Drip Drip Drip

[ulwur]

Hi All!

My Windstar has slowly been lossing coolant (approx two listers since last summer). It's an external leak, there's a stain on the ground under the car.

Yestarday I spent an hour or so under the engine tyrying to locate the leakage, prime suspects (radiator and water pump) were OK.
Finally I found I drop of coolant (I tasted it to be sure), coming down the gap between the oil-pan of the engine and the oil-pan of the transmission.

I tried to locate the source of the leakage, but you all know how cramped the space in front of the firewall is...

Has anyone seen a leak like this before??

/Ulwur
Uppsala, Sweden.

[carlos80]

Originally Posted by ulwur

Hi All!

My Windstar has slowly been lossing coolant (approx two listers since last summer). It's an external leak, there's a stain on the ground under the car.

Yestarday I spent an hour or so under the engine tyrying to locate the leakage, prime suspects (radiator and water pump) were OK.
Finally I found I drop of coolant (I tasted it to be sure), coming down the gap between the oil-pan of the engine and the oil-pan of the transmission.

I tried to locate the source of the leakage, but you all know how cramped the space in front of the firewall is...

Has anyone seen a leak like this before??

/Ulwur
Uppsala, Sweden.

clean the engine compartment especially the area where you suspect the leak is coming from, then perform a coolant pressure test( not sure if you can rent one at autozone or checkers but worth try) then just look around for you leak. happy hunting

[road_rascal]

I had a similar leak on my old '96. I can't remember the part name but it was a small coolant line that only leaked when I accelerated. When the engine shifted slightly the line would flex and drip a small amount of fluid. I'll dig through my old repair sheets and see if I can't find out what it was.

[wiswind]

Common leak for the '95-97 windstar is the lower intake manifold gaskets. It could be running down from there.

On that side of the engine, I would also look at the upper radiator hose, heater supply hose, and the cross over hose/pipe. The heater supply hose has a "quick" connect, which if not pressed on correctly, can leak.
The cross over hose / pipe has a small U shaped hose that goes from a connection at the water pump to a pipe that curves and passes through the lower intake manifold to the driver's side of the engine. At that point, there is another part that the heater hose connects to.