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Hey guys, new to this. Need some help. I recently bought a 96 f150 and I had to put a drive shaft in it. 116k original miles and the motor is strong. The oil pressure gauge drops low but then it goes up. Don't know if it's just the gauge or what. Check engine light is on. Main problem is coolant is disappearing. I put some in the reservoir and after a day or so it's all gone except for a small amount in the bottom of the reservoir. Now the radiator is still full and I can't find out where it's going to. The reservoir box doesn't have a leak. No hoses are leaking. Oil is clean. I've heard that it could be the water pump. Any suggestions?
Hey guys, new to this. Need some help. I recently bought a 96 f150 and I had to put a drive shaft in it. 116k original miles and the motor is strong. The oil pressure gauge drops low but then it goes up. Don't know if it's just the gauge or what. Check engine light is on. Main problem is coolant is disappearing. I put some in the reservoir and after a day or so it's all gone except for a small amount in the bottom of the reservoir. Now the radiator is still full and I can't find out where it's going to. The reservoir box doesn't have a leak. No hoses are leaking. Oil is clean. I've heard that it could be the water pump. Any suggestions?
Run it listen for the thermostat to cycle and check for fluid leaks. Water pump will weep when it cycles if there's issues
The oil pressure sending unit is easily replaced under the engine. You pull off the wire, unscrew it, buy a new one, put a turn or two of Teflon tape on the threads, screw the new one back in, pop the wire back on the end of it and you're done. If you're not sure where it's located, I'm sure if you search the forum you'll find directions and maybe photos on replacing that part. It's under $20 as well.
As far as the leaking coolant - you should only have a top hose and bottom hose. Check both connections on each hose and make sure the hose clamps are tight. Not hand tight...but using a wrench or ratchet tight! If the hoses are cracked and old, you may consider replacing.
Wait until dark, fire up the engine, and use a flash light to look all around the hoses to see if you see any of the green coolant leaking or dripping anywhere. Also easier to identify a puddle building or see streaks of coolant along hoses or the frame. Also shine your light on the water pump to see if any coolant is coming out of the weep hole of the water pump. The hoses and/or water pump are easy and fairly inexpensive items to replace.
As always, do plenty of searches in THIS forum and check YouTube for videos. Lots of videos for your year/model truck.
Since you mentioned the check engine light, make sure your year model truck is an OBD I. I think after 1996 they became OBD II, but I could be wrong. Either way, identify which OBD you need and get one off eBay so you can connect it to your reader in the engine and it'll show you continuous and intermittent trouble codes to help you track down the reason that CEL keeps coming on. Again, they're fairly cheap - like around $40 on Amazon or eBay. Definitely worth having.
PS: Great-looking truck, bro. Very clean.
Last edited by Leaf_Chaser; 09-02-2016 at 09:32 PM.
The oil pressure sending unit is easily replaced under the engine. You pull off the wire, unscrew it, buy a new one, put a turn or two of Teflon tape on the threads, screw the new one back in, pop the wire back on the end of it and you're done. If you're not sure where it's located, I'm sure if you search the forum you'll find directions and maybe photos on replacing that part. It's under $20 as well.
As far as the leaking coolant - you should only have a top hose and bottom hose. Check both connections on each hose and make sure the hose clamps are tight. Not hand tight...but using a wrench or ratchet tight! If the hoses are cracked and old, you may consider replacing.
Wait until dark, fire up the engine, and use a flash light to look all around the hoses to see if you see any of the green coolant leaking or dripping anywhere. Also easier to identify a puddle building or see streaks of coolant along hoses or the frame. Also shine your light on the water pump to see if any coolant is coming out of the weep hole of the water pump. The hoses and/or water pump are easy and fairly inexpensive items to replace.
As always, do plenty of searches in THIS forum and check YouTube for videos. Lots of videos for your year/model truck.
Since you mentioned the check engine light, make sure your year model truck is an OBD I. I think after 1996 they became OBD II, but I could be wrong. Either way, identify which OBD you need and get one off eBay so you can connect it to your reader in the engine and it'll show you continuous and intermittent trouble codes to help you track down the reason that CEL keeps coming on. Again, they're fairly cheap - like around $40 on Amazon or eBay. Definitely worth having.
PS: Great-looking truck, bro. Very clean.
Code readers are also free to use at most big box autoparts stores
X2 on a nice looking truck! The oil pressure sender is next to the oil filter on the block and X2 on how easy it is to replace. While you're down there you may want to test the gauge. If it's like the water temp sender then you can unplug it (with the truck running) and it should read all the way to the low side then if you take a piece of wire and ground the connector then it should go all the way to the high side. If I am remembering correctly, the gauge shows the variable resistance given by the sensor.
Alright guy, coolant came back into the reservoir and I've been reading forums where the radiator pulls coolant from the reservoir and then it flows back into the it. I'm guess that's the case since I can't find any leaks whatsoever. I'm gonna see if I can take car of the sending unit and the check engine light is throwing codes related to the egr..truck runs great, nonetheless. Anyway I can post a video on this thread?
08-30-2016, 03:59 PM
96 4.9 4x4 Leaking Coolant
