GStam66

Well, i pop my hood one day to see a trail of dried yellowish coolant running from my thermostat housing, down the front of my engine...

From the looks of it, its either coming from the front of where the housing attaches to the manifold, or where the radiator hose attaches to the housing. Ive had this problem for almost a week now, and3 days ago i replaced the stock thermostat with a 180 degree one, and a new gasket. Still leaking... Dammit.

Its only in the front, and i know i tightened it down perfectly. The manifold doesnt look cracked at all. I didnt use any RTV sealant when i put the gasket in, but im tempted to go outside right now and load up on it in the front, and see if it fixes the leak.

Also, the coolant in my reservoir is a light brownish color. What the hell could be causing that? Time to flush it out and put all new coolant in, i think?

GStam66

Also, where do i flush the coolant from? [&:]

CobraStangGT16

Hahahahaha dude...... your intake cracked...sorry to say it. You can't see where it cracks from...usually if you pop the hose off, and pull out the thermostat, if theres no coolant in there, look for cracks inside it. I'm pretty damn sure it's cracked. Mine is coming from the same spot too.

Just happened to me last week. Still fixing it...[>:]

Look for another intake manifold, one with an aluminum crossover...not the plastic like ours. ebay has tons of them for $180. I bought another 99 (plastic) one from a shop for $90. It'll work for now, I'm not keeping the car for long.

Don't even THINK of taking it to the dealer. They wont cover it under warranty, b/c it's been over 7 years of build date, and they charge $1200 to fix it...[:'(]

I bought my mine yesterday, cleaned it up, pulled off all the other stuff, but I found out it's missing a freeze plug, so I'm waiting for the JB weld to dry now, then I'm popping that one in.

The brown coolant is miniscule rust, and it's usually just inside the hose and dump tank. That crack is letting oxygen into the cooling systemoxydizing the metal, rusting the coolant.The motor and radiator itself have green coolant...at least thats how mine was. The place to drain it from is on the bottom of the radiator on the passenger side of the car. Theres alittle spout with a white valve on the side of it, just unscrew it and let all the coolant out into a pan. Don't worry about flushing it...you wont do anything

GStam66

Well, when i popped the housing off, there WAS coolant in there, and it was still kinda green. [&:] Thats why i thought there wasnt a crack. And if there was one, wouldnt the coolant be leaking from there, instead of where the housing meets the manifold? (or the hose meets the housing?)

CobraStangGT16

Mine leaked where the housing (black plastic) meets the metal of the heads. But since thats the weakest link, it still can crack anywhere along that housing.

Coolant doesn't leak that bad at first...if you run the car, sooner or later it will begine to drip. Then when you rev the car, it will spurt out.

Trust me dude...it's cracked. About time, too...we were lucky (or unlucky I guess, cuz we can't get it fixed by recall) to have withstood it this long. I have 107k miles and it just happened now.



Make sure you get a new gasket set for the intake. You don't want to use the old one, and make sure you do a clean job. Pick up a Chilton's or Hayne's Repair Manual for 1994-2004 Mustang. It gives a comprehensive step by step on how to take it off. Thats what I used, along with the help of some friends who have done it before.

Good Luck!

arcticman37

+1 Its cracked...Happened to me too I bought a used intake manifold for 65bucks shipped off of here. I installed it myself in about 4 hours. (For you guys who have the non aluminum crossover intakes ford supposedly came out with a specific thermostat that is supposed to help it from cracking...just thought I would throw that in)

timeformiller44

i told you george...i told you it was cracked!....also i told you i would fix it for you...just get the manifold...ill change the intake and flush out your coolant...not a big deal...just do it b4 the snow flys k? lol

GStam66

So youre all telling me that a crack in the intake, is not going to leak from the crack, but from the point where the manifold joins the thermostat housing??? [&:]

Thats like saying youre bleeding from the nose for a papercut to the hand...

I dunno... Miller, if i bring the car by will you be able to diagnose a cracked manifold? Like pinpoint it for me so we're sure its cracked? Im not gonna go and spend 100+ bucks on a new manifold, just to realize its something like an improperly set gasket.

GStam66

And since i dont have a pic to upload right now, ill borrow yours for a bit and use my MS Paint skills to show you where the coolant is leaking on mine.

GStam66

Here: All the stuff thats spraypainted on is where there is dried coolant on my car. As you can see by the pic, it looks like its leaking from where the manifold meets the thermostat housing, and it drips down and spatters across the front of the manifold and down the front of the block.

I will get pics up later tho.

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