1997 EB Expedition 4wd w/ 5.4L 145k miles



I got the old "something smells like antifreeze" from my wife today. I go outside and there it water dripping all over the place from the rear of the motor down over the bell housing and starter. It took me a sold 10 minutes even figure out where it was coming from becasue it so far back in there.

I have searched quite a bit here and this leak doesn't seem too common. I found the pic below on another thread, but it ended up not being the problem on that thread...i know it's the problem on mine.

I have a small, pressurized stream coming out exactly where the photo says. This is on the passenger rear top side of the intake manifold and looks to be pressed into the intake and then goes up about 5inches and turns 90' into one of the hoses that attaches to the heater core.

What exactly is this fitting/tube all about? During my search i ran across somehting about throttle body warmer and bypassing. Ami going to have to pul the manifold and get creative with tapping, etc? Is there a way to bypass this tube, i am also trying to find a good diagram showing that area on a 97-98 setup.

 

Ok, I can tell you this.My coolant tube ( the one in the picture that shows the leak, that connects to the heater core hose) rusted out and broke off.I can tell you one thing is you will have to pull the intake off to replace the tube, as it goes down in the intake about 2 inches.You can just order the tub from Ford.It was like $28 or something like that.With the intake off, it was still a bear to get the new tube into the intake.I had to use some dish soap and a boxed wrench and a hammer to tap it back in.Also if you have it apart change the other by pass hose that goes under the intake, may also be a great time to change the spark plugs also, not going to get any easier then when the intake is off.

Here is some info on what some people have done to fix it.

I removed that tube from my 4.6 intake and installed it on my 5.4 intake... I though I had it pressed in there good, but a week later the tube popped out and I lost all my coolant... man did I make a smoke screen and was the bottom of my truck clean... I simple took the intake off, got a pipe tap, tapped some threads, screwed a pipe down there and made some fittings to make it connect to the hose... As far as taking the manifold off... YES. there is no way to do what I did with it on the truck... I think you have to buy a new manifold with the new tube already installed. its pressed in, but anyway I tired to press it in would bend it slightly...

 

Here is a post showing the motor with the intake off, and the other by pass hose.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/v8...-question.html