92 exp, leaked antifreeze, now it does not? Antifreeze is now brown???
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From: PA
92 exp, leaked antifreeze, now it does not? Antifreeze is now brown???
Hello, I have a 92 exp with 165,000miles, original engine. Ran great up until a few weeks ago. It had a small drip of antifreeze near the back passenger side. I could never tell where it was coming from. Last week it would loose nearly a gallon of coolant after a 15 minute drive. So I decided to soak the entire engin with degreaser and clean it up at the car wash. Drove it strait home and topped up the radiator and let it come up to temp. It would not leak! OK, now I checked the radiator level again and now the coolant is all rusty brown. It does not look like oil though. Any clues? Why would it stop leaking and what turned it rusty brown? The oil level is normal and does not appear to be watery or grey. Thanks for listening.
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From: Phoenix
Hop! Freshman! Hummm. No 4.0 motors have aluminum heads. You're thinking SVO 5.0's and 4.6's - Mustangs.
Rusted brown because you did not use antifeeze right? Just water? Not leaking...maybe rad cap not on tight - no pressure and no leak.
Check that out and reply.
Rusted brown because you did not use antifeeze right? Just water? Not leaking...maybe rad cap not on tight - no pressure and no leak.
Check that out and reply.
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From: PA
I've always had 50/50 mix in the radiator. Even when it started leaking. It is too cold in the northeast for me to run strait water. I can run it with the radiator cap off and it does not bubble. It may be an outside head gasket leak and not effecting the cylinder side of it(yet). It is just odd that after I hosed it down, it stopped leaking and the coolant turned rusty.
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From: Phoenix
Really hop that's wierd. So if you place a magnet up to the side of the head it doesn't stick?
From an article I dug up somewhere, some time back:
Rebuilding The Ford 4.0L Pushrod V6, Doug Anderson, Automotive Rebuilder, April 2001
The Ford 4.0L/244 cid is the big brother in a family of Ford V6 engines that were built in Cologne, Germany, and have been used in domestic Fords since the early ’70s. The original 2.6L engine was replaced by the 2.8L, which was upgraded to the 2.9L and then finally bored and stroked to make it into the 4.0L that was used in the Rangers, Aerostars and Explorers starting in 1990. It was replaced by a SOHC engine from this same family at the end of model year 2000.
These pushrod engines are all conventional 60° Vs with cast iron blocks and heads. The 2.6L block that began with a 3.54½ bore and a 2.63½ stroke ended up with a 3.952½ bore and a 3.307½ stroke by the time it grew into the 4.0L.
From an article I dug up somewhere, some time back:
Rebuilding The Ford 4.0L Pushrod V6, Doug Anderson, Automotive Rebuilder, April 2001
The Ford 4.0L/244 cid is the big brother in a family of Ford V6 engines that were built in Cologne, Germany, and have been used in domestic Fords since the early ’70s. The original 2.6L engine was replaced by the 2.8L, which was upgraded to the 2.9L and then finally bored and stroked to make it into the 4.0L that was used in the Rangers, Aerostars and Explorers starting in 1990. It was replaced by a SOHC engine from this same family at the end of model year 2000.
These pushrod engines are all conventional 60° Vs with cast iron blocks and heads. The 2.6L block that began with a 3.54½ bore and a 2.63½ stroke ended up with a 3.952½ bore and a 3.307½ stroke by the time it grew into the 4.0L.
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From: PA
I started it up with rad cap off and there were no bubbles. Antifreeze is now brownish gray. I dont really want to drive it if i have antifreeze mixed in with the oil. I can pull the heads off and rebuild the top end, I just dont want to pull the whole engine with this kind of mileage on the rest of the vehicle. Thanks for your help all.
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From: Gilbert, AZ
hey hop, of course you had aluminum heads! you either put them on, or the previous owner did 
hehehe. seriously though my 4.6 stang has aluminum heads. i'm thinking it was water too, like jeff said....
hehehe. seriously though my 4.6 stang has aluminum heads. i'm thinking it was water too, like jeff said....
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From: South Texas
One very common source of water leakage, especially on a high mileage engine, is the lower intake to head junction. At the front and rear of each head to manifold junction is a water port. I had a leak on the front/right on my engine that I originally thought was a freeze plug, but closer inspection revealed a slow trickle of water higher up than the freeze plug. I traced it to the junction and when I removed the lower intake, it revealed that the gasket in this area had deteriorated. New gaskets and all was fine. Also, the brown color may be natural for a high mileage engine as the inside of the freeze plugs do rust and start to decay. One sure sign of this will show up as a clogged heater core (no or diminished heat output). I had to replace my heater core twice in its 230K mile original engine life due to this very problem. And I can state that I never had a head gasket failure either in the 230K miles.
Sometings to ponder
Dialtone
PS If you had warer in the oil, it would have an off colored foamy content to it. Straight water has a whitish foam and antifreeze gives it a greenish tint.
Sometings to ponder
Dialtone
PS If you had warer in the oil, it would have an off colored foamy content to it. Straight water has a whitish foam and antifreeze gives it a greenish tint.
Last edited by Dialtone; Feb 9, 2006 at 10:17 AM.
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From: CANADA
so if it dripped at the back passenger side that usually means the heater core has sprung a leak it is very hard to see the spout that comes out of the firewall for the fluid to drain and not go all over the interior of the truck. Did you happen to smell anit-freeze inside at all?? pull the ail filler cap any milk on the inside of the cap usually will tell you if you have water inside the engine. rebuilding the top end is a very straight foreward procedure, just take the heads in for inspection before reinstall and get ford factory gaskets, much better than aftermarket
my 2 cents
my 2 cents
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From: West Chester PA
Originally Posted by LOTR-HAMMER
so if it dripped at the back passenger side that usually means the heater core has sprung a leak it is very hard to see the spout that comes out of the firewall for the fluid to drain and not go all over the interior of the truck.
Matt
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