96 3.8 blown headgasket?

[loca247]

I have a 1995 Ford Windstar that has a 1996 3.8 engine. The antifreeze is leaking out somewhere, not on the ground and the exaugst is not discolored. I took it to a mechanic and he said the head gasket is blown. Any inexpenisve ideas to check where the antifreeze is going?

[wiswind]

The antifreeze is going someplace.

Check the timing chain cover....near the water pump....look for signs of seepage. I had a seepage there....evaporated rather than drip on ground.
You want to look from under the car at that end of the engine.
This is a known common leakage point for the 3.8L Windstar.....I fixed mine with some stop leak.

Look on the inside of your oil fill cap.....is there a milky buildup there (Indication of coolant leaking into oil).
You can also send a sample of your oil in for testing at blackstone labs.

Looking at your spark plugs for signs of antifreeze deposits.

Also....check for signs of leakage in the hose to the overflow bottle......My '96 did not have a clamp for the overflow hose where it connects to the radiator...right below the radiator fill cap......mine was quite loose....and while mine did not seem to be leaking.....I can see how that could be a leakage point.

[12Ounce]

Some of the symptoms of blown head gaskets are the same as for symptoms of blown intake manifold gaskets (and possibly front cover gaskets): coolant on plugs, coolant in exhaust, coolant in crankcase.

There is one that MAY (but doesn't always) happen with a blown head gasket that I don't think will happen with manifold gaskets:
air bubbles in coolant reservoir.

[CoachKarl]

Wiswind Said: "Check the timing chain cover....near the water pump....look for signs of seepage. I had a seepage there....evaporated rather than drip on ground.
You want to look from under the car at that end of the engine.
This is a known common leakage point for the 3.8L Windstar.....I fixed mine with some stop leak." Really? Stop Leak? Will that work? I replaced the water pump to try to stop a silver dollar size spot of antifreeze from appearing on the garage floor. Man, what a bad weekend that turned out to be. (Two summers ago). I've learned to ignore the puddle and watch the resevoir. I'd love to fix it!Any adverse side effects from using that stuff? I live in Sav, GA (USA), and it's pretty hot in the summer here.

[wiswind]

CoachKarl,

The stop leak stuff did slow the leak down a lot....It had been increasing.....but has been very minimal, if at all since I did it last year..
Although.....it was still a seapage.....the dealer also called it a seapage....and recommended not worrying about it as it was so slight.

I thought it was worth a try as replacing the timing chain cover requires removing the engine from all the instructions that I have read.

I do plan to send in a oil sample for testing......

www.blackstone-labs.com


The instructions for my '96 indicate undoing an engine mount and lifting the engine slightly to do the water pump......

[floridatgp]

See my post from a few days ago about some snake oil that is supposed to fix head gaskets, let us know if it works. I run BAR's heavy duty stop leak all the time as a preventative, it is also a water pump lube.

I have see that product completely stop radiator seapage.

[loca247]

I saw your reply about the snake oil. I will give it a try! Thanks!

[Rowdysrides]

I personally do not like using Stop Leak, you may call it preventative or water pump lube but you have to be careful as it will block your heater core. In one of my old vehicles was purchased with Stop Leak in it already and I ended up replacing the heater core, water pump & radiator because of Stop Leak blocked and caused more problems.

For about $80., Eastwood company has a dye kit for your coolant, follow the instructions and you will locate your leak.

[loca247]

Dear wiswind: I checked the oil fill cap; no milky residue. I looked at the spark plugs (what I could see without taking of the spark plug wires) All I saw was rust. As for the timing chain cover, I have no clue what I'm looking for. What does seepage and antifreeze deposits look like? (Don't laugh too hard, I'm a beginner!)

When I went out to check all of those things, there wasn't any coolant in the resevoir. Still no evidence of leakage on the ground anywhere. I check everytime I move the van.

I clicked on the website for blackstone labs in your reply. I didn't see any info on sending in oil samples.

[wiswind]

Sorry!!!
I forgot the "-" in the link......I edited it... and it is correct....

www.blackstone-labs.com

The spark plugs will need to be removed in order to do your inspection......
The crud around the plug should be removed as best you can before removing the plug as you do NOT want to get that into the cylinder.
Then you can make a comparison of the plugs from each cylinder.....(but I strongly recommend you only remove 1 at a time). If you have a blown head gasket....and coolant is getting into the cylinder.....it is NOT getting into all of them.....likely 1 or at most 2 cylinders.

As I posted in another thread....

Visit www.autozone.com

for information on how to remove the plugs and they had a listing of pictures of what problems ....such as antifreeze on a plug will look like.
Don't do what I want to do....and over analyze the plugs.

The 3.8L engine is also known for problems with the lower intake manifold gaskets leaking coolant. You have to take the lower intake manifold off to get to the head gaskets......

Timing chain cover.....is on the passenger side of your engine.....you will look from the bottom....and the leakage would be visible near the bottom of the engine. May be moist (could be oil and / or coolant)...dried would be a white / green color.
Not to be confused with salt deposits in the winter time.

[Rowdysrides]

Can a leaking head gasket also cause a misfire??

[loca247]

Thanks for more info! Someone told me that if coolant was in the cylinders it would have frozen up by now. Sound right?

Liz

[wiswind]

Well...partially true.....if you get enough in there....yes.
You may only have a little getting in now.

Same is true for coolant in the oil.....will cause major failure (bearings). The milky stuff I was talking about on the inside of the oil fill cap are signs of advanced stages of coolant getting into the oil. Sending in a sample for testing can let you know before you have a more major repair needed.

BIG thing is to keep on top of your routine maintenance....
PCV valve is an easy thing to overlook....out of sight and out of mind....
Air filter, oil & oil filter, injector cleaner.....to name a few more things.

[loca247]

WisWind,

I checked the overflow hose. It didn't have a clamp on it and it was loose. I put a clamp on it and now the van doesn't have heat. The temperature gauge fluctuates between normal and overheating. I checked the coolant level at one point the level was at Full Cold level and the second time it was well over the Full Cold level. Yesterday, I took the van to AutoZone to have the codes read. One of the two codes that came up was the Engine Coolant Temp sensor code. Could this be the problem?

[wiswind]

I would correct the coolant temp issue....I do not know which sensor is the one in question.....I do know that mine has like 3 coolant sensors within about 12" of each other. They are near the thermostat....which is under the throttle body.....where the upper radiator hose goes into the engine. You may be able to find which one is the sensor in question on the autozone website under repair information. Don't rule out a connection issue.

When the engine is cool.....remove the radiator cap and see if the coolant is all the way up.....If you got enough air in at some point....you could be thinking your radiator is full by checking the overflow....when it is not. Unlikely to be your problem as you have seen the level go up and down in your overflow bottle....but worth a check anyhow.

Coolant flows through the heater core ALL THE TIME (unless there is a blockage). When you turn the heat on and off.....the result is that a air blend door opens and closes....permiting more or less air to flow over the heater core. The air blend door is located in the passenger compartment. From seeing posts on here......it is not easy to get at.
The air blend door on the '95-98 is vacuum actuated......so it is possible that a vacuum connection has become loose...and is leaking air in. There are a few vacuume connections on the back of the upper intake manifold. There are several that have little hoses that look like big electrical wires.

Also, there are 2 on the back of the upper intake manifold that have electrical connectors and 2 vacuum lines. 1 is the EGR vacuum regulator....and I have not investigated what the other one does....

The windstar is know for vacuum leaks....so I would verify the vacuum connections before tearing other stuff apart......I like to go for the easy stuff first.