please help with massive coolant leak (pics)

[5.0Torx]

hey all, im having a bit of a crisis. my 5.0 has been getting worse and worse about leaking coolant. today was a particular milestone as it marked the first time it left a trail coming up my driveway and a puddle on my garage floor the size of england. i decided enough is enough and its time to take pics and see what you all think.

it is coming from under the throttle body, at the back of the intake ish. coolant is all over everything. heres pics

as you can see in the first pic, theres coolant on the intake. its also running down the bellhousing, firewall, starter, everything...

the second pic shows some of the things ive already replaced or fixed. i paid a shop to change the heater hoses, as you can see. also, the end of the coolant line going to the backside of the egr spacer was leaking so i just cut the last half inch off and took up the slack. that seems to have stopped. im convinced thats what was pissing all over my valve cover. but theres still something leaking like crazy.

what do you think?

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I think the garage that replaced the heater hoses should have presure tested the system afterwards as well. Can you not get it running and watch were the coolant is leaking from? Is there any coolant in your oil? Any bubbles in your radiator when the engine is running? If not, you can probably rule out a head gasket. What kind of shape is your EGR gasket in? I'd start taking stuff of now and have the new gaskets ready to go. They're cheap and easy to replace on the top end....and by the looks of it, quite necessary!?!

 

[LX302]

You stared in the right direction but there is a couple of more areas to look.

The best way to check is to warm up the car, enough for the thermostat to open. Open the hood and look to see where the leak is coming from. Having the car hot will help.
Check the heater hoses again, and the coolant line on the EGR.
I suspect that maybe the gasket between the EGR and throttle body is bad and leaking.
It could also be the coolant metal line that runs along the valve cover from the water pump to the heater hose inlet line.
Dare I say a leak from the lower intake from the head gasket?

Check it out some more and get back to us.

 

[5.0Torx]

thanks guys, im on it right now

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

I have had bad lower intake manifold gaskets leak coolant and oil like a SOB. I would check that and the heater core hoses. Hell, I'd replace all the hoses while your in there. Cheap insurance.

 

[5.0Torx]

i just got done replacing the back EGR spacer coolant hose...man, that thing is a PITA! i think i got it this time though! im rather excited about it. i just got done driving around like a hooligan, and immediately got out and looked under the hood and under the car after parking and didnt see anything dripping. I really hope thats it with this car for a while!

 

[mavmavv]

From what it looks like, it was the EGR spacer with the coolant lines that go through it.

Be sure to drive the car for at least 10-20 mins and get it nice and hot, that will let lots of coolant flow through the passages.

 

[5.0Torx]

yeah, i agree, i think i just might have finally solved the problem. ive even got a 95 mile road trip comin up this weekend so we'll see how she does there.

thanks yall!

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

That's great! That damn hose went bad on me at 3:00am on day light savings time, so it was really about 4:00am when it happened!!!! I was about 25 miles from home, and really really pist off!!! I milked the car home and got home at like 6:00am!!! All for a 2 dollar section of bulk hose!!

 

[5.0Torx]

haha yeah. the foot long hose cost me $4 now though!

second day now no leaks! thanks to all for the help!

 

[NIKwoaC]

Just an afterthought, make sure that when you replace any coolant hoses, you use functional hose clamps to fix them in place. The factory butterfly-spring clamps suck and should be tossed.

 

[wythors]

When new, the factory clamps are actually a much better clamp. They apply even force around the entire circumference of the hose, seal much better and put much less stress on the rubber itself. That's one of the main reasons factory hoses last so long.