Coolant pouring out

Tiny
CESARVILLA
  • MEMBER
  • 2001 FORD MUSTANG
  • V6
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 300,000 MILES
Tried to start my car and it sounded like it was struggling to stay on. Gave it a look and there was a part missing on the bottom of my engine looks like something broke off. I found it because when I tried adding coolant it came pouring out of that hole on the bottom.
Thursday, February 25th, 2021 AT 11:01 PM

4 Replies

Tiny
CESARVILLA
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
Image.
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Thursday, February 25th, 2021 AT 11:03 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,970 POSTS
That is the location of a core/freeze/expansion plug. When they cast the block there are holes on the outside where they can go into the block and knock out the sand cores used in casting the block. The holes are those access points. After they clean up and machine the blocks they get blocked with a metal plug like are in the image. They can rust out or sometimes they get pushed out if the coolant in the engine isn't good enough to keep it from freezing if it gets very cold. If you live in an area that got really cold in the past weeks then that is the likely issue. Or it could be that someone had replaced one and didn't use a quality part and it failed.
When they are out in an easy place to access replacement is simple, you take the new plug for that location, make sure it is clean and clean out the port it goes into, then you select a socket or similar driving tool that fits in the cup side of the plug. Now apply a thin coat of sealer around the edge of the plug and line it up square with the hole and use a hammer to drive the plug into the hole until the edge of the plug is level with the block around it.
Now if you are in an area where it got cold and that pushed the plug out, you will want to check all of the others as there could be more that are about to fail. The same applies if the plug rusted out as well.
A video about them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqHVNqwKMBI

However if it was struggling there could be a bigger issue if you are in a cold climate area.
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+1
Friday, February 26th, 2021 AT 1:25 AM
Tiny
CESARVILLA
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
Thank you so much. I appreciate the help.
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Saturday, February 27th, 2021 AT 12:29 PM
Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 12,970 POSTS
You're welcome. Did you have any time to look it over or repair it?
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Saturday, February 27th, 2021 AT 2:36 PM

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