Where did it go?

[Jim B]

My 05 v6 ST sucked a half gallon of coolant in 3 wks time. No evidence of loss anywhere. It didn't ever overheat. The exhaust didn't turn white. The heater core is OK. Runs normal in every other way.

Anybody got any ideas or have the same thing happen to your ST?

Thanks!:blink::blink:

 

[Mark Grumpy]

A half gallon's not much, but check your oil. Why were you adding to it in the first place to know it's a half gallon? Routine check? May have been a gallon low, you add a half which only appears to fill it, then you check again it's low again.



Head gasket, head warped or cracked, a crack just about anywhere, can cause coolant to leak internally. Oil will have greyish white deposits. If real bad, all oil will be nasty and will even be evident on the filler cap.



Also, someone else will know - where is the tranny cooler? I've had coolant go into the tranny before when the cooler is on the side of the radiator.



grump

 

[Johnny O]

On an '05 Trac (I have one) the tranny cooler is separate from the radiator and in front of it. The '02 Ranger I had before was the same.

I'd pressure check the cooling system first, then drain the oil and see what it looks like (chocolate milk = water in oil). Or drop $21 and send an oil sample to Blackstone Labs and they will tell you if there is water and/or coolant in the oil.

Do you ever smell antifreeze? It could be dripping onto the exhaust and burning up so you don't see anything on the ground.

As far as I know, the 4.0 SOHC is not known for the head gaskets suffering an early demise (Ford 4.0 OHV and 3.8 V6's are).

 

[Dallas Starr]

its in front of the radiator ... if you look from underneath you should be able to see both...

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Take a look at the color of your Tranny fluid....



If it is not the normal color, then you may have an internal leak of the radiator allowing coolant to enter the tranny on the low pressure side....

 

[Doug Watts]

I had the same problem on an '88 T-Bird and it turned out to be a bad radiator cap. I replaced the cap and had no more loss.

 

[Jim B]

Thanks to all that took the time to answer.After checking everthing, and finding nothing, there is no further loss, 600 miles so far. I had the dealer write it up just in case, so they have a record for my warrenty. This board and its members ROCK!

 

[Josh Langel]

This board and its members ROCK!

Yup. Thanks to me!!!