Today when i was driving i pulled over cuz i smelt something funny, my engine was smoking a bit and anti freeze was leaking like no ones businees i have cupfulls! I think ford did it cuz this is the first time i drove it back from getting oil changed and tranny checked! What do i do?
How Serious is an antifreeze leak?
- Thread starter BruntzySVT
- Start date
Okay I jsut checked it, and its not the intercooler resevior its the othre one...i think it may be for the fill for the engine coolent system...well its completely empty. I called ford and they said to call a tow truck tom morning and have them bring it in!
houston we have a problem
hopefully the dealer will take care of ya. your minimal mods shouldnt affect anything.
hopefully the dealer will take care of ya. your minimal mods shouldnt affect anything.
ShelbyGuy said:
Especially when it just started RIGHT after they did an oil change and checked my transmission!
....oo what would that cause?Rice Eatr said:
I mean...i didnt drive it over anything or do anything that would cause a leak but there is no antifreeze left !
Ya not to good, I would def take it to the dealer and have them look at it and clean everything up. Good luck
Fjcuk! You guys are freaken me out! A flat bed tow is on the way to take her up to ford! UGHHHHH! I hate life! DOUG YOUR pulleys were suppose to go on today too man!
Do you guys think it would be safe to start my car to get it on the towing truck?
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2003
- Messages
- 3,073
Yes, just stay out of boost when getting it on the truck 
BruntzySVT said:
haha seems like only my supercharger is the only thing being fed antifreeze lol!ChicagoMike said:Yes, just stay out of boost when getting it on the truck
This might be your problem. This is a bunch of info I have saved from various related threads...
Cooling System Belching Coolant After Engine Shutdown
Symptoms: Overheating and loss of coolant from reservoir cap. It doesn't occur while driving. It happens just after shutdown when the heat soak raises the overall temps and the coolant is not being circulated.
I have been fighting a coolant leak issue. At warmer temps after you shut the car off, coolant would flow out of the back of the cap on the reservoir. The engine isn't overheating, but would just puke coolant from the tank.
Took it to Ford 5 times for this...
ATTEMPT #1: drained and refilled the coolant system... I got about 2 miles before the car overheated
ATTEMPT #2: I INSTRUCTED the tech how to fill the system. Could drive it now but it would still puke coolant at temp and at shut off.
ATTEMPT #3: system burped again and a pressure check on system was done... all ok... Nope still puking...
ATTEMPT #4: New cap.... still puking
ATTEMPT #5: New thermostat and system checked for hydrocarbons/bad head gasket.... all is well, but still puking
It got to the point where the car would hold no coolant whatsoever. A cold car, warm car, anything would produce a stream of coolant out of the cap.
I finally replaced the coolant reservoir tank... PROBLEM SOLVED! In an effort to find out what the problem was I took the old tank and blew air into it and air would leak around the cap. The threads on the cap looked fine, the threads on the reservoir looked fine...nothing stripped.
When I would tighten the cap on the reservoir while pushing down, it would do the normal "click, click click". HOWEVER, if I ever so slightly lifted up while turning the cap after the first click, it would pop up, as if the threads were stripped. The tank and cap just would not hold any pressure...
I know a few people have had similar issues, so if you are at wits end (like I was), replace your reservoir tank on your own. The car has had issues for 6 months, been to Ford 5 times, and fixed easily with a $40 part and 15 minutes...
The problem seems to be with the threads on the reservoir and cap not allowing cap to seal completely. I had this exact problem. The car would puke after shut down. I noticed the cap didn't quite feel the same when tightening as usual. I decided to buy just the cap and try this first beings it was only $8.00 at Ford.
I only tried this first because the reservoir costs over $100. The cap fixed my problem and it hasn't puked again. It's been about two months now and it was puking every day after shutdown. I will eventually buy a new reservoir and cap when the money is there. I'm sure the threads on the reservoir aren't perfect.
Be careful when ordering that reservoir. The catalog the parts department at Ford has IS WRONG. I went through this with three different dealerships.
The part number they give you for that piece is actually the part number for the intercooler reservoir, NOT THE COOLANT RESERVOIR.
You have to tell the parts department, it is the same piece as the Mach 1 and GT. The part number in the catalog for machs and gt's are correct for our cars. For whatever reason, when they bring up the 03 cobra, the coolant reservoir can't be found.
The intercooler reservoir is $101.
The coolant reservoir is $44.87
Here are the numbers:
WRONG NUMBER (intercooler reservoir): 3R3ZAB-8A080-AB
CORRECT NUMBER (rad. fluid reservoir): 3R3Z-8A080-AC
Cooling System Belching Coolant After Engine Shutdown
Symptoms: Overheating and loss of coolant from reservoir cap. It doesn't occur while driving. It happens just after shutdown when the heat soak raises the overall temps and the coolant is not being circulated.
I have been fighting a coolant leak issue. At warmer temps after you shut the car off, coolant would flow out of the back of the cap on the reservoir. The engine isn't overheating, but would just puke coolant from the tank.
Took it to Ford 5 times for this...
ATTEMPT #1: drained and refilled the coolant system... I got about 2 miles before the car overheated
ATTEMPT #2: I INSTRUCTED the tech how to fill the system. Could drive it now but it would still puke coolant at temp and at shut off.
ATTEMPT #3: system burped again and a pressure check on system was done... all ok... Nope still puking...
ATTEMPT #4: New cap.... still puking
ATTEMPT #5: New thermostat and system checked for hydrocarbons/bad head gasket.... all is well, but still puking
It got to the point where the car would hold no coolant whatsoever. A cold car, warm car, anything would produce a stream of coolant out of the cap.
I finally replaced the coolant reservoir tank... PROBLEM SOLVED! In an effort to find out what the problem was I took the old tank and blew air into it and air would leak around the cap. The threads on the cap looked fine, the threads on the reservoir looked fine...nothing stripped.
When I would tighten the cap on the reservoir while pushing down, it would do the normal "click, click click". HOWEVER, if I ever so slightly lifted up while turning the cap after the first click, it would pop up, as if the threads were stripped. The tank and cap just would not hold any pressure...
I know a few people have had similar issues, so if you are at wits end (like I was), replace your reservoir tank on your own. The car has had issues for 6 months, been to Ford 5 times, and fixed easily with a $40 part and 15 minutes...
The problem seems to be with the threads on the reservoir and cap not allowing cap to seal completely. I had this exact problem. The car would puke after shut down. I noticed the cap didn't quite feel the same when tightening as usual. I decided to buy just the cap and try this first beings it was only $8.00 at Ford.
I only tried this first because the reservoir costs over $100. The cap fixed my problem and it hasn't puked again. It's been about two months now and it was puking every day after shutdown. I will eventually buy a new reservoir and cap when the money is there. I'm sure the threads on the reservoir aren't perfect.
Be careful when ordering that reservoir. The catalog the parts department at Ford has IS WRONG. I went through this with three different dealerships.
The part number they give you for that piece is actually the part number for the intercooler reservoir, NOT THE COOLANT RESERVOIR.
You have to tell the parts department, it is the same piece as the Mach 1 and GT. The part number in the catalog for machs and gt's are correct for our cars. For whatever reason, when they bring up the 03 cobra, the coolant reservoir can't be found.
The intercooler reservoir is $101.
The coolant reservoir is $44.87
Here are the numbers:
WRONG NUMBER (intercooler reservoir): 3R3ZAB-8A080-AB
CORRECT NUMBER (rad. fluid reservoir): 3R3Z-8A080-AC
Top_Fuel said:
Thanks man! I think i smelt some leaking though before i shut it down but right when i turned off the car bam all of it came out!
So i guess there were no breaks in the hoses or anything?
So if they cant find anything wrong then just replace it...i woder though..where did it leak out of the top out the cap? because mine was leaking from underneath..dropped all over my fan and all that good stuff! I hate life!
So if they cant find anything wrong then just replace it...i woder though..where did it leak out of the top out the cap? because mine was leaking from underneath..dropped all over my fan and all that good stuff! I hate life!
ALRIGHT car just got towed...everything went smoothly..but damn watchen it on the tow truck ..i need to stiffen that chasis with some subs soon but anyways got it down there, there were like 10 other cobras on the lot 5 terminators...1 looked fast as hell and a guy caught me looking at it and said it was his and said he has the KB swap at 15psi...he had nice pillar guages! Really nice! But im going to get a call back later from them! hopfully its nothing big!
Screamin'SVT
Banned
ur saying it wasn't the heat exchanger? it's pretty common for a stone to nick the core and drain all the h/e coolant.. but you can still drive the car if that happens.
positive!Screamin'SVT said:
theres no more coolent in the coolent resevior!Screamin'SVT said:
My car over heated driving it home from work when it had around 300-400 miles on it. There was a bubble trapped in the coolant system that wouldn't allow the t-stat to open and circulate the fluid. I filled the system up myself (made sure there was no air trapped), drove it to the dealer to document the incident and haven't had a problem since.
Users who are viewing this thread
