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2004 3.0 Coolant smell & Odd idle


ProjectMiniBeast

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My 2004 Ranger Edge 3.0 Manual gives off a strong smell of hot coolant in the cab after hard acceleration. No leaks can be seen and no steam is coming from the tailpipe. Any ideas? It does use coolant as well. I can probably put a half gallon jug in every month. It also has a sort of rough idle and has occasionaly given cyl 1 missfire codes but goes away. Any idea on what causes this?


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Bgunner

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May want to check the heater core for leaks, this could be the reason for the smell. After driving it for a long time feel the floor under the heat box to see if it is damp from it leaking.

As for the misfire, this could be multiple reasons, bad plug, bad wire, bad head gasket, injector starting to get plugged ect.. Testing would need to be done to find the culprit.
 
Uncle Gump

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I agree with bgunner... roll the carpet back on the passenger floor board. Typically a leaky heater core will fog the windows up pretty good.
 
adsm08

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I'm thinking heater core as well. I have had them leak at levels from just a little coolant smell to green mist blowing out the vents, and everywhere in between.
 
ProjectMiniBeast

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Mine has rubber floors and it hasnt been wet. As far as I know the plugs are original so I am replacing those and the wires today. If that doesnt change anything I will have it pressure tested and see if its a head/valve issue. I guess if all of that is clear I will look into injectors. It goes away at higher RPM but at idle runs fine and kinda stumbles ever so often. As for the smell I will smell around the glovebox area to see if I can spot a leak. There is nothing visible though

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ProjectMiniBeast

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2"
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31x10.5r15
Just installed plugs and wires. Check engine light is on detecting random missfire on cyl 4. I double checked the wires and made sure all was on right and still have the same issue. I guess the next thing to do is have it pressure tested?

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txgocartB3000#2

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So cylinders have changed from 1 to 4.

I would try swapping wires or plugs first with a known good one first.

Ray
 
Uncle Gump

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As for checking the heater core... coolant typically runs down the firewall into the insulation under your rubber flooring. You would have to get your hand under the flooring to know... they don't necessarily just leak onto the top of your rubber floor and you can just see it.


You went from an intermittent miss on number 1 to a hard fault on number 4 by putting plugs in it... sounds like you missed something
 
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