Leaking Radiator on my 98

[King$nake]

My Radiator started leaking a few days ago. I cant pinpoint where its coming from, but its collecting in the plastic shroud at the bottom of the front end.

What steps should I take to find out exactly where its coming from? The radiator fan sprayed green coolant everywhere so its hard to see where exactly its coming from, but its dripping pretty good.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Elessar65]

Do a search for coolant leak or radiator leak, there are several good threads about this on here.

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Could also be a hose. They can develop pin hole sized leaks that shoot coolant out.

 

[marragtop]

Best way is to clean everything off and pressure test it with a pressure tester.

 

[radman]

You did not say how bad a leak you have but here are some facts.

The plastic tank/aluminum core radiators found in Explorers are prone to cold weather drips, usually after the engine has cooled down for a while. The usual problem is the crimp of the tank to header installation. There is a rubber seal between the header and tank and these 3 differant materials expand and contract at differant values. This is an easy DIY repair.

Other issues are the plastic drain ****s with thier rubber seal that tend to fail over time usually when someone drains the radiator for service.

The aluminum cores in these radiators at this age, 10 years old, are due for failure. Aluminum is very susceptible to erosion especially if the coolant has been allowed to become acidic, also causes heater core failure.

 

[radman]

I forgot to mention that tank cracks on the inlet side will cause coolant in the air path.

 

[King$nake]

Thanks for the replies everybody.

I drove down to Autozone today and bought a thing of Stop-Leak for $1.99. I poured it in my radiator and ran my truck for a bit. It stopped the leak! So far, nothing has dripped out since I added the Stop leak