Ford - Exporer :: 1996 - Overheating / Coolant Reservoir Is Super Low To Empty
Aug 15, 2013
Had overheating issue with the wife (she doesn't monitor fluid levels like she should). Now you can't operate it for more than a day or two before the reservoir is super low to empty. Mechanic coolant is going into the engine, probably through the intake manifold. Says investigating further will cost a ton. What can I do cheaply to figure out what's going on before I give up? I followed her when the engine was started from cold & could see water vapor (more than I would expect) in the exhaust until when I figure the engine reached full operating temp. It has about 225k and is the 6 cyl engine, btw.
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I was driving my 2008 Santa Fe last week (before I went on vacation) and noticed the the A/C wasn't coming through quite a cool as usual (almost felt like the vent was on w/ no AC). Then after about 10 minutes of driving I noticed the thermostat on the car get to about the 3/4 line pretty close to the red lines.
Luckily I was home so turned the car off and popped open the hood. I noticed the reservoir tank was empty and there was some coolant that dripped down on the fans & a small pool of coolant on the engine block right under where the oil is poured. (nothing has been dripping under the car)
I added a little coolant to the reservoir tank and the next time I turned it on and let it run for ~10 minutes, it was the same thing.
Anyway, I came back from vacation and opened the hood to try and identify exactly where the leak was, and ran the car for ~30 minutes, with A/C on full blast and the car didn't overheat or leak anywhere. Coolant tank was still full from when I filled it the first time.
What could have caused the leak/overheating in the first place?
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Why my 96 dodge neon is leaking coolant. I was checking my oil and I noticed the reservoir tank was half empty, so I assumed it was nothing out of the ordinary since it's a 17 year old car. When I filled it though, it came pouring out of the tube that sits right under the tank. I'm capping it off every day before I drive and it holds, but it's definitely got a slow leak. It seems to only hold it for 4 days of driving for an hour. My temperature gauge stays at the normal level, but you can smell the antifreeze burning and the engine's running hot. I'm not too mechanically inclined, but what could be wrong with it? I've recently installed a new alternator and clutch cable and found out my valve cover gasket is leaking. I really want to save this car instead of getting a new one.
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It has happened to me several times.. The car asks me for coolant but today the reservoir was almost completely empty... I have no leaks and my cooling systems is working fine so where does the coolant go?
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I have a 2006 3.5L Sante Fe. and i noticed there were coolant drips under the car and that my coolant reservoir was empty. In the engine bay below what i assume is the water pump i noticed the coolant pooling (See Photos). I am not sure if the seal is bad where the top radiator house connects to the water pump (circled in red, or if the thin metal line (circled in Blue) sitting in the coolant pool would have anything to do with it, since it seems to trace back to the radiator.
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Back in February, received a light and discovered that the inverter coolant reservoir was empty. I refilled the reservoir and cleared the code. Today, only 3 months later, the same thing happened. I don't see any wet hoses, puddles, or obvious signs of leakage. Where all my coolant is going? What steps should I use to properly troubleshoot...
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While servicing the bosses 121k 6.0, I noticed the coolant resevoir empty. It took 1 1/2 gallons to bring to proper level. Returning under truck to install drain plug, I noticed coolant coming from rear of the engine(right side). And of course Ford has changed the cooling system cap, so I wasn't able to pressure test it to pinpoint the leak. Started the engine and seen coolant coming from the left rear as well. I've been reading here to see what others have been seeing, (EGR cooler, head gaskets). With all the heat shields,not much room to look.
After work I did go and buy the adapter to test the cooling system. With any luck I will be able to see leak better.
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Today, I was greeted by a big red STOP! warning from my 2000 Passat 6 cylinder. The car drove fine last night. The coolant reservoir appears empty and has brown residue all over the inside. I notice for the first time that there is pink fluid on the floor -- I'm assuming this is the G12 coolant.
It's not a hot day, so I put in distilled water, turn up the heat and drive my Passat (trying to stay under 2k rpm) down to the dealer. They say that the coolant from the oil cooler leaked into the oil (and presumably, vice-versa).
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I just purchased a 2015 sonata last Friday from a large non Hyundai dealer. An hour ago while upgrading my headlights i noticed the coolant reserve tank was completely empty. I am going to check the main radiator level tomorrow because the engine was still hot at the time. I am hoping it is not a blown head gasket, i did remove the oil cap and noticed a very small amount of greyish oil in the cap threads other than that it looked good directly under the cap and inside the hole. Should i call my local Hyundai dealer or just fill the tank back up? I am wondering if it just burned off over time and the original owner never filled it back up. Also what type of coolant is compatible?
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2008 Santa Fe 2.7 105k miles Timing belt replaced two years ago at 80k miles I have no smoke, no sweet smell, no milk on oil dipstick, oil looks as clean as honey, no crustiness anywhere, no wet spots under hood or car. Yet my coolant reservoir was empty when I did my last oil change two mos. ago. I filled it up then. Today I checked it was just below the min. line. Car runs like a top, but I'm going to have a pressure test done today. I thought head gasket issues were very rare in these cars.
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1999 Honda CRV. Just took a 3-hour highway trip. Before trip I topped up coolant reservoir which was a little low, but radiator was full. I did notice some dried white spots on the front of valve cover and spark wires. Wasn't sure what it was, but now realize it was coolant residue. Probably only 1-2 cups were missing from the reservoir, so the leak had just started.
After 3 hour trip, checked engine compartment again. This time the reservoir was totally empty (radiator still full) and the engine was well sprayed with greenish coolant residue. The radiator was cool by the time I checked it, so the leak source wasn't obvious, but it looks to be coming from the seam where the plastic top meets the aluminum.
I will replace the radiator when I get home, but first have to drive the 3-hour return trip. Will it be OK as long as I start full of coolant and keep an eye on the temp gauge?
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I noticed recently that I have a coolant leak in a used car that I got a few months ago. I've been driving this thing pretty regularly at this point, but I haven't noticed any overheating. The engine temp stays shy of the midpoint line on the meter, both at speed and in idle.
The coolant reservoir was empty a little over a month ago, so I filled it up. A few days ago, I took a look at it, and it was empty again. I refit a hose that was a little loose and decided I'd just wait and see what happened after driving it some. Over the past few days, I've noticed slight decreases in the coolant level each day.
Today was no different, except that after I drove for about 15 minutes on probably the hottest day of the year so far (about 95 degrees, don't know if that matters at all), I noticed there was coolant sprayed on the hood. I opened the hood and there was quite a bit of coolant pooled on the far left of the radiator top, right between the coolant reservoir and the radiator pressure cap. What's going on here?
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1,500 miles ago my car had it's 30k service. Today, i got "CHECK...". At home this evening i checked the inverter coolant reservoir, it was empty. I've added 1L of de-ionised water (which got it to full, and i see turbulence in the fluid) until i can get the correct fluid.
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I've got an '08 Cobalt. There is a large leak in my coolant system. The plastic reservoir is empty and if I add coolant and start the engine it all gushes out of a hole in a piece of plastic on the side of the radiator. Can I drive it to the shop if I watch the engine temperature or should I have it towed? Is the engine temperature measurement affected by the lack of coolant?
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I have a 1999 4x2 F150 XL, 4.2L engine, 5-speed trans., about 197,600 miles and have been getting P0306 and P0174 codes. The check engine light came on and stayed on. Also, pretty much randomly, my engine over-heats and the engine compartment coolant reservoir is suddenly dry as a bone. I bought the truck new and this has only happened twice, during normal driving.
Clearing the 0306 and 0174 codes. Not sure what to do about the over-heating thing.. What I've done so far to try to clear the codes is the least expensive stuff:
=> Replaced both forward O2 sensors, have read where the two rear O2 sensors don't necessarily need to be replaced so I haven't replaced them yet. The sensors that came off are Bosch, as are the ones that I bought from Autozone and installed.
=> Replaced old spark plugs with Motorcraft brand, gapped to 0.054 in.
=> Replaced old spark plug wires with Motorcraft spark plug wires.
=> Cleaned the MAF sensor
=> Replaced PCV valve and replaced an section of elbow hose near it. The original elbow had a big hole right at the 90-degree bend, on the inside.
=> Replaced a cracked, dried-out, vacuum hose coming from the evap cannister purge valve and going to the front underside of the upper intake manifold.
=> replaced fuel filter.
After doing all this, I took it out on the road long enough for the computer to wake up and relearn and got the check-engine light again. Only this time it was flashing. I gather from reading in this forum that a flashing CEL is worse than a constant-on CEL so I drove back home and have yet to take it back out.
After reading about problematic ignition coils, I followed a procedure in my Haynes manual to check mine out:
=> Verified the correct resistance values at the electrical connector (0.7 ohms),
=> Verified battery voltage is present at the harness side of the electrical connector (about 12.6 volts),
=> checked the resistance values between the three sets of 'towers'. Starting from front to back, the resistance readings were 13.06 kOhms, 13.12 kOhms, and 12.98 kOhms. The correct range in the Haynes book is 6.5 to 11.5 kOhms so I thought maybe my ignition coil was bad.
I located a Motorcraft ignition coil at a local O'Reilly Auto Parts store, went there, and was able to check the resistance values on that new one. Turns out the resistance on the new one at the parts store is pretty much the same as that on the one on my truck (all three coils were 13.something kOhms), so I haven't replaced the ignition coil. I guess either my Haynes book is probably incorrect or the ignition coil on my particular F150 has different resistance values than the rest of the vehicles covered by that manual.
Next things I'm looking at replacing:
=> egr valve and the associated line to the DPFE sensor. (DPFE replaced a few years back, as a result of a P0401 code)
=> iac valve
=> upper intake plenum gaskets
I'm kind of at a loss at this point. I hate to just continue replacing things without knowing that I'm replacing the right things.
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I have a 1992 Toyota Celica I think I may have overheating problems every time i stop after driving a little while i can hear a boiling noise from where you put your coolant in and when i open it there is steam coming from the black hose that goes in it.
The funny thing is when i am driving the temperature gauge stays at 1/2 way and never passes it, also sometimes when i stop green and a bit clear liquid leaks on the ground on the side where the battery is.
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My 2000 Accent with 164,000km is not overheating but is dumping coolant into the reservoir so that the radiator is about a quart low. I did have a few problems with it overheating in the past month, but that was solved by thermostat removal (always above 80F here). I stopped before the overheats reached the redline and allowed the engine to cool before continuing, no known adverse performance during the overheats. No water in oil.
Failed troubleshooting:
Drained and replaced coolant x3
New radiator cap
* No thermostat.
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I have a 2000 Dodge Neon with a 2001 Neon motor in it. I have just recently had problems with the car overheating. So we started diagnosing it and replaced parts that we thought were wrong. We replaced the water pump, thermostat, radiator cap, and timing belt. The problem that I am having is that the car won't take coolant out of the reservoir tank. I have bled the air out of the cooling system and it still didn't fix the problem.
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I have a 92 Plymouth Voyager, which I just got back from my son. He was driving it in Seattle for awhile, until it overheated. He had a new radiator and new thermostat put in, but it still overheated. I towed it back to my place to see if my daughter and I could get it running. The new radiator he had put in was leaking from a seam around the top. We replaced that with a new radiator.
I drove around for about 60 to 70 miles, into town and back. No problem. Today my wife and daughter took it to town and only made it about 2/3 of the way before it started to overheat. Daughter discovered a hole in the coolant reservoir. But I am still not sure what could be the reason for the overheating. I did replace the water pump about three years ago. What I can do to possibly repair this problem?
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I have 2001 Nissan Xterra SE 3.3L V6. A few weeks ago my car started to overheat while going through the grapevine (mountain pass in SoCal). After filling it up with coolant, I took it to the shop. They couldn't figure out what exactly was the problem. It passed the block test and such. They said the top hose was swelling up as if something was blocking it. They also said my car was going through about a gallon of coolant. They replaced the water pump, thermostat, and the top hose. they also replaced the timing belt.
After driving the car for an hour, it started to overheat again. This time, I took it to the Nissan dealership. They said the timing belt was off by 2 teeth and they think that's why it overheated, so they fixed that problem. They also did a cooling system test and found no leaks.
I got the car back and it still overheats. After the turn off the car, I see coolant being bubbling back into the reservoir almost to the top. Also, my radiator was replaced about a year ago.
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I have a 1996 Plymouth Breeze and its been a pretty trustworthy car for the last few years. Lately however I have noticed a gurgling sound coming from the coolant reservoir whenever it the thermostat gauge hits about 50%. It cools right back down to a little over 25% and the sound goes away. I don't think its a leak in my head gasket as there is not any oil in my coolant or coolant in my oil, and its not over heating.
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