My 19 5.0 has a persistent coolant leak. I can't find it. It does not leave puddles. Every time I shut it off and walk by the nose you can smell it though. So, being the **** individual that I am started looking in to replacing the cooling system. I ran in to a problem and question, Does the transmission have a cooler built in to the radiator? I can't find lines or mention of it but I don't know if ford moved away from that and runs separate coolers now. I don't see any lines on the truck but then again I can't really see much without pulling it apart. Anyone have some experience there?

 

You can get dye kits that will help you locate the leak. Very small,slow leaks can be extremely difficult to track down. Odds are you have a bad o-ring somewhere that only leaks at certain temperature ranges.

-Steve

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the new style radiator hose setup. There was nothing wrong with regular spring clamps. Now we have this over engineered garbage that is guaranteed to fail. I wish there was a kit to replace the entire O ring system but there isn't. You would think with the coolant being the orange color it is it would react to a black light.

 

The o ring system is pretty easy to service. Dorman makes a kit with replacements. Drain the coolant, pull the clips and fittings, swap the o rings, and refill and bleed the system. When I bought my 2016 with the 5.0, the top hose where it meets the y fitting was seeping as the engine cooled off, not when it was hot and pressurized.

 

Even a slow leak will leave crusty's at the sight of the leak when it drys.

 

Mine leaking right now. Where can I find this kit?

 

My 15, 5.0 was leaking. I bought the y pipe as they are notorious for leaks, but found it was the two pipes going from the heater core to the front of the engine bay. Was a small leak, can't recall the part #, but it was about $100 bucks for the hoses and orings, then coolant. Took about and hour to change, most of which was refilling the coolant according to my haynes manual. Seemed like a long overdone process, but its all good now.

 

SpencerPJ, You can do a search on eBay for the replacement cooling system gaskets. I did this two years ago and no more leaks. I reused the original fittings and only replaced the gaskets. Seems there was a change to the material ford used which caused leaks with cooler temperatures. Good Luck, John B.

 

Mine was leaking at the heater hose connection to the intake. Smelled it, could not find it until it cracked completely. Replaced all those 4 hoses hoses as well as the orings in the larger hose couplings. Transmission cooler/heater (yes it does both) is down low passenger side between engine and radiator.

this has good information.

 

Bringing this thread back to life... I have a leak at the tee fitting (#2) in the diagram. My problem is, I cannot figure out how to get it off. I have one side disconnected, but I cannot disconnect it from the water pump because of the short hose being attached, and cannot pull the hose off because it is on the water pump.
Can someone PLEASE help me? Tips, tricks, force, anything? Does the same problem present itself when putting it back on?