2006 Mustang V6 Coolant on the garage floor

Oly · 05-31-2009

The car is 3 years old, 32,600 miles on it. Saturday morning (Memorial Day Weekend), there was a sizable puddle of coolant under the front of the car. I put it on the lift but could not see where the coolant was coming from. Refilled the recovery tank, started and let it idle for about 20 minutes. It got up the operating temperature, fan cycled but no leaks. Drove it to the shop Wednesday evening, about 12 miles, got out of the car and the best description I can give it is it was puking coolant all over the place. The mechanics worked on it for two days.... they could not duplicate the problem. They pressure tested the system, drove it all over the place, inspected all the hoses, etc. but could not get it to upchuck again. I told them to go ahead and replace the thermostat and the cap in hopes we can solve the "problem". Drove it home Friday night and it didn't "puke" again, thank God. It never has indicated an overheating problem thru all of this. Is there some sort of service bulletin/voodoo curse about a cooling system problem with V-6 Mustangs? Thanks.

**tripleblack** · 05-31-2009

Last time I encountered this, the coolant had been overfilled (to the "hot" line when the engine was cold) by an inexperienced owner (my daughter). I went crazy trying to figure it out until we talked over what she had been doing, and I had her show me how she did it...

05horse · 05-31-2009

haha yea over fill or a hair line crack

**stlwagon** · 05-31-2009

Check the neck of the coolant bottle. There have been reports of the necks being malformed and not sealing with the cap.

amustangrocks · 05-31-2009

they make a pressure tester, might find a service kit you can borrow from a auto parts. it goes on in place of your rad cap and has a pump to pressurize the system. it has a coupler that will also check your rad cap for proper pressure. you should be able to find it that way.

amustangrocks · 05-31-2009

ive had this one over 30 yrs, but they are still about the same. its a tool you might use once every ten yrs. heres what they look like.

amustangrocks · 05-31-2009

when you got to work that day, you couldnt tell what area it was coming from? had it done it since they changed the cap? that would my guess, maybe a loose clamp.

Oly · 06-01-2009

Hadn't put any coolant in until I noticed the puddle under the car, and even then, I didn't overfill it. The big "event" happened when I drove it to the shop for them to check it out. I will be driving it to work today for the first time since I had the problem. Both "boil overs" happened before the cap was replaced and thermostat changed. The shop did the pressure check and the system held pressure just fine. I'll let you know what happenes when I get home this evening. Thanks again for the replies. BTW, the shop is one of the very best independants in the Fresno area, they have done tons of work for us before. They were able to diagnose a problem with the Mustang's fuel pump when the dealership couldn't (or wouldn't).

amustangrocks · 06-01-2009

sounds like you have a good shop. hopefully the cap or thermostat was it and your good

Oly · 06-04-2009

So far, so good. No repeats of the boil over. The work commute is a 39 mi. round trip and have done it 3 times so far. We will be headed to Fremont this weekend, that should be a good shake down cruise (150mi. +/- each way). Thanks for the info/help.

amustangrocks · 06-04-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oly

So far, so good. No repeats of the boil over. The work commute is a 39 mi. round trip and have done it 3 times so far. We will be headed to Fremont this weekend, that should be a good shake down cruise (150mi. +/- each way). Thanks for the info/help.

thats great. hope its all better now. throw a jug in the trunk and keep a eye on the temp guage, and have a good trip

xchris · 06-05-2009

I had this issue and it was the thermostat housing

potatoofdoom · 06-16-2009

I had this problem twice on my neon, it was a freeze-out plug (the same spot both times, the original plug and the replacement) . The coolant leaked out like nasty one day, I went home filled it back up and it was fine for a few days, before it all leaked out again. Before you go on any long trips you may want to check as many plugs as you can for corrosion and rust. Usually all the plugs are the same size, so you can buy a rubber replacement that tightens with a nut for about 5 bucks so you don't get stranded anywhere, autozone sells them. Just my 2 cents, but if it wasn't a boil over out of the cap and it only leaks when hot, its something to consider.