Good evening BITOG. Happy Wednesday.
My friend has a 2004 Mustang with the 4.6 that is leaking coolant. He says he has to top it off every other day.
I offered to potentially fix it this weekend, but wanted to see what I was up against first. I looked at it this afternoon and it looks to be leaking under the thermostat housing "tower" which is between traditional t stat housing and the intake manifold. The "tower" that I am talking about is the large threaded hole on the bottom right of the first photo that looks to be a cartridge oil filter housing. http://www.jegs.com/i/Dorman/326/615-175...CFQIxaQodT-ELkA
Assuming coolant is kept topped off, is this thing safe to drive without causing catastrophic damage? I checked the oil and saw no visual signs of coolant. (I realize that doesn't mean there isn't any though.) I am also not sure if that would cause oil and coolant to mix. My first experience with these was today by the way.
At first, I thought it would be just a gasket for the the tower, but nope.. looks to be the entire intake manifold gasket and a very lengthy process. Plus, if the whole thing has to come off, might as well do both. I am all about helping friends out, but this is something I feel I should not tackle on a car I do not own/ personally maintain.
Thoughts welcome folks.
My friend has a 2004 Mustang with the 4.6 that is leaking coolant. He says he has to top it off every other day.
I offered to potentially fix it this weekend, but wanted to see what I was up against first. I looked at it this afternoon and it looks to be leaking under the thermostat housing "tower" which is between traditional t stat housing and the intake manifold. The "tower" that I am talking about is the large threaded hole on the bottom right of the first photo that looks to be a cartridge oil filter housing. http://www.jegs.com/i/Dorman/326/615-175...CFQIxaQodT-ELkA
Assuming coolant is kept topped off, is this thing safe to drive without causing catastrophic damage? I checked the oil and saw no visual signs of coolant. (I realize that doesn't mean there isn't any though.) I am also not sure if that would cause oil and coolant to mix. My first experience with these was today by the way.
At first, I thought it would be just a gasket for the the tower, but nope.. looks to be the entire intake manifold gasket and a very lengthy process. Plus, if the whole thing has to come off, might as well do both. I am all about helping friends out, but this is something I feel I should not tackle on a car I do not own/ personally maintain.
Thoughts welcome folks.