Radiator cap is vomiting fluid..
06-26-2012, 07:37 AM
#13
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Colorado
Posts: 2,652
AC compressor can smoke for a number of reasons. The most likely is that the system is overcharged because that's the most recent change. Other possible causes are an undercharged system, bad bearings, bad clutch, water from went the volcano going off getting on the bearings and grease is breaking down....
If you havent done so, the first thing to do is check your hi lo pressure on the system.
Scotty Kilmer gives a pretty good generic overview of how to do this.
If you havent done so, the first thing to do is check your hi lo pressure on the system.
06-26-2012, 05:50 PM
#15
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Colorado
Posts: 2,652
Again - the smoke could be caused by a number of reasons. As for the shop saying your engine is old and it's going to do that is crap.
Here's where I think you should start...
1- Check your oil. Check the level of it to make sure that it is not low first and while doing that, make sure that it's not a milky color at all. If it is low, add oil until it's at the right level. If there's milkiness to it, then you may be looking at a coolant leak probably from a leaking head gasket. Assuming that is ok...
2 - Check your coolant level, color of the coolant, and the ratio of water to antifreeze/boil. The coolant level has an indicator on the side of the tank and when the engine is cool, that's where the level should be...NO HIGHER! The color of the coolant should be a nice, healthy bright green...almost flourescent. If it's darker and dingier, you probably need the system flushed. Take it to a quick lube for that if you cant do it yourself. If those check out, then get a coolant tester from any auto parts store. Now it says you can test on an engine at any temp, but just do it when the engine is cool. Otherwise you get a bath in radiator fluid and that sucks. It will have 5 little colored ***** in it and I like to have my mix so 3 float and 2 sink. The more ***** that float the higher the antifreeze mix and the fewer that float the higher the distilled water mixture.
3 - Is your thermostat working? The check is really easy. With the car warm or hot, feel the top radiator hose. If it's cool to the touch or you can hold your hand on it, you likely have a bad thermostat. If you can't hold on to it, then it's working. If it's cool, change your thermostat out for a cooler one. If the 99 is the same as the 97, it's actually a really easy job to do. The 97 the t-stat is on the top of the engine. You remove 2 bolts. Be careful because this is kind of weird but the housing for the thermostat has these 2 shims (for lack of a better term) that keep the bolts centered when they attach the tstat housing to the engine. Anyway, remove those bolts, and the little shims and set them aside. You'll get a little fluid draining but mop that up with some towels off the engine. You reach down and pull out the old thermostat (should be 195F rated) and replace it with a lower rated thermostat (180F degrees seems to be the consensus on the MF) along with a tiny o-ring or gasket. Bolt it back up (DONT OVER TORQUE IT or you WILL break the housing!), put a little 50/50 antifreeze in if the tank is a little lower, start the car...check the fluid level and add as needed...again not overfilling. I paid something like 15 bucks for parts and did mine in 10 minutes. I spent more time mopping up
3.5 (I added this later...) it could be there's somehow air trapped in the cooling system or the cap itself has failed. I'm thinking thats probably not your problem though because you havent said anything about how any changes were made to the cooling system.
4 - If those fail, then the last thing that happened was the fan...this is probably a big part of the problem. http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/...g-Fan-Assembly ... that's a fan that should be basically an OEM replacement. Even with 2 fans, if they are too small it is possible they arent pulling enough air through the radiator to keep it cool. You can probably find an OEM replacement fan from any local parts dealer or NAPA....avoid the dealerships as they will charge a premium if they even have it.
I could keep going...but look at those things first. If you arent mechanically inclined, then trade a friend a six pack for a little wrench time. A little Shiner Bock can go a LONG way Lastly, mine is a 97 but they should be pretty much the same. If you need any pics of what I've talked about or you want to take pics, I'll try to help and Im sure you'll have more volunteers. Im sure there's other things that some folks have to offer too, so please heed them as well. There's honestly not a lot of parts to a cooling system that the normal shadetree mechanic can't mess with and what I know Im more than happy to share. I've troubleshot those things before and they were lessons learned for me.
One last thing, you said the fans were mounted in tandem. Can you post a pic of how they mounted them?
Here's where I think you should start...
1- Check your oil. Check the level of it to make sure that it is not low first and while doing that, make sure that it's not a milky color at all. If it is low, add oil until it's at the right level. If there's milkiness to it, then you may be looking at a coolant leak probably from a leaking head gasket. Assuming that is ok...
2 - Check your coolant level, color of the coolant, and the ratio of water to antifreeze/boil. The coolant level has an indicator on the side of the tank and when the engine is cool, that's where the level should be...NO HIGHER! The color of the coolant should be a nice, healthy bright green...almost flourescent. If it's darker and dingier, you probably need the system flushed. Take it to a quick lube for that if you cant do it yourself. If those check out, then get a coolant tester from any auto parts store. Now it says you can test on an engine at any temp, but just do it when the engine is cool. Otherwise you get a bath in radiator fluid and that sucks. It will have 5 little colored ***** in it and I like to have my mix so 3 float and 2 sink. The more ***** that float the higher the antifreeze mix and the fewer that float the higher the distilled water mixture.
3 - Is your thermostat working? The check is really easy. With the car warm or hot, feel the top radiator hose. If it's cool to the touch or you can hold your hand on it, you likely have a bad thermostat. If you can't hold on to it, then it's working. If it's cool, change your thermostat out for a cooler one. If the 99 is the same as the 97, it's actually a really easy job to do. The 97 the t-stat is on the top of the engine. You remove 2 bolts. Be careful because this is kind of weird but the housing for the thermostat has these 2 shims (for lack of a better term) that keep the bolts centered when they attach the tstat housing to the engine. Anyway, remove those bolts, and the little shims and set them aside. You'll get a little fluid draining but mop that up with some towels off the engine. You reach down and pull out the old thermostat (should be 195F rated) and replace it with a lower rated thermostat (180F degrees seems to be the consensus on the MF) along with a tiny o-ring or gasket. Bolt it back up (DONT OVER TORQUE IT or you WILL break the housing!), put a little 50/50 antifreeze in if the tank is a little lower, start the car...check the fluid level and add as needed...again not overfilling. I paid something like 15 bucks for parts and did mine in 10 minutes. I spent more time mopping up
3.5 (I added this later...) it could be there's somehow air trapped in the cooling system or the cap itself has failed. I'm thinking thats probably not your problem though because you havent said anything about how any changes were made to the cooling system.
4 - If those fail, then the last thing that happened was the fan...this is probably a big part of the problem. http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/...g-Fan-Assembly ... that's a fan that should be basically an OEM replacement. Even with 2 fans, if they are too small it is possible they arent pulling enough air through the radiator to keep it cool. You can probably find an OEM replacement fan from any local parts dealer or NAPA....avoid the dealerships as they will charge a premium if they even have it.
I could keep going...but look at those things first. If you arent mechanically inclined, then trade a friend a six pack for a little wrench time. A little Shiner Bock can go a LONG way
Lastly, mine is a 97 but they should be pretty much the same. If you need any pics of what I've talked about or you want to take pics, I'll try to help and Im sure you'll have more volunteers. Im sure there's other things that some folks have to offer too, so please heed them as well. There's honestly not a lot of parts to a cooling system that the normal shadetree mechanic can't mess with and what I know Im more than happy to share. I've troubleshot those things before and they were lessons learned for me. One last thing, you said the fans were mounted in tandem. Can you post a pic of how they mounted them?
Last edited by wcgman; 06-26-2012 at 05:56 PM.
06-27-2012, 05:55 AM
#16
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Missouri
Posts: 17
Well...the AC compressor was smoking due to oil on the belt...also...they think I have a coolant leak somewhere internally and i found out that there was a factory recall on the fans and intake manifolds so i wasted about ohhh $2k trying to fix this at the shop...awesome ...so I'm taking it back now to the shop that redid my intake manifold earlier this year and lets see what they say...do u think ford would still do the recalled manifold if its not the factory one? I'm thinking not...
06-27-2012, 06:31 AM
#17
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Colorado
Posts: 2,652
I looked for the recall you referred to and am not seeing it. I did see someone wrote about a TSB (which is not really a recall!) about a coolant leak and that Ford extended the warranty for 7 years. However, your car is well past that date and even then a TSB does not guarantee Ford will replace it free. It's really just an advisory to help a tech diagnose a known problem and fix it that much faster.
https://mustangforums.com/forum/4-6l...ke-recall.html
Im glad you were able to run down the compressor issue.
https://mustangforums.com/forum/4-6l...ke-recall.html
Im glad you were able to run down the compressor issue.
06-28-2012, 05:59 AM
#18
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Missouri
Posts: 17
Well...here's my update...still not fixed...the 1st shop says its internal and I should take it to my normal place I had my intake redone at in January...so I take it there and they do a head test or something and then they do a pressure test...nada..nothing is internally wrong...they take a look at my 2 rigged up fans and what do u know? They're hooked up wrong and the high speed wire as well as several other possibly important wires are black taped off and bundled together with about 3 feet of tape...soooo...my normal guy wrote me up what they found and called the other shops corporate office for me...explained the situation and they said to take it back to the crap shop and have em "look into" the fan situation...so I'm headed back to shop 1 today so they can fix the fan wires...pray for me guys
06-29-2012, 07:26 AM
#19
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Colorado
Posts: 2,652
I've been having problems with my 97GT overheating too...I bought a new single channel radiator (nothing special...just a NAPA part) with upper and lower hoses and a new radiator cap.
I had my mechanic install it yesterday because it was too hot last weekend to do it and I have family in town all of this weekend. He said that when he went to flush the old radiator, the flow was very poor. He also let it idle for 20-30 minutes and it never got past the straight up mark. When I got the car last night, it was only 86 degrees. Compared to the how its been lately, that's cool since we've have high 90's and 100's recently. I drove the heck out of it trying to get it to overheat and it never once when past the middle.
I've read time and again about how the radiator on these starts to fail and I believe thats likely what you really have going on. Parts and labor I was into that for about 400. If I had the time to do it myself, it would have been half that.
I had my mechanic install it yesterday because it was too hot last weekend to do it and I have family in town all of this weekend. He said that when he went to flush the old radiator, the flow was very poor. He also let it idle for 20-30 minutes and it never got past the straight up mark. When I got the car last night, it was only 86 degrees. Compared to the how its been lately, that's cool since we've have high 90's and 100's recently. I drove the heck out of it trying to get it to overheat and it never once when past the middle.
I've read time and again about how the radiator on these starts to fail and I believe thats likely what you really have going on. Parts and labor I was into that for about 400. If I had the time to do it myself, it would have been half that.
07-01-2012, 08:05 PM
#20
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Missouri
Posts: 17
Well guys.. hopefully this will be my last update on this.. but to answer a few questions.. yep they had them mounted in tandem.. sorry I have no idea how to upload a pic to this site but if I can figure it out I will.. The compressor was smoking for unknown reasons but Ive been told it can happen if the engine is overheating.. so Ill leave it alone for now.. No my radiator is not going out.. I had the whole front end of my car replaced in 09 when I ripped off everything from the radiator forward by hitting a center median on a highway... They used a fan from a junkyard to save money (it was within $200 of being totalled and I begged them not to so corners were cut).. anyway.. Took it back to the crap shop today and explained very calmly and carefully (like I was talking to a 3 year old) what was going on what I found out and what was told to me that should happen.. so the guy who put #2 fan on took another look at my car and decided yep.. the 2 fan situation was stupid and in fact should never have been done and another fact that they should have called Ford and gotten a stock fan to begin with. The fans they put on do not have high speed capabilities and actually when my car was telling the fan to switch to high they would turn off altogether because the wires were only installed for low speed. Ugh.. anyway.. being sunday they will get the part tomorrow and I will get the factory fan installed... this has just been a nightmare and I really hope its over.. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions guys.. I just really cannot believe this has taken so long..