Fairlane Boy

after doing abit of driving yesturday, in 30 degree temperature with the a/c on, I came home for a couple of hours and then came back out to my car to find a huge puddle of coolant on the left and right hand sides of the car. on the right hand side it appeares to have come gushing out from the surge tank cap - god knows why, maybe i never had it on properly.. But on the left hand side the puddle started from just infront of where the a/c drips its water.. Thats the welch plug on the left hand head, right against the firewall. I cant see it leaking anywhere else. I've allready changed a corroded welchplug on the right hand head but that was at the front, so it was easy.

What is normaly done in this situation? do you remove the head, or remove the engine... whats easier?

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Best wishes

maco65

Just a suggestion, check your water pump. I know with the sixes that this happens sumtimes when the water pump is about to shit it's self.

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Alex

"Give me any task to do, and I will find something else to do in it's place." Plato - a definition of procrastination

TopGhia

Firstly, re fill it with coolant, make sure the cap in on properly and try it again, an engine will radiate a lot of heat into the coolant after it has stopped, so could have been the cap. Repeat the experiment.

How much water did you lose? Is it still leaking when you refil it?

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"I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was Always."

HalfAF

Dont panic yet untill you've checked a few things: was the overflow bottle overfull to start with?

Is the cap OK. On Ford radiators which sit sideways (header tank on rh-end) the cap must have a good seal, other wise coolant will leak out rapidly under pressure.

Is your fan working? Viscous coupling, check for resistance to spinning by hand (engine -off) Are they electric fans? check for operation.

Apart from checking the other basics such as hose clamp and hose condition, only then do you look for more sophsticated faults.

After a hot day with the AC on, all cars will heat-soak after switch off,...some especially if the overflow or coolant recovery bottle is over full to start with will overflow.

Jason