Engine Coolant leak from bell housing

[TIGGER]

I pulled the transmission and clutch today. It’s not the freeze plugs. No smoking gun on where it is leaking from. Tomorrow I’ll take another look at the back of the intake with the transmission out this time. If I do not see anything I’ll pull the intake after I get the transmisson back in.

Not all is lost because I wanted to change the clutch anyway. The old one had a stiff pedal. It chattered and the throw out bearing was noisy as hell. Garbage…. I went with a valeo king cobra clutch.

 

[TIGGER]

I confirmed the leak was in fact the intake manifold a couple weeks ago. My gaskets finally came in late last week so I took it apart.
Someone tried to drill out that broken bolt about 25% of the way but they drilled it way off center. I did my best to drill it in the center but it is still off by about a 1/16th of an inch. I tapped it and ran a heli coil down the hole. The hole in the intake is sloppy but not sloppy enough to get the bolt started. I ended up notching the gasket and knocking out the metal sleeve from that hole in the intake to get the bolt to thread in.
Got it all back together let it run for an hour in my garage while I burped the system with no leaks. Took it for a couple short drives, still ok. Now this evening I went to Wendy’s and while waiting in the drive thru the coolant light came on. Came home and it is dripping from the bell housing again.
Manic, the intake manifold on this car is not a Ford one. Is there a common failure with the knock off manifolds? I am wondering if the flange is warped because that bolt was gone for who knows how long. I should have taking a closer look when I had it off but I didn’t think of it. I just cleaned the surface and put it back on. I thought about using rtv around the water ports but I didn’t.
Tomorrow when it is cold I’m going to retorque the intake bolts and see if that helps.
Any other ideas?

 

[manicmechanic007]

Yes retorque the manifold and hope for the best
I have never seen the flange on the head warp
No common failure point on the aftermarket manifolds
However the manifolds warp on a regular basis

 

[manicmechanic007]

If the bolt in question had no torque on it for a long time the manifold is most likely warped in that spot
I sure would retorque it before buying another manifold
You may need another manifold
They are cheap
Now that you have a zipper on the manifold it will be easy
There are manifolds with gaskets on ebay for your 4.6 for 105 bucks

 

[manicmechanic007]

Tigger,
If you have to pull it back apart
Sink a stud if necessary in that damaged hole
Modify the new manifold in the spot where the bolt does not line up perfectly
You should be able to punch the metal insert out of the manifold
Die Grind it for bolt clearance
Half moon insert is okay
Reinstall insert with clear epoxy
Bolt it together as the epoxy is setting up and do not use much

 

[TIGGER]

I bet the manifold has been on there for a while now. We have put over 10k on it since we have owned it. Car has ~155k on the clock currently. If the original cracked around 70k like on my tigger car I’m guessing this one has at least 70k on it. Lots of thermal cycles. Looks like all the new intakes have o-ring intake gaskets where this one uses OE style intake gaskets. I got lucky when I ordered the gaskets. I didn’t know there was another style manifold till now.

I will retorque it tonight when I get home and see what happens.

Thanks again for all your input. It is much appreciated.

 

[TIGGER]

I got home late tonight but I did manage to retorque the bolts on the manifold tonight. Rear bolt hole that was messed up took a couple turns still. All the others were at max torque already. So while I had it running I notice the thermostat housing was leaking. That looked like it was my main source of coolant tonight. I just replaced the thermostat gasket with a new one when I did the intake. I was too late to get another one tonight so I will pick up a couple tomorrow and try again.

 

[manicmechanic007]

I hope the plastic around the coolant ports/ thermostat housing is not deteriorated or cracked
5.4 is notorious for that 4.6 not so much
I swear the replacement Ford manifolds were aluminum for a time
It was a shame in 1990 and still is
Every 4.6 police interceptor Crown Vic that I know of got a new manifold after they came out in '90 or so
Most of the Mustangs and half the T birds too
These days when I see a leaking manifold I just assume I will have to replace it along with the gaskets
Thank God they are cheap borderline too cheap

 

[TIGGER]

I don’t think so. You can see it leaking from the thermostat housing and the manifold. But I’ll find out tonight.

 

[TIGGER]

I replaced the thermostat gasket last night and let it run for a while then I took it for a 5 mile drive. So far so good on the coolant leak. Today is my work from home day so I am only going to use it to run errands later this evening. Tomorrow and Friday I will take it to work which is a 55 mile round trip commute. It should be a good test for it. If all is good then, I will turn it back over to the wife on Saturday so she can have her 3 pedals back.

Manic, one more question. Ever since I R & R'd the intake, the car does not start up cold cleanly. It kind of stumbles a bit before it catches. Also the hanging ldle is back. It takes about 10-15 seconds before the idle comes down when you get to a stop light. I had this issue early on when I bought the car. I tried to clean the IAC but in cleaning it I messed it up and the car would no longer idle. I bought a new OEM ford one and have not had issues since I replaced it. It has maybe been on the car for 8 months and 4,000 miles. Do you think the ECM is relearning still since I disconnected the battery? I do not have issues with the vert like this when I disconnect its battery. I checked for vacuum leaks and found none last night. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated when you have time.

 

[manicmechanic007]

Sounds exactly like the PCM is relearning
Good job
Man card stamped

 

[TIGGER]

Manic, this car must hate me. Around lunch, my daughter stopped by to drop off her Tacoma for me to fix the brakes. I then took her to work real quick and came back home. Car ran great. Around 5 my son and I went to my moms to do a couple things in the yard real quick before it got dark. Half way home from my moms house the hydroboost pump started whining real bad. I limped it home the last 3 miles. By now it was pooring down rain. I shut the engine off and popped the hood. Fluid was overflowing from the reservoir and full of small bubbles. Not sure what happened but I figured I would cut my losses for tonight on the car and work on my daughter truck a bit. I get in to move the car and it doesn’t start. The starter won’t engage. Same thing happened to my wife shortly after I bought the car. B terminal is loose internally. I kinda tightened the terminal with a punch and a hammer and it was working just fine till I pulled the tranny. I wondered if it was going to act up again since I disturbed it. I have my answer now.

 

[TIGGER]

By the way, the idle settled back down today and there appears to be no water leaks still.

 

[manicmechanic007]

Tigger,
I do not know why your Hydroboost burped
It may have a leak somewhere in the system
Maybe the steering wheel got turned with the engine off?
The starter needs replaced or the solenoid at least
Once you get it started purge the PS of air by elevating the front tires and turning lock to lock 20 times
That is what the book says
I do it a bit different
I turn real slow and wait for the bubbles to disappear between turns
Great news on the coolant

 

[TIGGER]

Today I replaced the starter solenoid. After that I started looking at the pump/ steering issue. First thing I noticed is that the reservoir was totally empty while it was full the other day and overflowing. The second thing I noticed is that the serpentine belt is missing a rib and there were belt strands in some of the pulleys. The belt is now one rib narrower. Not sure what caused that. I filled the reservoir and tried to do the purge with the wheels up. It semi worked. Pump is whining something fierce now. I purged it the same way a couple months ago when I replaced the rack and had no issues like today. I think the pump is toast now but I am concerned to what caused the pump to die? The pump looks like it is leaking at the bottom hose fitting.

And to top it off guess what cracked?? The ear where the bolt was missing now has a crack and the coolant is leaking again I am pretty sure the intake flange warped when the bolt was missing and now that I torqued it to spec it had too much stress. I am going to order an intake off ebay.

I swear this car hates me.

 

[manicmechanic007]

The car just has some trouble
It probably likes you because you are trying to fix it
Replace the pressure hose and I use teflon tape on the threads
I do not rely solely on the white nylon washer to seal the threads
Yes on the new intake manifold

 

[TIGGER]

Why do you think the pump is leaking all of the sudden at the connection? I* have never messed with any of the connections on this car. Just the steering rack connections. Seems like the pump is toast now, do you agree?

What fluid do you run?

 

[manicmechanic007]

Tigger,
those pumps and hoses just do that
All of the sudden just leak
Ignorant job but verify the leak as one or the other
I use mercon in the zf pumps and F in the C2's
If you lean on the hose and the internal o ring is old it can get ruined in an instant
Part of the verify which is leaking you can twist the hose around some and see if the leak gets worse
The pump is probably okay
Check the pressure line fitting into the pump for tight
If that is tight
Replace the pressure line and reseal the pump fitting at the same time
Means replace the o rings on the line fitting that holds the pressure relief valve in the pump
Sometimes all that happens is you somehow loosen the big nut (fitting) and that is the leak
I do not rely solely on the white teflon ring used to seal the threads
I also add teflon tape to the threads of the pressure line
No teflon tape on the pump fitting just new o rings

 

[manicmechanic007]

You have a 4.6 right
So the pump is hanging down below
Sometimes I painstakingly remove the pulley so I can work the fitting and hose together easier
Also you cant see jack so remove the pulley
You are going to end up with mercon all over your face and in your ears anyway
Make it easy on yourself
I plan the ignorant messy PS jobs out
I procure the parts and get everything ready
Then I get in and out quick and wear latex gloves
To bad you do not live closer and I would do it for you
I have done so many it is pretty damn easy
A good 1 inch wrench or sometimes smaller and a good 18 is all you need
I use a MAC 18 long with 4 sided contact on the open end because all you can get on there is an open end wrench

 

[TIGGER]

Sigh...... Again I swear this car hates me. The new intake came yesterday. Today I go to move it into the garage and the battery is dead again. This is the third time since I have been dealing with the coolant leak. I go get my meter and the battery voltage is 8.5 volts. I jump it and move it into the garage. It maybe ran no more than 5 minutes and shut it off. I then check the voltage again and it is like at 12.5 volts. I don't get it. I assume this battery is on its way out. Anyway I move onto replacing the intake. Went smooth but I must say the quality of the aftermarket intake is terrible. The ports are all different shapes with burrs. I cleaned it up the best I could. Started the car and let it run for a bit till it ran out of gas. Gas tank is crushed in so it is ~13 gallons now so a needle width or so under a 1/4 it runs out of gas. I was heading to get gas when the power steering pump started acting up so I headed home instead.

Anyway, while it was running there were no coolant leaks that I noticed but the coolant light came on even though the reservoir was full. I assume that sensor is on its way out too. Wait it gets better..... I didn't have any more gas so I was going to call it a night and go eat dinner when I noticed the windshield was wet inside on the passenger side. I can try and ignore it all I want but I assume the heater core the bed now. Is there supposed to be a restrictor in one the heater hoses like on the foxbodies?

I just did the heater core on my wifes vert a few months back, that was a pain. I really do not want to do this car now