant pouring from relative to the engine?

It might be the heater core has let go. I changed the core in my 95 3.0L last fall and was surprised to see that the heater box has a drain port through the firewall. Thus a leaking core will drip OUTSIDE the van, not inside. Might explain the fogging windows and lack of heat.

Also, if your van has the 4-way valve in the heater hoses (between the A/C "tank" and the fender), the coolant flow through the heater shuts off completely when the heater selector switch is in the "off" position. Won't help with the cold temps, but it may buy you a couple of days if the weather is going to warm up...

Cheers,
Eric

 

Take a flash light-crawl underneath the front bumper. Now pear up and back behind the pulleys at the front of the water pump. While it is sitting there and the engine is "OFF" you should be able to see a "STAIN" from the fluid if it has been leaking out of the water pump's "WEEP HOLE".
Weep hole? This is what Ford has installed (some companies put them on top) so that at the point that you have leakage here it is first your internal seal that has failed. The next step is just after that you will have a bearing noise (ROCKS SHAKING IN A CAN) just before complete failure.
Grab a hold of the plastic fan at the 3 and 9 O'clock position. try to wiggle it fore and aft. If you have any play at all it is most lickly the pump. Once you have discovered this to be true come back on here and then we'll walk you through the basics.
I agree with the folks here about the possibility of a freeze plug. It has happened to mew on two seperate )non-Ford vehicles). One was on the road-bad-bad. G.-Luck---Boz

 

> That -32c helping me?

No, because if the water is not moving, the pistons are not being cooled. So, the water stays cold in the radiator and intake manifold where a sensor might be, while the pistons are melting or pitting from the anti-freeze burning off.

 

Thanks for all the quick responses people. Much appreciated.



Well, that was a very weird one.


Turned out that the upper rad hose had a blow out.

But facing back into the engine and under the intake. So at first look, the hose apeared fine.

This caused the coolant to run down over the water pump and pretty much everything else below.


Of all the coolant leaks possible, at least it was the easiest to repair.

My guess on the heat loss was "air lock". Even after I topped it up, there was no heat. Until I got all the air out.

*On the heat issue.

Can you have a "weak" water pump?

I have lousy heat at low speed/idle vs fair heat (not great, but better) at speed, regardless of engine temp..

 

Low heat, = one or more of these
1) Blocked heater core or hose or stuck bypass valve ( from A/C)
2) Weak water pump (but also inconsistent temp gauge readings)
3) Mixer door not operating correctly
4) Loose or leaking air ducting
5) Low coolant level.


1) Hoses to & from the heater core should be about the same not one cold & other hot.
2) Can you feel a "surge" when squeezing/ releasing upper rad hose (large one).
3) Check mixer door operation
4) Is airflow normal or weak ?
5) You wouild have topped this up from the last problem, check for a few trips though since more air might work ifself out of the engine. Mustangs have a bleed valve where the hose goes into the engine block at highest point on the engine (3.8L).

Good luck , Aeroman.

 

bax,
you're lucky, top hose. didn't even get dirty changing that

bottom hoses are fun. road garbage and coolant leak into the eyes and run down the arms under the shirt. skin is either frozen off or boiled off.

first good weather, i would check that bottom hose.

 

No kidding! LOL

I had visions of a VERY bad day.

I'll be checking that bottom hose as soon as the current ice age ends here.
It's ONLY a -31 windchill here right now. Much warmer today.

 

This can vary. If the fan is off and no or little air is flowing across the core, then both a normal and plugging (coated with gunk, filled with sand, etc.) core will have a return line temp close to inlet line temp. I've gotten a whole lot of solids out of heater cores I've had out and hooked a garden hose to, and shook the bejesus out of while water under pressure flowed. Cups and cups.

However, if the core is doing its job and transferring heat to air, then with the fan on and blowing hard, there should be a measurable delta T between the two lines.

Most likely (IMO, of course)? Decreased heater core efficiency: crud/sand in core, can't transfer heat to air as fast as the air can carry it away from the core's outer surface.

If it was a blend door issue, you wouldn't notice as much difference when the engine speed changed.

But of course this is all guesswork on my part

 

> Turned out that the upper rad hose had a blow out.

Just like my failure from 30 years ago!

 

I also have a 95 3.0L 2WD van. Your story sound like mine.

First the "weak" water pump": It's possible. When I replaced the water pump on my van (about 5 years ago), ALL the fins on the impeller were gone. I mean completely corroded away. The impeller was just a spinning disc on the shaft. Odd thing was that the van did not overheat unless stuck in stop & go traffic in the summer. I drove the family on a 2000 mile round trip just before I changed the water pump, and the engine temperature only started creeping up when I got stuck in Montreal rush hour. The 3.0L just doesn't seem to generate a lot of heat that the coolant needs to carry away. I have to cover the grille every winter or the engine won't get warm enough to go into "closed loop" and then gas mileage suffers badly.

Second: The stock heater just does not put out much heat, even with the grille covered and the engine at temperature. I replaced the heater core last fall, and made sure all the blend & diversion doors in the heater were working properly. Changing the heater core helped the heater output somewhat, but it still can't cope with such a big air space on its own.

My van didn't have the rear heater from the factory, but I made one myself because the kids were freezing in the back seat. It belts out heat and I have to throttle back the coolant flow through it or we all cook now.

If you can add a second heater, do it. Otherwise, dress warm.

Cheers,
Eric