Got home today and as I was walking away from the truck, I looked back and noticed it was pouring fluid. (Well more like a very fast and steady drip. Almost a stream) Itlooked like it was coming from the transmission and since I knew the tranny leaked, I figured the leak got really bad in the last few days.

I got closer to inspect the leak and noticed it was green and not at all oily. It was transmission fluid. I climbed under and as far as I could tell, without putting my head under the steam of hot liquid, it was coming from the top of the transmission on the passenger side.

What coolant passages run near that area of the transmission? Where should I look? The hoses going through the firewall on the passenger side are dry, the floor in the cab is dry....

What should I be looking for?

Thanks,
Joel

 

radiator could be leaking on to the tranny cooler lines and running back? but it sounds like a heater core to me, when mine leaked it was near th firewall on the pass side. dripped down by the starter.

not much help, i know. good luck!

matt

 

Yeah Heater core was my first thought... or maybe you popped out the rear of the head gasket on the right hand side..... wait for it to cool, get a radiator pump and hand pump some pressure into the cooling system... then start searching... also check your oil for coolant in the oil...

 

What type of ATF is green? None. These trucks used type F ATF which is red.

Green would be the color of coolant. See parts catalog pic below of A/T coolant lines.

Heater cores located within heater plenum chambers (heater boxes), so when they leak, the coolant runs onto the passenger side floor of the cab.

 

Did you check your Freeze Plugs?

 

Bill: I have not checked the freeze plus yet.

NumberDummy: I miss spoke when I wrote "it was TRANSMISSION fluid" I know that transmission fluid is red and radiator fluid is green. Sorry for the mix up there.

It is the radiator fluid in that area that is causing my confusion. There is no radiator fluid in the cab. So I really don't think it is the heater core. I just rebuilt the heads on the truck so I'm really really really hoping is not the head gasket. I opened up the radiator cap and didn't see any oil so I'm hopeful.

After it cooled down a bit, I climbed under her to see what I could see but it had stopped dropping by that point and the only radiator fluid I saw was on the lower transmission cooler line but I'm not convinced that it was leaking from there. I'll let her run while I'm under her tomorrow and I'll let you guys know what I see

 

If you have an O'reilly, or Autozone near you, they loan tools.. you can get a radiator tester and it will have a pump to pump up the pressure and it replaces your radiator cap temporarily... don't run your engine as you will most likely get scalded.. cold coolant under pressure will not burn you.... If you recently had the heads done chances are real good that the gasket between the heads and the intake were not seated right or did you put a ring of RTV around the rear water passages, always a good idea to have the RTV around those water passages... Also if the heads were milled was the intake milled to match? Did you dry fit the intake to the heads and check for excessive gap..

 

I did the heads myself. First time I've done one so I probably did mess it up. But I did put rtv around the water passages. I got a couple books on rebuilding FE engines and followed the directions. I'm worried that I messed it up.

That said, when I was searching for the leak earlier I noticed that the cork intake gasket wasn't really in place which would explain the low manifold pressure so I was going to pull that off and replace that gasket (and someone just gave me an aluminum intake so that's a good excuse to replace that gasket anyway and as long as I that far in, its not much further to redo the heads of I have too. But I don't want to mess it up again so I'll be asking a lot of questions)

 

It sounds like an intake manifold leak.. not so much a head gasket... never use Cork Gaskets!!! if you are putting in an aluminum intake always dry fit the gaskets, and the intake to the head to check for gaps.. do not torque it down at this point... do NOT use the gaskets for the front and rear of the block to the intake, only use the gaskets between the intake and the heads... instead of the front and rear gaskets put a very thick bead of RTV 1/2" thick or so, then set the manifold in place and torque to proper torque values...then let it harden for a few days before starting the engine, and trim any excess off with a razor being careful not to pull it loose from between the block and the intake.. NOTE; MOST ALUMINUM INTAKES DO NOT USE THE STEEL DOWEL PINS IN THE BLOCK FOR ALIGNMENT, SO THEY MUST EITHER BE REMOVED, OR CUT FLUSH WITH THE BLOCK TAKING CARE NOT TO CRACK OR BREAK AWAY THE BLOCK... YOU WILL INSTEAD SET THE DISTRIBUTOR IN PLACE AFTER THE INTAKE IS SET ON AND USE IT FOR ALIGNMENT WHILE THE BOLTS ARE TIGHTENED the dizzy will have to be removed for proper torque of the intake bolts, and make sure to torque the bolts in proper sequence, in 3 or four progressive stages

This seems rather **** and time consuming but there is a reason for this...to prevent leaks!

 

Eh, Ok. I'm going to have to wait till next week to get that done. I won't have time till then. But this old truck is my daily driver right now (but I only drive a couple miles a day) so I'm going to have to keep an eye on the coolant level until then.

I think I'm still going to try the radiator pressure tester just to be on the safe side.

Also just found a pertronix dizzy foot 80 bucks on CL so I'm going to pick that up too.

Joel

 

Joel you are well on your way! if it is a steady drip, and not a steady stream you may fill it a lot but it will get you around as long as you don't go to far...

I did the pertronix conversion to the stock Dizzy and while I was at it I recurved the dizzy with lighter springs, and an adjustable vacuum pot, which really brought the old ford to life.. Dialing in the vacuum pot takes a little while to get the hang of but it really helps throttle response.. make sure the new dizzy has the vac. advance...

 

Joel, I did not see in your post what year truck and if it had a auto trans. My sons 66 f100 with the auto had a trasns cooler om the side of the trans. the coolant lines were not run to the radiator, they were run to the engine. The lines were steel lines and were rusted though.

 

Bertha, I've got a 66 f250. I'm having trouble picturing what you are describing but I'll get under there and follow the lines.

Thanks

 

Does it have a auto trans?

 

Yeah, It does. A leaky C-O-M MX I'm told.