Ford F-150 - 1997-2003 :: 2001 - Coolant Smell - Can't Find Leak?
Jul 11, 2012
I have an 01 supercab. 5.4 Triton 135k. I have begun to smell coolant the last couple of days. Have seen nothing leaking and truck doesn't run hot.
Will investigate more this weekend. Where to start looking for this. It has to be leaking somewhere. Windows don't fog and the smell is there all the time. I live in florida so don't use much heat.
Not the heater core. Heat works fine and no smell from the vents.
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OK, I have a 1997 F150 2wd 3 door with a 4.2, approximately 130000 miles on it. I am the 2nd owner and have only had it for a couple months.
I noticed it ran a little rough on start up but smoothed out after it warmed up so I wasn't too concerned. CEL was on but it ran fine. I got the truck from my FIL and he said that it just had new hoses put on and the CEL came on after that. I noticed a slight coolant smell and after a big leak by the water pump I discovered that the guy who fixed it didn't have any of the hose clamps as tight as they should have been.
The heat went from really good to non-existent the last few weeks, never had any over heating issues though. Last week I was driving it to work and the temp gage spiked the light came on. I stopped and checked the coolant and it seemed fine. After I sat for a minute or two I checked the temp and it came back to normal. I figured it was because I let some pressure out of the system. It got hot again when I got to work but didn't spike at all driving home. I figured the water pump or t-stat was bad.
I replaced those on Saturday. When I filled the coolant up it ran rough and smoked but stopped and ran fine. Temp was fine but heat was nada. Today same thing, smokes like a steam engine for a few minutes then runs fine. Coolant smell is noticeable. I had the codes scanned and got P0303, P0174, and P0171.
I am thinking intake gaskets, since it seems to be an issue with these engines. I am going to fix it before I get a hydro lock situation, so what would be the next thing to look at before deciding that they need changed? Do I need any Ford specific tools to do this job?
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I've had the car about 3 months now. It runs fine, never overheats, but I keep having to add coolant (every 2 weeks or so), but I can't see a leak anywhere.
I searched and found one guy that said it could be a bad expansion tank cap, and another that said it could be a tiny leak that only leaks when driving.
Anyway, when replacing my axle, I noticed this:
If that's dried coolant, where would that be from?
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My 2003 f150 4x4 w/5.4 has 220k miles and only minor issues until a few days ago. I now have a coolant leak at the mating surface (both sides left and right) of the aluminum crossover coolant manifold (holds thermostat on one end). I have most of the bolts out to remove the crossover manifold but there is one bolt on the RH side that comes from the underside. All things equal, main question is... Can that crossover mainfold be removed independently from the intake? My thought is that in order to get to that last single bolt (there may be others I am not aware of yet) that I will need to remove the intake.
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My DD just developed a head gasket leak. I've been noticing a coolant smell for a few days and today saw lots of white smoke from the tail pipe. I figured this is where my coolant was going and sure enough there is coolant coming from the driver's side head. I've ordered the gaskets and new bolts, but need the install.
I think mostly what I will need is the intake and head bolt torque and sequence. I will need to take a few days off work to get it done. Truck is a 2002 F150 with a 5.4L engine.
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I have a 2001 F-150 5.4 engine. There is a coolant leak where the coolant leaves the head. Looks like a new gasket is in order. The part that needs to come off crosses over to the driver's side and the thermostat mounts into it. To remove this part and replace the gasket, it appears that most of the top of the engine, throtle body, fuel rails, intake, etc., will have to come off. One of the four bolts holding the part on is installed with the bolt head facing down. The only way I see to get this out is to take everything apart.
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My '02 F150 180k X-cab with the 5.4L is leaking coolant when it is shut off. Its just pouring right out.It looks like it's coming from top of the trans and around the firewall area. I had to replace a drain plug already.. the one behind starter ..its not leaking.
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My truck is leaking behind the engine. There is not any coolant on top of the engine. It's leaking above the transmission and running down the passage sides. Are there any hoses that could be leaking behind. Sometimes it leaks a lot other times it doesn't leak at all. The shop thinks it's a freeze plug but wouldn't it be leaking more if it was?
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1998 F150 4x4 4.2 ... Small leak spraying out of a steel pipe onto the front of the motor. This isn't my truck so I'm not very familiar with it but looks like there is a pipe that come from the water pump threw a bracket and y's and one end has a hose going to heater core n the other part is where the leak is I think it has a hose connected to it that goes to the intake. Only leaks when thermostat open. I'm going to take it apart tonight n see what I find. Iv looked for a replacement part and found nothing so I am going to try n replace the steel pipe with hose.
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I have a 1998 Ford f150 4.6 2x4 i have a coolant leak on the upper intake. It comes out on the back left of the intake through a metal pipe. Well where the metal pipe is (pressed in) to the intake. Now i talk to the guy at ford dealership in the parts he said it is called the (heater pipe). He also told me that the part is 21 dollars but I have to press it in and if that does stop the leak he said I would have to buy a new intake. Now here is the problem I can not find any info regarding this heater pipe. I don't know how to remove it properly, why it is leaking. I can't find it in the handbooks that i have read so far.
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Only when running heat or defrost, coolant leak looks like it's coming out of the bell housing. I have a supercharger so very difficult to see behind motor, but with inspection camera, heater hose lines look dry. firewall looks dry. No coolant in cab. No steam on windows or smell. Pretty sure not casting/ freeze plugs because absolutely no leaking with heat off. Can run for days with no loss, then turn on heat and within minutes/ seconds coolant puddling in driveway. Is the hose that runs through valley pressurized only when heat is on? I saw a few older threads but as far as I could tell none specified heat on/ heat off conditions. Just started problem after doing some other work, hoses were off radiator and intercooler, replaced radiator. None of those connections are the culprit.
98 F150 Lariat 1900 TVS S/C Chiller Killer I/C 19PSI Snow performance WMI
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Recently I have been having a strong gas smell coming from my 1997 F150 Supercab 4.6L 2wd. It is not happening all of the time. I have also been hearing what sounds like a vacuum line leak. A loud shrill which varies with the engine rpm. This also does not happen all of the time.
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I have a leak on the right side of the cross over pipe. I removed one long bolt from the right side and two long bolts from the left side that go through the thermostat housing, and three bolts from the back of the alternator, but the pipe doesn't seem to want to move. I don't want to break anything.
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I have a 1990 F-150 w/351 that I knew had a coolant leak at the back of the engine when I bought. It's a tinker around truck, something for me to play with.
I've traced the leak back to a metal tube/pipe that sticks out of the engine compartment just below the AC housing. I cannot find anything in the Haynes manual or a diagram on the intertron that shows what this is and if it should have a hose on it or...?
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New truck to me. Truck was advertised with a slow coolant leak. Figured I would trace the leak down and get it repaired no issues. Anyway, working on it this evening I take a close look around the oil filler area and notice the dreaded milkshake color.
I drained the oil out of the truck and the oil actually came out nice and black. Is the headgasket the only area that would cause the oil/coolant mixture? Supposedly the truck has never been overheated.
At any rate, on to find articles on how to pull apart a 4.6L Triton head. I'll see if I'm up to this challenge.
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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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I have a 2001 F150 5.4 triton. It recently started leaking coolant so i stopped driving it until i could get it to the shop. The day i took it to the shop, i stopped 3 times and checked the coolant level and i kept it full while driving it to the shop. The mechanic that was fixing it kept putting it off and had an excuse every day why the truck wasn't ready yet. It stayed in the shop almost a month for him to put a new intake on the truck. The truck ran fine on the way to the shop. I finally got tired of excuses and delays so i went to the shop and asked him if it was ready. He told me now the motor is rurnt and water is getting in the oil.
I checked the oil before and after i got there and the oil had no water in it. He cranked it up and the motor had a loud rattle in it. He wants to rebuild it. I want everybody's honest opinion about this deal. Do yall think the motor just burnt up or do y'all think he could of screwed the engine up on purpose to make more money because i always pay on time? Like i said, the truck had 200,000 miles on the motor but i never once had a lick of engine probs. I just think he could have accidentally or purposefully messed the engine up.
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Son in law just bought a 2002 Explorer with the 4.0. Looks in pretty good shape and overall I don't think he got a bad deal. However....after a test drive I noticed an antifreeze smell. Got to poking around and it appears to be leaking directly below the thermostat housing and that whole manifold for lack of a better word. It's a bugger to get in there and really see what's leaking...doesn't appear to be any hoses but given the angle can't be really sure. I'm new to the Explorer and the 4.0. Is this anything peculiar to the Explorer/4.0? A known part problem? Something far worse?
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I'm having Hard start when Hot problems, starts fine when cold. It takes a couple of minutes of cranking for ICP numbers to hit 500.
So far I've replaced:
ICP sensor
IPR
Injector O-rings.
Still didn't fix the problem.
I also washed out the engine, and put uv dye in the oil, let it run, to find any external leaks, but I found nothing. I don't thing it's the HPOP, because it's able to sustain high ICP numbers when I hold down the throttle.
My next step was to remove the HPOP and replace all it's o-rings, but I assume since I don't see any leaks, the o-rings aren't the problem. Is there anything else to check, that could be causing low crank ICP numbers when hot?
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01 F-150 7700 ed. I have a 4R100 Tranny with a 139K miles. It has been rebuilt. Ever since the rebuild (over 10 yrs ago), if I park the truck for a week or so or more, I will end up with a decent size puddle of trans fluid underneath the truck. I took it back to the shop that did the rebuild a couple times, but they could never find anything. It leaks enough to where my fluid level drops enough to cause the transmission to slip in a U-turn because the pickup tube becomes uncovered. I have a couple theories, but am wanting to hear from the collective.
Theory #1 When I park it on my slightly sloped driveway I don't regularly use the parking brake, so it rests on the gears, which eventually forces fluid out an overflow or breather tube.
Theory #2 (a very thin one) due to pressure changes associated with the weather, fluid is somehow siphoned out a breather tube due to some blockage internally in the tranny to where it's not equalizing with the outside air and has a high pressure within...
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I found a leak today on my 2001 Ford F150 Super Crew, 5.4 engine. In the picture, it was leaking to the right of the spark plug, behind the hose. It was bubbling up from the metal. It hasn't been overheating except when I got home and idled with the AC on. What I'm facing?
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