The Taurus almost died tonight

[gregk24]

Upon reaching our destination this evening, the Taurus began smoking from the hood. The smell was a dead giveaway that it was antifreeze. The level was still acceptable so I figured we would at least be good to drive home. It has does this before when a little hits the exhaust. Well, on the drive home the coolant temp guage began to climb. As long as the car was moving the temp needle stayed at about 3/4 of the way to “H” / hot / redline. I pulled over and let it cool off before getting back on the road and stopping at the next as station to get some water jugs.

I put in about a gallon and a half at that point, but immediately some of it ran right through and went on the ground.

This appears to be a large leak, I had originally assumed it was a timing cover leak that these Vulcans are known for, but for coolant usage to go to minimal top offs to “the flood gates are open” in one day suggests otherwise.

That gallon and a half of water was enough to get us home and keep the temp gauge in the middle where it should be.

So, the fact remains that at one point during the drive, for maybe 1 minute, the temp gauge was almost completely pegged on HOT. Does this mean the engine may be fried, or is it more likely that if we repair whatever is leaking that we may be able to keep this Vulcan for a whole longer?

Thinking I may drop it off at the mechanic and see if they can pin point the leak. If it’s just a hose I’ll likely have it fixed, but if it’s the timing cover it may be time to move on.

 

[PimTac]

Did you take a gander underneath? Could be the hose, could be a lot of things. Hopefully the engine endured it but you will know soon enough.

 

[gregk24]

Did you take a gander underneath? Could be the hose, could be a lot of things. Hopefully the engine endured it but you will know soon enough.

I did look, it was running down from the entire belt side of the engine. Couldn’t tell where exactly it originated.

 

[dishdude]

I did look, it was running down from the entire belt side of the engine. Couldn’t tell where exactly it originated.

Water pump?

 

[bbhero]

1 minute being pegged on hot... Should be ok.

If it's a timing cover leak....

Am I correct thinking the coolant would then leak right into the motor ??

What does your oil look like ?

If your oil looks like oil... And good... That's a obvious good sign.

If it looks like milkshake. . no bueno.

 

[Rand]

should be relatively easy to get at least a decent idea of where its coming from then the internet is your friend.. its not the first vulcan thats leaked.

 

[bbhero]

Water pump?

Bet you are right.

My Nissan Sentra did this. And the lady's Sunfire too.

 

[hemitom]

don't they have a plastic coolant outlet or crossover pipe ?

 

[PimTac]

You could start it up and get a look from top and bottom.

 

[gregk24]

You could start it up and get a look from top and bottom.

I tried but still coolant see, of course everything is doused in coolant now.

 

[gregk24]

Water pump?

These are built into the timing cover, typically the failure is cause by the dissimilar metals corroding from what I understand, than you get an external leak. That’s why I doubt this is the issue as it’s normally a slow leak. Could be wrong.

 

[MParr]

Clean all of the coolant off and dry it with a leaf blower or compressed air. Get the front end up in the air and crank it up. You should be able to tell where the leak is. Start looking at the top and go to the bottom. It’s probably a hose or water pump. I’ll bet the nipple at the top of the pump has corroded or broken off. A leak at the timing cover doesn’t usually show up like you described. It usually gives you plenty of warning. The timing cover leak develops slowly and progressively gets worse. It will show up first at the bottom of the engine.

 

[MParr]

The water pump is bolted to the timing chain cover.

 

[350Rocket]

These are built into the timing cover, typically the failure is cause by the dissimilar metals corroding from what I understand, than you get an external leak. That’s why I doubt this is the issue as it’s normally a slow leak. Could be wrong.

The weep hole can leak quite a bit.

 

[gregk24]

The weep hole can leak quite a bit.

Ok. It’s parked for now, when I’m up for it I’ll likely have it checked out and get a quote.

 

[delaware74b]

Timing cover gasket behind the water pump is the 'big' leaker on the Vulcan 3.0. I have the same engine in an '04 Ranger (except rwd). It went from a few drips over 20K to a huge 3-foot lake under the truck overnight. The water pump was OEM at 200K, it got replaced along the timing set. The timing set was only 1 more bolt and $40 more at the time.

These 3.0 Vulcans will do over 400K if you keep them cool and keep an eye on the cam synchronizer, the synchro will kill the engine when its bushings fail. The oil pump is driven off the camshaft through the gear on the synchro. If it binds and shears the drive teeth, no oil pump. By the time the oil light/gauge alerts you, it's too late.

 

[gregk24]

Timing cover gasket behind the water pump is the 'big' leaker on the Vulcan 3.0. I have the same engine in and '04 Ranger (except rwd). It went from a few drips over 20K to a huge 3-foot lake under the truck overnight. The water pump was OEM at 200K, it got replaced along the timing set. The timing set was only 1 more bolt and $40 more at the time.

These 3.0 Vulcans will do over 400K if you keep them cool and keep an eye on the cam synchronizer, the synchro will kill the engine when its bushings fail.

I didn’t realize the timing cover failure could present as a geyser overnight. That could be the issue then. How much did this job cost you, or did you repair yourself.

 

[dlundblad]

Run a garden hose into the radiator. Keep it filled while the engine is running. That should help find it.

I would get rid of it over a coolant leak. That would be a shame.

 

[delaware74b]

I did the repair myself. $70 for the pump, $20 for the timing cover set, $40 for the timing set, changed the oil because the timing cover also covers the front inch of the oil pan. I had plenty of G-05 on hand for draining the rest of the cooling system. The Ranger holds almost 3 gallons! It took about 3 hours to do the repair with all hand tools. My biggest fight was the fan clutch, which is not on the FWD Vulcan. Labor-wise, the Taurus is probably more due to it being transverse-mounted.

 

[DuckRyder]

It's probably the timing cover gasket.

The Water Pump is NOT made into the timing cover. The timing cover has passages made into it that are sealed on one side by the water pump gasket and on the other by the timing cover gasket. While it is possible for them to leak internally, is almost always at the lower bolt hole externally.

Aftermarket water pump gaskets are junk and the Ford one is very hard to get, or at least was in recent history. A motorcraft pump comes with a decent one though.

I've put a water pump on this era Taurus its a huge pain, I can't even imagine trying to do the timing cover with the engine in the car...