Coolant leak - Driving me insane

[Dennis_H]

Parked my truck yesterday after work and drove my wife's car last night. Came home and saw a puddle under it. It was dark out, but it was coolant. Seemed to be coming down below main crank pulley. Figure it's a water pump since it's at about 165K. Level didn't seem low at all. Drove it for a 10 min this morning, no leak. Then drove for another 15 miles to work, no leak when I got here. It will sit today and I do have a gallon of water with me if it starts again. Should I just bite the bullet and replace the water pump?

Had a transmission leak about 6 months ago. Did the same think where it leaked 2 days. Then it quit and never had another drop. I did have a power steering line pop off 2 months ago and dumped that all over the ground and it took about a month to get all that residual stuff out.

Between roof leak on the house last week, valve cover gaskets leaking on my son's Escape this month, coffee maker starting to dump water on the counter this week, and now this... I'm tired of leaks.

 

[Arturo Gonzalez]

I have the same problem. It started on Tuesday, came to work saw a green puddle but I use orange color antifreeze. I checked the antifreeze level and it's normal. Next day still drips but not as much. I took it to carmax yesterday and they didn't fine any leaks. Could it be the water pump?

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[Dennis_H]

That looks like you parked over someone else's leak since you use orange (like me). Mine was in my driveway, so it is from my truck.

 

[Arturo Gonzalez]

I thought the same thing. I put a cardboard underneath and is definitely mine.

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[ManUpOrShutUp]

I thought the same thing. I put a cardboard underneath and is definitely mine.

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So you have orange in the reservoir and you're leaking green? That's amazing.

 

[stamp11127]

FYI - the green coolant looks green in every container until you pour it into a white bucket.Then it is golden in color. Found that out by accident.

Pressurize the system and look for leaks.

 

[762mm]

Seems like a common issue on those. Here's a thread I did on mine, including some pictures:

https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/sudden-coolant-leak-from-rear-of-engine.40974/


In essence, it is very likely the water pump going out on yours, as I had the exact same symptoms as you. It was weird how sometimes it would leak just a bit, then seemed to stop, then started hemorrhaging coolant all over a few days later.

My recommendation is to do it before it ***** the bed completely on you. The good news is that the job is a breeze, you can do it in 30 minutes yourself. Rockauto sells the original water pump very cheap, like $30 USD. If your truck has an electric radiator fan, all you need is a ratchet and socket set to complete the repair.

 

[Dennis_H]

Seems like a common issue on those. Here's a thread I did on mine, including some pictures:

https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/sudden-coolant-leak-from-rear-of-engine.40974/


In essence, it is very likely the water pump going out on yours, as I had the exact same symptoms as you. It was weird how sometimes it would leak just a bit, then seemed to stop, then started hemorrhaging coolant all over a few days later.

My recommendation is to do it before it ***** the bed completely on you. The good news is that the job is a breeze, you can do it in 30 minutes yourself. Rockauto sells the original water pump very cheap, like $30 USD. If your truck has an electric radiator fan, all you need is a ratchet and socket set to complete the repair.

That's what I came down to. I have one ordered to put in. Would have bought local, but 2x as much. I'll carry water and replace it next week when it gets here.

 

[762mm]

Cool. While you're in there, I'd recommend to do the thermostat and put in a new radiator cap too. Both of mine were really gunked up on original Motorcraft orange coolant at 132k miles and the rad cap actually failed (center plunger seized). I don't know why, but the Motorcraft orange coolant degraded real bad, despite Ford's claims that it's better than the rest. Truck is a 2014...

When I flushed, I used Prestone OAT green coolant and distilled water to refill. I had good luck with it on my previous Ford (99 Explorer). No degradation after 8 years of daily use.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Cool. While you're in there, I'd recommend to do the thermostat and put in a new radiator cap too. Both of mine were really gunked up on original Motorcraft orange coolant at 132k miles and the rad cap actually failed (center plunger seized). I don't know why, but the Motorcraft orange coolant degraded real bad, despite Ford's claims that it's better than the rest. Truck is a 2014...

When I flushed, I used Prestone OAT green coolant and distilled water to refill. I had good luck with it on my previous Ford (99 Explorer). No degradation after 8 years of daily use.

I did my orange coolant at about 100K and didn't have any discernible degradation (checked with a refractometer). Of course I changed it since what we can't test is its ability to prevent corrosion.

I did have a tstat failure though. It wasn't an all-out failure, but my heat/AC were not performing up to par. I originally picked up a Motorcraft from the local dealer, but after seeing how flimsy it was I opted not to install it and used a (much beefier) Stant Superstat instead.