1997 Ford Taurus GL Antifreeze Leak

[Shad Claiborne]

Greetings,

My name is Shad Claiborne and I've just purchased a 1997 Ford Taurus GL with 170,000 mile odometer reading. When I first examined the car I checked under it to see if it was leaking anything; Nothing. But after I'd driven it a little, I stopped and noticed that there was antifreeze leaking or dripping from the right-front side of the vehicle. For some reason I'm having trouble popping the engine hood so that I can attempt to find the source of the link.

I'm not savvy when it comes to automobiles, to say the least, and I would really appreciate any ideas and/or perhaps corrective actions (if feasible) that anyone with the knowledge and expertise can provide.

Thanks in advance,

Shad

[shorod]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm going to trust you have already tried pulling on the hood release lever inside the car under the instrument cluster.

This may be a two-person job. Find a friend/spouse/significant other and have them press down on the hood in the area of the hood latch. This would be the front center of the hood, about 3 inches from the forward edge of the hood. While they press down on the hood, pull the hood release and hold it in the released position. Have your helper quickly remove the pressure and see if the hood pops up. You may need to try a few times.

If the hood pops up about 2-3 inches then catches, this is normal and a safety feature. There is then a small lever on the underside of the hood near the spring and latch that you need to use a couple of fingers to lift towards the painted hood. While holding up on this lever, lift the hood open. Be prepared for the gas struts that are supposed to hold the hood up to not hold it up. Don't let the hood fall on your head, fingers, or appendages of your helper's.

If the hood fails to pop up the few inches to the safety catch, then check to see if by chance the cable just came disconnected from the hood release lever. If so, you may be able to use a pliers or similar tool to pull the cable and get the latch to release. If the cable is broken, then you may need to visit an auto body shop for their expertise.

-Rod

[tripletdaddy]

There is an emergency release on the hood latch. First, locate the hood latch mechanism through the center of the grill right under the edge of the hood. You will see a vertical black metal piece that goes up under the hood. To the right side about midway, there is a hooked lever that you can push up on with a screwdriver. It should pop or release the first hood latch like normally done from inside the car.

[Colt Hero]

Here's another possibility with the hood not popping up: the hydraulic lifters that raise the hood are dead. I bought my '97 Taurus GL brand new and it has 153k miles on it right now. I'd say at about 140k the lifters started failing to hold the hood up when I'd open it. The hood would mostly stay up, but then sometimes start to fall slowly. A side effect to this was that when I pulled the hood release under the dash, all I would hear is a faint click - but the hood would not move. I'd have to dig my fingers into the crack at the lip of the hood and pull it up manually. Funny thing happened recently, however. The hood got so bad (wouldn't stay up much at all) that I had to jam a couple of wooden dowels in there to keep the hood up while I had my head inside the engine compartment. I jammed them in very tight with the hood opened to its very fullest. Since doing this, now when I pull the hood release the hood pops up an inch or so like it did when new. Maybe the hydraulic lifters got fully stretched out, correcting the problem (at least for now). They still can't hold up the hood, but at least the hood pops up now.

[shorod]

It's been awhile since I've been under the hood of a Taurus, but isn't there a spring near the latch to pop the hood up when the release is pulled?

-Rod

[tripletdaddy]

Yup. When the main or first latch is released, the secondary or safety latch, which is spring loaded, pushes up the hood. Then, you push a little down on the hood and slide the latch handle to the left to release the hood completely. When you close the hood, first the safety latch is engaged, then it slides down against its spring until the main latch is engaged and locked. It's a very clever redesign of the old two seperate latch systems.

[tripletdaddy]

Have you located the source of your coolant leak? Right front as seated in the car, could be the overflow tank, radiator, radiator cap, lower radiator hose, water pump. Let us know.