Ford Aerostar :: Minor Coolant Leak Coming From Heater Hoses
Oct 5, 2013
I'm feeling a bit embarrassed posting my delima, but I have a minor coolant leak which seams to be coming from where the heater hoses connect to the water pump and as well to the thermostat nuckle thingy. I have replaced all of the hose fittings with SS band clamps.
A couple of weeks ago I replaced the water pump, thermostat, alternator, rad hoses, belts, coolant sensor, PS tension pulley. The water pump is now tight and sealed. Since then the temperature gauge has been continually fluctuating from Normal to near Cold.
I was wondering if I should have placed some type of sealant compound where the heater hoses connect to the water pump and also to the thermostat nuckle thingy.
Initially, I thought it may be residual trapped air in the coolant system. But after a week, it became apparent that the heater hoses were leaking at the engine, and at the water pump, connections.
What puzzles and torments me is why is the temperature gauge fluctuating so widely up and down? This is totally weird.
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03 f350 5.4. Very minor coolant leak at the moment. Valley behind water pump looks a little damp and leak has shown a little on the passenger side block above the starter. Shows on the tranny bell housing and hits the y pipe every once and a while. I am thinking its the hose that runs under the intake manifold but wanted to check in here for some wisdom. Can it be bypassed or rerun without pulling everything.
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2000 Acura Integra 98k miles. Around 90k timing belt, water pump and all sealants were done - and valve adjustment.
Since then I thought that there is a minor loss of coolant - also heard some grinding sound at cold start.
Today in calif, weather is under freezing. I saw handful of coolant under the car where the water pump is. The reserve tank is almost empty - at 95k coolant was topped up.
I went to another mechanic and he wanted to bring the car next week - he will try pressure test - if it is minor leak, it might not work he said - will do other tests. Didn't say the price. Not sure what the fee is for diagnostic.
What are some practical tips? This is the first car now and plan on keeping it. Given it is been about 2yrs with the timing belt job, I am not sure if I have any recourse. Credit card companies only take care if it is within 2 yrs.
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Car is a 1995 Chevy Cavlier LS. 2.2L engine, about 127,000 miles. Has a minor coolant leak (freeze-out plug) and a slow oil leak (if I forget to check the level, the oil light comes on about 3000 miles after an oil change). It's beat up, had a few years of poor maintenance (but limited use) before I got it from a relative 3-4 years ago. I do oil changes at 3-5k miles, keeping fluids topped off, and try to remember to change the air filter regularly (which reminds me, I think I'm due for one).
Problem history: About 7 months ago, I had problems with the battery going dead. Some of it related to stupid mistakes--lights on or door ajar. Battery was old, parts store suggested replacing it. New battery fixed the issue. About 2 weeks ago, I tried to start it and ran into the same problem after the car hadn't been run for 2+ days. Dash lights come on, the key-in/startup bell chimes, but turning the key to start leads to fast clicking from the engine and the chime sounding rapidly. I forget if it made any other sounds at the time. Attempting to jump it didn't work, but the other car had an old battery and the cables were kindof cheap.
Called roadside, and he was able to jump it. He suggested taking the battery to Advance, so we did that.Advance charged the battery, tested it, said it was fine. Suggested I bring the car over and they could test to see if it's charging the battery. I did that, and it seemed ok. Engine was a little rough, possibly spark plugs, but I haven't checked that out yet. I figured I had done something stupid again and left a door ajar or the headlights on.Today, same problem again. I last drove it 2-3 days ago. Headlights were definitely off. It's possibly the driver door was ajar causing the dome light to stay on, but I doubt it. Same noises when I turn the key as before, I hear the sound of the engine trying to start once (I think that it's trying to turn over), but it won't start. Haven't had a chance to try and jump it yet.
Possibly relevant: Back in the spring, it wouldn't start one day, but the engine wouldn't do anything, no clicking etc. Neutral safety switch was loose/misaligned. Mechanic was able to make a small adjustment, and it's been fine.
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My troubles began several months ago when while on the Pike the coolant sensor came on with a heart attack-inducing alarm beep on my 2001 Turbo VW Jetta. The billowing steam pretty much gave away the major coolant leak that had decided to erupt in the engine. Brought it to my local mechanic who promptly fixed the problem. About 2 weeks later, the light came on again, so I brought it back to him. He found some additional minor cracks in the engine tubing. Fixed it again. 2 weeks later....yep, you guessed it, the light comes back on. After 3 more visits with pressure testing and dye added, no leak can be found. We then tried the leak repair stuff....that was about 2 weeks ago now....and, yes, the light has come back on again.
The car is in very good shape with just over 100K miles on it and just had a lot of the biggies done on it in the last year (shocks, belts, brakes). I would love to get another year out of it since I just put all this money into it, but I'm getting tired of having to bring it to the shop every couple of weeks. I also don't want to get stranded if something decides to give way in some spectacular fashion.
So, my questions here:
1. Do I try the repair leak stuff again to see if that will work?
2. Is there any other possible causes that wouldn't require an engine rebuild that we should look at?
3. Do I just suck it up and carry around spare coolant with me topping it up as it gets eaten?
4. Do I call it a day and start looking for a new car?
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1989 3.0 shorty - 135K on her - and at 21 years old, the original radiator finally failed with a hair line crack, and so I bought a plastic on, from on of the part stores, put it in, and now it takes on like a gallon a month of antifreeze.
BUT I see no leak at all... the engine runs fine, and not head gasket or crack head (been there done that with the explorer I have). I don't smell it either really -heater core is dry... as is floor underneath. Need replacing the Radiator?
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89 3.0L - I seem to loose a little bit of coolant every time I drive maybe like 1/2 a pint?
I checked every connection - engine running, and even waited to make sure the t-stat was opening, and closed, etc (maybe it was the top hose, nope)
I did replace the radiator a couple of years ago, and had the problem ever since I did that, but at the same time, I also replaced the T-Stat with a 165 degree, since she was starting to run a bit on the hot side, even with the new water pump and radiator I did... on a cool day, it would run at the middle of the gauge with a 190 degree... and with AC on, hills and 95 degree days, it would be pushing upwards of 3/4 of the way on the gauge...
Could the 165 degree therm stat be somehow causing a 13 lb cap to not function properly? I replaced the original with a Stant... but Im thinking I should get a new Motorcraft OEM cap, since the other one lasted 20 years!
I kept the old radiator - love it - "wow real brass/copper in there!" it was still fine when I pulled it, but had a hairline crack right below the top hose area...
Anyways, pressure tests revel nothing, I see no bubbles or anything with the engine idling, cap off
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1994 - 3.0 .... Back behind the water pump there is a stream of coolant what could that be. Water pump has been replaced earlier last year I thought that fixed it,there has always been a mystery leak..
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I replaced the water pump on my 3.0 and now, 9 months later, there is a coolant leak from the front engine cover (timing chain cover). The leak has probably been there two months or so, but it was so small initially, it was difficult to locate. A google search seems to indicate that a leak from the timing cover is somewhat common on the 3.0.
When I was doing the job, I noticed that some of the water pump bolts also hold the front cover in place, which seems like a bad design because removing those bolts takes some of the compression off of the timing cover gasket. Now that I have this leak, I'm wondering if changing the water pump is related to the leak. And, yes, I did use thread sealant on the bolts as recommended in the genuine Ford shop manual.
So now, I'm curious. Noticed a leak from the timing cover relatively soon after replacing the water pump on 3.0?
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My 2005 Freestar (not the Freestyle) a/c is working properly except that it is only blowing through the defrost. I've read other posts about it being a leaking vacuum system on other ford vehicles that cause this problem.
1) I'd like to confirm that this Freestar a/c works on a vacuum system to open the a/c duct doors.
2) If it is, where are the vacuum hoses located? I'd like to check them to see if they are connected or if they have a hole.
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On my 92 Aero 4.0L with A/C, I need to replace the radiator but I am not sure how to move the A/C hoses out of the way to extract the shroud and the radiator.
I have viewed a video where a guy said to remove the serpentine belt and then unbolt the A/C compressor and move the compressor and hoses out of the way. Hope this means that I don't have to discharge or disconnect AC hoses. Not good for me.....
Well, the video instruction seems simple enough......but there doesn't appear to be enough "play" in the AC hoses to move them far enough to extract the radiator, and not being an AC guy (and the potential danger of releasing freon), I am at a loss.
How to move the AC hoses out of the way (without disconnecting the hoses or discharging the system) ....
Not to mention it would be great to find out what the torque specification is for tightening the AC compressor bolts for proper reassembly. And being the backyard mechanic I am, any drawings, details or diagrams that you can provide would be very useful.
BTW, I have looked in the forum for radiator removal information and none of the threads I read addressed moving the AC hoses (which of course run right over the top of the dang radiator).
If I get past these "hoses" I will also take advantage of the radiator removal to replace the fan and fan clutch and thermostat while I am there, but first things first, if you know what I mean.
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I have a 2003 Ex with the 7.3. There is a leak in the rear coolant line just in front of the rear right tire. Is there any way to bypass the rear heater under the hood?
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I drive a 2002 Ford Ranger and am wondering at what mileage should I change the heater and radiator hoses. The truck lives in Phoenix, AZ and is driven almost daily.
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My son's 98 Expedition has no heat. The radiator and overflow tank are full, there's no air in the system. The radiator hoses get nice and hot but the heater hoses stay cold. We can hear the flow through the vents change when we change the temp control so I'm sure the blend door works fine. Seems like the problem is that no hot coolant is making it to the heater core. So I'm wondering if there is a diverter valve somewhere that could be bad that's keeping the hot coolant away from the HC or if a clogged HC is the only thing that could cause this.
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I've replaced my heater core and blend door in my 2000 and getting ready to button things up. Can I hook up the heater hoses after the plenum top is screwed on to keep the core from moving when pushing on hose connections?
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Ok I have a 97 f150 4.6L. My radiator has been bad for a while. With brown rust color. I replaced my radiator, thermostat, new upper and lower hoses. Everything runs great but I have no heat. I flushed everything including the heater core. Core is not leaking into cab, and both heater hoses are cold. FYI heat worked great until 5 days ago.
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I really need to know. Since the X has 2 heater cores, how do the hoses run that connect the two together? Do they run in parallel, or in a series?
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I've checked just about everything, coolant level is good, engine gets hot, heater control valves moves, blend air door moves, the heater hoses don't feel as hot as I think they should, but the gauge reads in the middle, I burped it thoroughly and still no heat , blower works i actually can switch the blend air door manually, but no change! what am i missing? t-stat was changed too. 2001 sport trac....
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I have a leak where my heater core tube goes into the intake at the rear pass side of engine. I have read that this part is pressed in. I dont want to remove the intake since i just paid $400 to have a new gasket kit put on. My question is can I bypass this tube with a hose from the water pump like in this video?
FORD 4.6 , 5.4 , 6.8, HEATER HOSE UNDER INTAKE REPLACEMENT THE EASY WAY !!! - YouTube....
If I can do a rubber hose like in the video I was to make sure that the tube just goes through the intake and that it does not supple coolant into the intake??
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I am working on a friends Neon and he been having an issue with constant overheating even through he has replaced the thermostat, the radiator, water pump and related hoses. However, he is missing the cap to the coolant tank and his heater core hoses are blocked, both incoming and outgoing. Could the blocked hoses be causes it to over heat?
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I have a 2003 Ford f150 5.4. Heater blows hot, then cold, then hot then cold. When it start blowing cold it pukes out the degas bottle. I have burped it, did the combustion test to make sure not a blown head gasket, the oil clean, there is moisture coming out tail pipe but it has no coolant in it. flushed heater core, pulled water pump off and checked it, its good. Changed thermostat 2 times, put front on ramps to get any air out. I am at a total loss now.
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