Long time lurker, first time poster. 2004 Ranger w/ 3.0L

My belt started squeaking last night, parked it and this morning coolant is just dumping out of the thing. Looks like its coming off the crankshaft so im guessing water pump or timing gasket? Could be thermostat housing? All of the posts I've read about this talk about a slow leak, not the steady stream my truck is pouring out on my driveway.

Any help would be appreciated!! Sounds like a common issue...

 

I would say the water pump, they can suddenly let go like that.

The timing cover gasket starts slowly seeping and you would have noticed a slow leak like that.

It almost doesn't matter, when replacing the water pump, do the front timing cover too.
You have to be carful not to damage the oil pan gasket though.

Any leakage from the thermostat housing will leave a puddle on top of the engine.
There's no plastic there either that gets brittle and cracks like on the other engines.

Good idea to replace it with a Ford Motorcraft pump.

 

I might change the timing chain too if it's high mileage. Depends on the engine and how much work you want to do. But with my 4.0 the water pump needs to be removed to get to the timing chain anyway. So might as well go a lil deeper while it's off. But that's just me.

 

The OP has a 3 litre with only a single timing chain and no tensioners, and is good for 300K.

Can't really comment on the 4 litre, but I know Ford did have problems on one 4 liter model that required the replacement of the guides and the removal of the engine to get to them.
The chain would slap around and prematurely wear the guides out before the oil pressure would tension the chains.
Modified guides were made to solve the problem.