Ford 7.3L Power Stroke (1999-2003) :: Serpentine Belt Started Squealing - Coolant Leak Behind / Below Thermostat Housing
Oct 10, 2015
My serp belt started squealing so I pulled the thermostat housing to inspect the rubber gasket. It looked OK, but I cleaned up both surfaces and replaced with a new gasket, and put it back together. The housing was replaced just a couple months ago along with new hoses. It was not corroded and OK to reuse.
Started the truck up and saw a slowish/steady drip of red Cat ELC dripping on the driveway. Opened the hood up again and carefully inspected around the thermostat housing - no coolant is leaking there.
I did notice the same slow/steady drip coming from just behind and beneath the thermostat housing. See in pic, this is where it is dripping. One other question, what is this plug for on the side of the water pump?
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About 2 weeks ago i noticed that the serpentine belt started shredding. I noticed it before it was all gone, so i parked it and started ordering parts before i did anything. Since i had to get the radiator hose off, i decided to flush the coolant, change the thermostat and the upper radiator hose to go around the belt. Once the parts arrived, I drained the coolant and did two flushes and tried to change the hoses and thermostat. the Gates hose ended up not being the right hose, in hindsight I should have used the old hose and put it back together.
But I returned the Gates hose and ordered a Motorcraft hose. not thinking, i left the system dry and possibly sitting with water from the previous flush. Three days ago, I got the correct Motorcraft part and did the work on Sunday. since it had been sitting, i decided to run another flush, i noticed a squeaking sound and that the water was coming out a little browner than when i left it. So I ran another two flushes and said to hell with it and put the whole thing back together and filled it with coolant and distilled water.
This morning, the squeaking sound was louder, but temps where fine and coolant level was fine. I drove to work ( about a 10 mile drive) and when i finally stopped, i got a whiff of coolant smell. I noticed coolant behind me and when i lifted the hood, i noticed the reservoir was half empty and coolant dripping down from the center of the block. I can still hear the squeaking, I figure the water pump is on its last leg and decide i need to go home. I walk in to work and let them know I'm gonna take the day off to situate this. Before i leave, i top off the reservoir with a gallon of distilled water and head out.
After a short distance I notice that the squeaking stops, now I'm terrified that the water pump just completely failed. (I've never had one fail on me so I'm not sure what happens when it does) As i drive home, I'm watching all my gauges. none of the temperature gauges spike, everything was normal for the drive home (another 10 miles) I park it and lift the hood and the reservoir is completely full. why is reservoir completely full? why would a leak like that stop? Should i just change the water pump? I don't want to just hope for the best, i do use my excursion to haul the kids from time to time.
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The truck has been a dream for several months and I had a coolant leak at the thermostat outlet. Changed the fitting and thermostat and sealed with lots of blue monkey snot. It's been perfect for a couple months but a week ago it started leaking again. Exactly the same as last time. I cleaned the mating surface of the water pump with a plastic scraper to remove the old sealer and then finished it with fine scotch brite. I looked at several parts breakdowns and none of them showed a gasket.......
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I'm trying to figure where the coolant leak is. Appears to originate on the driver's side front, right near the thermostat housing. Since the engine tilts back the entire drivers side is wet. The thermostat gasket appears to be OK, but it does have a lot of miles on it.
If it's not the thermostat then can coolant leak from the cross over tube. And is the cross over removable without taking off the intake. There appears to be a bolt coming up from underneath on the passenger side.
Also, does coolant flow through this plastic intake. If it does, then the leak could be some where else, if not, then it's probably the thermostat.
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Tried to flush it and got as far as draining everything. I can't hook up my T and begin the flushing process because I can't remove the thermostat. I have a buddy who can get the bolt out but I'd have to be able to drive the truck to him. I've tried just about everything to remove it. I did manage to find some replacements for when I do get the last one out though .Is there a way to still flush this thing like maybe just hook up the hose to the t and run the engine with the heat on to open the thermostat?
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So I tried to replace my thermostat and housing and the housing bolt snapped off. Ok so I tried to extract that bolt off and the extractor bolt snapped off inside. I am guessing it might just be easiest to replace the water pump now? I am pretty much at the end of my mechanical rope which is short anyhow.
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Leaving on a 200 mile trip in the morning and when checking the fluids, I found the serpentine belt trying to get off the AC pulley. I've put in on twice and it immediately jumps half way off when starting the engine. How long it's been doing this. Nothing is obviously loose or moved. What is likely causing this?
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I was cruising along yesterday and felt the steering pump go out on the highway. Nowhere to pull over and pulling a big horse trailer. Three miles later I finally get to a wide spot to dive into. I look down and the temp gauge is maxed and the oil light is on. Most of the antifreeze boils out when I got the engine shut down. I had no choice but to have a friend bring a new belt and some antifreeze to the rescue. Got it changed and filled back up. Started and drove home fine.
I've got this twisted gut feeling about the whole deal. What kind of damage did I likely do? Things to look for? Did I just kill the longevity of the motor? I've been trying to do things right and treat it well to ensure a reliable truck.
On a side note the belt came apart in ribbons and it was absolutely shredded. The belt appeared to be less than 3 months old. No cracks or tears and a bright white numbers sticker on the back
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I have a coolant leak coming from I am assuming the thermostat housing or thermostat. My question is, is there a gasket behind this that I am assuming is bad or is the thermostat bad.
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I have a 95 skylark 4 cylinder, i have what appears to be a coolant leak from the thermostat housing and i also have coolant mixing with my oil. Can the leak from the housing cause the coolant to mix with the oil? If not what else could be the issue?
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I have 1997 F250 LD since i bough it has been doing this chirping sound coming from the serpentine belt and the pulley area but when the truck has been working for 15 - 20 min it goes away
This is apart from the from the problem before I think the fan clutch is broken because when I start the truck I can hear the fan going at the same speed of the engine is that normal ? even when the truck is cold
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I have a coolant leak somewhere on the top of the engine running down to the oil pan and bell housing. I have done some research and discovered it could be the coolant inlet tube to the turbo.
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'06 powerstroke, 215k stock
Doing a coolant flush, took the thermostat out but cannot figure out how to get it out of the housing.
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I bought a 2003 F350 with the 6.0L. It had injection, EGR, and oil cooler issues. I tore into it, did the injectors, EGR delete, new oil cooler, turbo seal kit, and several other non related things. Put everything back together and when I started it, it was leaking oil at the paste of 1/2 qt and minute. I did all sorts of searching on this site and went back to work on it.
I re-installed all new gaskets and O-rings, replaced the ICP and IPR sensors. Started it back up, exact same thing. From what I can see, oil is accumulating on top of the oil cooler housing around the area the turbo oil supply connects. But, its not leaking from turbo supply, or from where the filter housing attaches. Im at a loss. Its definitely somewhere on top of the engine and running down the back, only when the engine runs.
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Today on a little road trip about 250 miles everything was going well then towards the end i was about to arrive when the temp gauge rose about a quarter inch from where it normally runs and i stopped at a gas station and all my coolant started rushing and boiling out of the top of my reservoir, I let the truck cool down and removed the cap and i lost all the coolant in the reservoir i bought two jugs and filled it back up and fired her up and the temp is back to normal and was not leaking from anywhere.
Hit the road again for the rest of the roughly 35 miles of the trip to my camp no smoking or lack of power then through a little sand and mud and she stayed cool. I was towing a small single axle utility trailer with a atv and was going 65-70 whole way. Truck has never had a problem with anything in the year and a half i have had it. Just hit 250k. What could this have been? Its holding all the coolant its been in there for a couple hours now without leaking. Thermostat maybe stuck for a second? Or a air bubble?
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I was searching for an oil leak forever. In my search for the leak I resealed my hpop, redid oilcooler rings and last week had a friend pull my motor to redo the pan gasket. The leaks were almost down to where I thought we had them beat. Now in the last couple days I'm losing coolant and oil....bad. there is oil on the ground mostly from the cross member. Question is did my oil cooler fix not take? I have read that a nicked of ring can cause this.
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I have a coolant leak from behind my timing cover found while doing a coolant system pressure test. I do not want to remove the engine. Looking for info on successful cover install with the engine still in the truck?
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2003 7.3 175,000 miles...
Saw a stain in my driveway where you normally see AC drip. Opened hood and saw degas empty.
Looking around like crazy and find wet area. Where the coolant line turns down beside the passenger fender.
Looks wet near bend going toward running board. Didn't get to inspect much but I pulled back a bit of loom to inspect shape of lines and they look great.
What could be going on?
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My explorer with 4.0 sohc is starting to leak fluid out of the thermostat housing. How hard is this to do and what can I expect in cost to do it myself. I dont drive this explorer but about 2 miles each way to work as I live on a military post. I have been putting it off ( just keep adding coolant and water) every couple of days. I have noticed that the engine temp doesnt not get up to half way like it use too. Maybe 1/4 of the way on the gauge now. I have always flushed coolant system very two years. It is starting to get some rush in the overflow bottle now too. Other then that she runs good and no other engine issues. She does have a 136k on her.
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Is this common? No coolant in the oil-YET........
Any way to fix it without pulling the cover?
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I set out to do a coolant flush but ran into an increasing number of problems. When I went to replace the thermostat I discovered one of the three bolts would not come out due to the inside thread on the thermostat housing being stripped. I purchased a brand new housing and O-ring.
When I reinstalled the thermostat (also Motorcraft brand) with the above O-ring and attached all the hoses I had a severe leak between the thermostat housing and the intake hose connecter. I diagnosed the problem as the O-ring slipping off of the lip or ledge inside the thermostat housing and not sealing all the way around.
The Motorcraft O-ring seemed like the diameter was too big for the interior lip of the thermostat housing because the ring would pop up on one side whenever I tried to fully seat it on the interior lip. I went to AutoZone and purchased an orange Duralast O-ring, and while it seemed to be a little smaller diameter than the Motorcraft it too slipped off when I tightened down the housing.
I have tried everything, and every time I tightened down the housing I did it very slowly and carefully doing an 1/4 turn at a time with the three bolts but still the O-ring would slip off.
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