So I've been slowly loosing coolant and topping it off every 2-3 weeks. There's no puddles or traces of coolant but I can smell it outside the truck after driving or when I'm under the truck or hood. Its never overheated on me and the gauge doesn't jump around. There's no coolant in the oil either and vise verse when I drained the radiator.

It did have a couple leaks when I first got the truck, the upper radiator hose was cracked, the reservoir hose and vacuum bypass were leaking, and thermostat gasket was bad. I since replaced both upper, lower hoses, vacuum bypass, and the thermostat and gasket. The radiator looks new. And the cap isn't leaking. But, There's a large white stain on the roof of the hood on top of the intake plenum if that indicates anything? I added some UV leak dye a couple days ago and this morning when I crawled under their I only found a small leak here


I'll be crawling under again after work tonight to see what else I find. I'm hoping I'm not dealing with a head gasket leak if anyone can tell me what else to look for or any common leaks I'd really appreciate it

 

High probability its your water pump. Look for wetness and/or whiteness behind the pulley.
(they can leak and the bearing not be gone yet)

 

It's raining pretty bad RN I'll have to look later when it dies down lol

 

There's so much purple all over, it's hard to tell where it may be coming from.
Going to a rad shop and having them pressure test it may be of some help.
I think you can rent the pressure testers too or even buy an inexpensive one.

Maybe the water pump as mentioned in post 2, but you will see it quite wet around its weep hole.

The 3 liter also develops slow leaks at the top of the timing chain cover, so look for leaks there too.

 

The purple isnt the leaks, just the light. The bright green is the leaks.

 

Oh... OK... Duh...

So it's coming from the front and getting on the motor mounts.
It's probably seeping from the timing chain cover.
If it was the water pump, it would be more pronounced _ 99% of the time.

 

Yeah the green stuff is the UV dye. I couldn't find where exactly the leak is at yet.

 

Have a look at the photo in post #1
That's where I'm thinking, it starts up high in the timing cover and seeps down.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/2-9l-3...2/#post2139387

 

I'll have to take a closer look and report back with some pictures when I get the chance. Now, would the white stain on the hood indicate my intake is also leaking?

 

Not sure what would cause that white stain, but I don't think it's coolant. Coolant would have to be spread around by the fan for it to get to the underside of the hood, and it's in the wrong spot for that.

The only water that flows through the upper intake, are through the two small pipes that branch off from the heater hoses. (your truck may not even have those)
There's water flowing through the bottom intake though, but those are big water channels and when they fail, they just don't leak a little _ they're not know to fail either unless the engine has been over heated quite bad which would cause the heads to warp, and I don't think it's that bad.

 

Alright I was able to take some pictures and found two leaks




For the first leak I'm thinking of just using a zip tie and see how that holds up lol

For the second, timing cover? I'll let you guys tell it.

 

and this is the white stain I mentioned if anyone's still curious

 

Wow.. excellent job on finding it. Sure looks like timing chain cover on the passenger side.
White on the hoods liner can be salt from winter driving (for us who are in the north) or in your case (Tampa) maybe dried coolant from the rad cap area.

Before seeing this picture my thought was the pulley and belt could have been slinging coolant all over everything. Including the hood.
When a pump seal leaks.. at first the leak is slow and drips out of the weep hole beneath the bearing leaving a vertical trace (like you see in your picture but it's smaller and more of a line). As it gets worse coolant flows into the bearing and the grease gets washed out and then the bearing rapidly fails. This is when most people notice a noise and then the smell. (coolant gets slung all over the front of the engine and seemingly drips from multiple places)

Also, back in the time frame of this engines design we added a reservoir for "normal" seal leaks. That's the cylindrical shape w/cap plug in it that you see at the 7o-clock position. They hold about 10cc of coolant before it starts to drip down the engine. Another benefit of the reservoir is that it prevents the drain hole from getting plugged up and helps prevent coolant getting into the bearing.
(I was a WP engineer at ford in the 90s)

 

For sure it's leaking on the timing cover.
The white on the hood is probably a water vapor stain where coolant is seeping from the overflow line connection near the cap.
I had a hole in that line where it was chafing on a sharp spot where it was routed through the top of the rad.
I smelled coolant, but couldn't find the leak.
I'll check my hood and see if I have a white stain.

 

So how much y'all think a shop would charge for this? Looked at a couple of threads and it doesn't look like an easy job for a DIY'r
Or should I try my luck with K Seal and save a couple hundred?

 

The difficult part is getting the fan clutch off , it's a left hand thread.
There is a special tool to lock up the water pump while you're loosening the fan clutch.
There are lots of videos showing guys using other ways too.

The other tricky part is when removing the actual cover, that you don't damage the oil pan gasket.

The rest is just keeping track where all the bolts go, like on the water pump _ take pictures, the bolts are all different.

If the water pump is OK, it can be left bolted to the timing cover, the fan clutch can be left in place too, but the rad will have to be removed.
It's also a pain in the *** removing the timing cover while all that stuff is in the way.

 

I made my own WP tool. It can be done cheap and fairly easy.

I bought a cheap piece of fence pipe. Made a cardboard template and cut the pipe to match. Works perfectly. (less than $5)

1. Take a piece of cardboard and trim it to fit the curve of the fans flange/hex. Cut two holes in it to span two of the waterpump pulley holes.
2. Smash an end of the pipe flat for about 10"
3. Cut the pipe to match your cardboard template shape and holes.
4. Unscrew two of the WP pulley screws, attach the pipe, and reinstall the screws.

Now you have a long 3' pipe that allows you to hold the WP still while torquing on the fan!
(since making this for a 97 crownvic I've used it on at least 5 different cars

 

Alright so I went to Firestone to schedule an appointment for an alignment and asked a mechanic for his opinion. I showed him the pics and he was concerned at how high the leak was. His take was maybe the head gasket could also be leaking. He'll take a closer look Saturday when the alignment is being done, so I'll have wait til then.

 

Appreciate the comments guys! I'll take it all into consideration whether or not I'll do it myself, if in fact the timing cover is leaking. With my luck, I'll probably mess something up, forget to put something back and do it all over again or take longer than I need to, to get the job done

I will also look around for a second and third opinion, but it's hard finding a truth worthy mechanic who isn't gonna try and milk my money lol I have always changed or repaired parts myself


EDIT: someone advised me to check the plugs. Here they are New plugs, changed a couple months ago
Old plugs, not in order.

 

The water passage coming from the WP is right where its leaking. Apparently this is common on the 3.0 Vulcon & Your plugs look ok. My vote is front cover.

A 2nd check is to look at your oil level and bottom of the fill cap. You could send the oil off to have it analyzed too.
If you don't have an increasing oil level and there is no grey on the bottom of the oil cap.. I doubt head gaskets.

It's not to bad of a job. Pretty much can all be done on a long Saturday by yourself.
While your in there check (measure) slack in the timing chain & replace the crank seal.
You could probably do this for less than $50 yourself. (lots of labor is what a shop will charge $$ for)

 

i have the same problem. Would leave a nickle sized puddle under the truck for a few months off and on - now after driving it it leaves a legit foot puddle every time and can watch it drip down....Been watching coolant level like a hawk since it got way worse way fast so I can mess with it this weekend. Need to add the dye and take a look to see if water pump or cover or both...

 

If one removes the cover, it doesn't make sense to re-use the old pump, that is if it's just been recently replaced.
Some one put some after-market pump on mine and it failed shortly there after, so I went with a Ford pump.

 

Having worked at a aftermarket WP supplier... you had an experience that is quite common.
There are a few aftermarket pumps that use OEM quality bearings and seals but the end consumer will never know which they are. Can't rely on branding for this either. One thing that is common on those though is that we'd give them lifetime warranties. But even that is not a sure fire way of knowing.

IMO OEM is always the way you can be confident.

 

Oil level is alright, its right in the middle of the crosshatch and no signs of coolant. The oil cap looks normal. I drained the radiator before and no signs of oil.

So can anyone list the parts I should change while I'm there and link a good write up?

 

FYI i swung by a local place and asked for a quote - guy said hes done alot of these and with timing cover gasket replacement and replacement water pump $985. Said it books for 9.6 hours and every timing cover bolt is a slightly different length so dont mix em up or you can mess up the timing chain. Also said with 205 K on it timing chain needs checked closely as well.

Looks like a long Saturday for me haha