'98 Ranger with 218xxx miles. I have been trying to locate a coolant leak at the front of the engine (4.0 OHV), passenger side. I suspected either the core plug behind the alternator bracket or head gasket. A pressure test didn't show anything obvious. As I looked around I noticed a small pool of antifreeze collecting near one of the bolts that holds the timing chain cover to the front of the engine. The water pump attaches to this housing. The pump was changed at one time and doesn't appear to be leaking. That cover has never been off the engine. I know that the intake manifold gaskets can sometimes cause leaks, another possibility. I was able to "snug up" the timing chain cover bolt a little bit but that didn't change anything. I am looking for advice and to see if anyone has had a similar kind of thing happen. I am attaching a couple of pictures for reference.

I dried the leak before I took this pic.

The circle shows the leak and the arrow indicates that coolant comes aroung on the housing.

 

"Sounds" lower intake gasket leak. These 4.0 OHV's are kinda notorious for this. I had the same issue on my 99 4.0 for several years until I finally had to repair it.The leak will get worse. My lower intake started leaking in the front and like you, it led me in different directions as to cause. I replaced lower and upper intake gaskets, valve cover gasket, injector O-rings, among a few other things. This pic is not mine but it represents what the lower intake gasket needs

 

I've read that this is a known issue with the manifold gaskets. I'm going to try this fix first as it is not nearly as complicated as doing head gaskets. Normally I would expect to have some overheating issues if it was the head gaskets. Thanks for the reply