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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Trucks / February 2006Possible blown head gasket on V10
My wife drives a 2000 Excursion with a little over 80k miles and recently I have smelled the sweet smell of anti-freeze just after it's started. Seems like I smell it more if it has sat and cooled for 30 minutes or so and when she restarts it the smell is pretty strong. It's not so noticeable at the exhaust pipe after it has been running for a short period. So I'm curious if any of you have gone through this and is the headgasket being blown the only possible cause? I checked the anti-freeze level the other day in the radiator and appeared to be full. So if it's burning anti-freeze it's not burning much. How much is this likely going to cost? Thanks much for the info in advance. Ben > My wife drives a 2000 Excursion with a little over 80k miles and recently > I have smelled the sweet smell of anti-freeze just after it's started. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Ben Sounds like you have a pin hole leak in your heater core, which resides inside the passenger compartment under the dash. That is generally the only way that pretty strong smell of anti-freeze will be in the passenger compartment with you... > Sounds like you have a pin hole leak in your heater core, which resides > inside the passenger compartment under the dash. > That is generally the only way that pretty strong smell of anti-freeze > will be in the passenger compartment with you... I'm afraid the smell is coming from outside the vehicle. Like when my wife has just started the Excursion as walked around it. I just had her start it while I was back at the exhaust and there is the slight sweet smell. Very slight but, i'm fairly sure it smells like coolant. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. Ben >> Sounds like you have a pin hole leak in your heater core, which resides >> inside the passenger compartment under the dash. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >Ben Are you loosing coolant? Also does oil look okay and has the engine been hot? Something you can do while you sort this out is to install a lower pressure radiator cap. I have been running them for years and I have do had any problem for them and they extend hose life and when a leak happens, it is a lot less agressive. > Are you loosing coolant? Also does oil look okay and has the engine > been hot? Something you can do while you sort this out is to install a > lower pressure radiator cap. I have been running them for years and I > have do had any problem for them and they extend hose life and when a > leak happens, it is a lot less agressive. It can be done, but it is risky on new cars. Water boils at 212 F, each pound of pressure raises that 3 degrees F. Antifreeze and water in a 50-50 mix boils at 248 degrees F at sea level. There are surfaces in the engine that will approach this temperature. I would be nervous on a vehicle with a standard 198 degree to 212 degree thermostat running less than a 10 pound cap. Also remember water boils at lower temperatures at higher elevation, 5000 feet lowers it 11 degrees. I would have the coolant system checked for the presence of hydrocarbons, a good indicator of head gasket leak. The longer you wait to fix, the more expensive it will get. Whitelightning Does anyone know about how much this would cost to have fixed if it is a blown head gasket? Does the Ford dealer have a way of checking the anti-freeze for hydrocarbons? >> Are you loosing coolant? Also does oil look okay and has the engine >> been hot? Something you can do while you sort this out is to install a [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > Whitelightning > Does anyone know about how much this would cost to have fixed if it is a > blown head gasket? Does the Ford dealer have a way of checking the > anti-freeze for hydrocarbons? I've never done it but I've heard that you can buy a test strip at auto parts stores that will detect the presence of exhaust gas in the coolant. Another possibility is a leaking intake manifold gasket. If it is leaking internally you might possibly smell the coolant but I would suspect you'd see white smoke and would be losing more coolant if it was leaking enough to smell it. I have a '92 Explorer with a 4.0 OHV V6. I suspected the head gasket to be leaking because the radiator was bubbling after I shut off the engine and it would produce a lot of white smoke when first started in the morning. I put in a can of radiator stop leak that says it will seal cracked heads and leaky head gaskets. No more smoke, no more coolant loss, and no more bubbling in the radiator. I don't expect this treatment to last but at least I know it would be worth the trouble to replace the head gaskets (275,000 miles on it). > >> Are you loosing coolant? Also does oil look okay and has the engine > >> been hot? Something you can do while you sort this out is to install a [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > > > Whitelightning |
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