99 Ford Taurus, my brother-in-law’s car. Tried to help him save money. He thought it blew a head gasket, a “mechanic” he knows agreed, and the dipstick looked like foamy chocolate milk. We replaced the head gaskets and had the heads checked and milled. Once reassembled the motor started right up and ran with a smooth idle. Stopped after 5 minutes to drain/change the oil and noticed 4 quarts of oil now filling my 6-8 quart container! While contemplating where the extra volume came from, my father-in-law was topping off the coolant reservoir and we heard a tinkling of liquid from under the vehicle. Water was pouring out of the open oil pan drain!
Confirmed integrity of head gaskets by individually placing each cylinder at TDC and using an air compressor to supply 50-70psi air to each one. No leaks. Yet water poured into the reservoir will drain freely from the oil pan in 10-15 seconds.
Cracked block? Cracked timing cover? Cracked lower intake manifold? What else could it be? HELP! I have 2 weekends into this car now and the honey-do list (aka wife’s frustration) is piling up.
I would highly suspect a cracked engine block. When an engine is overheated to the point of blowing a head gasket then the block is at risk also. You can also crack a block or head by freezing coolant if the anti-freeze is weak in strength.
I think you need to be looking at a new motor, or a new car. If you are correct and the heads are not leaking that coolant is getting into the block somewhere else, cracked block is the most logical breach area.
Trying to locate the leak will be hard. If it is the block, you can’t fix it. Your time now is better spent switching out and replacing the motor. Your honey do list will just get longer if you try to save this motor.
Odds are the head gaskets were never bad to begin with. This could very well be caused by a rotted out timing cover gasket. (I’m assuming this has the 3.0 engine)
This will be the gasket located between the timing cover and the engine block. Coolant flows through each side from the water pump which is mounted on the cover.
If this leak has been going on for a while it’s possible a new cover could be needed as hot coolant, especially aged hot coolant, can be corrosive to aluminum and may erode some of the metal at the site of the leak.
For future reference, there are a number of tests that can be done before replacing head gaskets on a wild guess.