Coolent Leak 97 SHO

[SHO-DADDY]

Ok need help fast!

Have had the car less then 1 week and first day on way home car tried to overheat possible due to dealer being a ***** and filling the coolent resv up but not purging the system of air. Cleared that up by letting it sit a few hours then ran it while adding water....VERY THIRSTY! Possible 2 - 3 Gallons and could hear the air coming out of the radiator.... After that no Low Coolent Light and Temp Gauge stayed where is was supposed to. I only drive it back and forth this week to work and its all of a 10 min drive each way....

Ok fast forward to today.....

Get home from walmart and can smell coolent. Yep pop hood and then look under car and nice size puddle forming. Try to jack up car with make believe factory jack and squeeze my 6'3" 300lbs *** under the front of the car to see where the leak was coming from. I check the upper and lower houses from the top and both appear fine with no leaks....

Water is dripping off the end of the OIL FILTER ???

WHERE IS THE WATER COMING FROM? I mean I can see it coming down the oil filter and dripping off the end/bottom of it. ?? First thing that came to my mind was crack block or water jacket or freeze plug.

This is my first SHO and just moved out of a fullsize bronco with a 351w that had water pump issues but not thinking water pump since this is no where near the pump right??

Please help asap with idea or opinions.

HURRICANE COMING and May need to evacuate in next day or two...

Thanks in advance...

Chuck

 

[SHO-DADDY]

Oh if its the block or something major Im taking it back to the ****** dealer I got it from since I had to order the key for the wheel locks since he wouldnt..... good sign of things to come huh? lol

 

[Mr. SHO]

There is an oil cooler right above the pump. Start looking there and see if you can locate the leak. You'll probably need a mirror to see it.

 

[Mr. SHO]

More info here!

 

[SHO-DADDY]

awsome info! Im going to figure out a way to get up there and see.... these car were not built for big guys to work on. ....

man if its just that my local shop here should be able to do it fast.....

 

[SHO-DADDY]

found a used unit on ebay... for $10 bucks... might order that, but would be better off rebuilding the one i have prob....

i take it this is a KNOWN issues with the O-ring? Or is it just one of those eventual things ??

 

[SHO-DADDY]

ok took it to the local tire shop that I get all my stuff worked on and had them throw it up on the lift.......

well its not the gasket.... its hose coming into it! woooooooohoooooooo not sure which hose (inlet or outlet) but cause of the car they told me to go the ford stealer down the street and have them quote me the prices on the hoses and the repair. The wont touch the engine.

Parts @ Ford. $13 for one hose and $19 for the other.. And 1hr of billed labor.....@$75 an hour.

I would attempt it but dont want to have it towed down the street cause I couldnt get the hosed back on once off.......

But if thats all it is I guess its better then having them charge me an arm and a leg to repair the unit itself...

Does that sound right?? The house its split right at the clamp it would appear top of the house seems dry

 

[Mr. SHO]

Sounds like you dodged a bullet if Ford will let you out the door that cheap.

 

[SHO-DADDY]

yea talk to their master tech tonight and he said he will swap the hoses out for me in less then an hour cant take that long anyways I just dont have any tool or ramps (sold most of my good stuff with my pos bronco)

But had the manager and a three different techs check out the car at the big10 tires around the corner from my house first to find the leak. And after stairing up at the leak for about 10 mins they found and pointed out there the water is streaming out from under one of the clamps on the hose. So figure since Im paying ford an arm and a leg I might as well get both swapped. I just need to find the parts tomorrow since my local dealer doesnt have one and the one 30 mis away was closed (network down so they couldnt check the computer.. yea yea yea lol) want this done tomorrow since we might be getting the hurricane down here....

 

[SHO-DADDY]

and yea i was alittle worried about Mr Ford telling me some insane price.

 

[SHO-DADDY]

well good news / bad news....

just checked with another ford dealer down here to locate the parts. (6B850 -Outlet and 6B851-Inlet) Not avail locally. Actually DISCONTINUED BY FORD JUNE 2005 !

Local dealer did a dealer locate and found 2 dealers 1 in SC and 1 in IL guess what? BOTH dealers sold them in the last month!

OMFG! Can I not win here or what?

Ok now very open to suggestions here.......

 

[SHO-DADDY]

well just off the phone with the local dealers (owned by the same people) and they told me Im SOL as far as FORD helping me. Told me even if I bring the car to them for diganosios they will just tell me to go someplace else and that ford cant help since there are NO parts to fix it.

If one of the part locatators dont call me back soon there will soon be a 97 SHO being parted out in the panhandle of florida ...thank god for full coverage insurance....

this is tooooooooo frustrating

 

[Mr. SHO]

To be perfectly honest, I don't think you even need a geniune Ford part in this case. There isn't too much bending going on w/ those hoses, so a standard straight hose should work fine with no worries of kinking. But Ford isn't going to do that, so I'd see if you can go back to the non-Ford shop and convince them to have a peek in there and just replace the hoses with off-the-shelf coolant/heater hose of the appropriate diameter.

 

[SHO-DADDY]

well im going to call Ford Parts Network on monday morning. Their website shows the part avail but with FORD telling me its discontinued and not avail at ANY of their dealers I want them to verfiy stock prior to me paying them online. I did take the car to the tire shop I use here for all my other work and they said ...."drop the car off monday (tues depending on hurricane) and we will try to get something to work or get one made locally for you." Its the "S" hose not the long more or less straight hose thats the one I was hoping it was since that would be an easy fix....

Well either way it will be fixed by tuesday. Thank god its still drivable and I only drive 4 miles to work and then park it for 10 hrs and can check the water level and drive right back...

Thanks for the info Mr SHO....

 

[SonicRiot]

There is a possibility that Ford may not have even used an "original" replacement part in the first place. I spent quite a bit of time trying to find the coolant lines that run into the firewall to the heater core and the connector that connects the water housing to the T-Stat housing on the rear of my V6. I got a lot of, "oh, Ford doesn't make SHO parts anymore." Gimmie a break. It's a hose!

When I finally spoke to the master tech at Miller Ford, he told me right away that Ford didn't even replace those lines when they went bad. Any metal lines were saved and the compression fittings were cut to fit off the shelf radiator hose and clamps. The connector for the waterhousing to T-stat housing I had to get a Honda upper radiator hose and cut the neccessary 2.5 inches off of the staight section that I needed and threw the remainder of the hose in the parts bin.

With that in mind, I'd go to the nearest auto parts store with a good assortment of radiator and coolant hoses in stock that yhou can look at and measure. Measure what you need, buy the appropriate clamps, and cut the hose to length. If you bring it to a dealer, that's exactly what they will do. It is a proper and acceptable repair.

Good luck.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

I suspect that TWO MONTHS after this thread died, he probably resolved the situation...

 

[SHOZ123]

Anyone know where to get metric water hose in bulk? It seems the hoses on the cooler are bigger than a 1/2" but smaller than 5/8". 14 or 15 mm?

 

[stephen newberg]

I suspect I can get it for you easily, Paul. We are 'metrified' up here. What size, what quanity, and what quality (wall thickness, etc) are you after?

pax, smn

 

[SHOZ123]

I find it odd that it is not more readily available. Although I have not looked for any online. I guess I should check out the place I usually get my other hoses from.

http://www.sherco-auto.com/