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So you had slow coolant leak somewhere, dripping onto hot engine parts. That will produce smell. Should have been addressed right away.
As the result, you slowly lost coolant until - not sure what your system is, sealed or not - air was sucked inside and created an air bubble. And vacuum, that collapsed the hose.
You lucky.
On a 2.4L 4 cyl t-stat is for some dumb reason down at the engine block bottom. It's beyond me, why. Just getting there and draining it all was what kept me from replacing it on my 99 Ranger.
Getting too old to do this myself I had my upper and lower hoses replaced on my 12 year old Ranger a few months ago. Ever since I continued to smell radiator water
Why didn't you immediately go back to the shop that replaced the hoses?
OK here is the update. I believe yesterday I bleed the system without realizing what I was doing. When I got back I opened the cap (no pressure, hmmmm) and watched as air came to the surface and the coolant dropped. I added anti-freeze and water to get it to full but it was not much at all, maybe a quart to 2 quarts at most. Hard for me to believe I had a coolant leak if this is all the level had dropped since October. As I said I after the smell I monitored the levels and they stayed pretty constant.
But I still go back to the Hot reading, the immediate drop there which screams thermostat sticking, and the lack of pressure which points to the cap. So to be safe replace the thermostat, the cap and have the system pressure tested?
Why didn't you immediately go back to the shop that replaced the hoses?
Because I am an idiot, do not drive the truck often, and figured it would go away as I thought it was overflow. The smell is not terribly strong, there is no visible steam, truck never ran hot before yesterday so that's the reason.
If you look under your radiator cap it has a spring and a tip with a metal plug surrounded by a rubber skirt.
Your cooling system warms up. If your cap is bad as the system builds pressure which sends coolant to the overflow tank. As it builds more pressure it keeps sending coolant to the overflow tank then the tank itself overflows. That's when you smell the coolant. Most likely coming through the AC vents as the intake is at the base of the windshield. The system builds up a air bubble, it tries to draw in coolant but the cap sucks down on the radiator neck with the vacuum created and it prevents the fluid from flowing from the overflow to the radiator/cooling system.
Your t-stat is working because your hose is collapsing. The system cannot draw the additional coolant from the overflow. I had brand new caps that were bad. Another thing that could of happened is the shop could of misplaced your cap and grabbed a bad one or one going bad or yours was gradually going bad and finally crapped out or they grabbed one off another Ford. They all look alike.
If you look under your radiator cap it has a spring and a tip with a metal plug surrounded by a rubber skirt.
Your cooling system warms up. If your cap is bad as the system builds pressure which sends coolant to the overflow tank. As it builds more pressure it keeps sending coolant to the overflow tank then the tank itself overflows. That's when you smell the coolant. Most likely coming through the AC vents as the intake is at the base of the windshield. The system builds up a air bubble, it tries to draw in coolant but the cap sucks down on the radiator neck with the vacuum created and it prevents the fluid from flowing from the overflow to the radiator/cooling system.
Your t-stat is working because your hose is collapsing. The system cannot draw the additional coolant from the overflow. I had brand new caps that were bad. Another thing that could of happened is the shop could of misplaced your cap and grabbed a bad one or one going bad or yours was gradually going bad and finally crapped out or they grabbed one off another Ford. They all look alike.
That's what I'm thinking too, I just switched it out. It's a 14 year old truck, the cap may have gone bad. I guess the only way to find out is to drive it and see. Since I don't drive far I won't get too stranded.
That's what I'm thinking too, I just switched it out. It's a 14 year old truck, the cap may have gone bad. I guess the only way to find out is to drive it and see. Since I don't drive far I won't get too stranded.
Thanks for the help everyone
Yeah eventually the spring or the rubber wears out.
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveinMtAiry
4.0 L Engine. Looks like bleeding the system is pretty damned easy, I may switch out the cap and do as the link instructs.
Hoses were replaced last fall. I was all set to flush the system, then noticed I had original hoses from '04. Rather than flush, then have all the new antifreeze dumped when the hoses were replaced I decided to suspend the flush and pay to have both hoses replaced. The smell started occurring immediately after this. But the truck never showed any signs of overheating or losing fluid until the temp gauge went straight up yesterday, then immediately down.
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