Cracked Coolant Expansion Tank on Ford Taurus

[ZZman]

I was having problems on my 2001 Taurus with 124,000 miles with losing coolant but not seeing a obvious leak anywhere. I could at times smell the coolant but its source was hard to find. I finally took it in and they found the bottom of the coolant tank had a small crack in it. Since these are pressurized it would leak a little when warmed up.

I was told this is a common problem with the Taurus Coolant tanks. I called around to junk yards and they told me the same thing. They checked a few they had and they were bad also. Another junk yard had new ones. He said he buys 12 at a time because he gets so many calls! The dealer wanted like 80.00 for them and he wanted 44.00 for the ones he had. It works great!

 

[eljefino]

That's funny, the junkyard selling new parts!

Keep 'er flushed, the radiators are not much fun on these cars.

 

[dwendt44]

Coolant recovery tanks are not pressurized.


Edited to add:
MOST coolant recovery tanks aren't pressurized.
Some are; those with pressure caps on them are under
pressure. The heat from expanding coolant could open a
crack that won't leak if cold/cool.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: dwendt44
Coolant recovery tanks are not pressurized.


On many new cars they are. The pressurized cap is on a surge tank which acts as the recovery tank.

 

[ZZman]

I misspoke. This is not called a recovery but an expansion tank. It is pressurized. You don't want to take the screw on cap off when hot, let me tell you.

http://www.innerauto.com/store/?N=9340+1616+10340+4294965605+11921

 

[mechtech2]

We used to have a plastic welder at the shop, but it was very tricky to use.
Kinda like a heat gun with plastic welding rods.
A new tank is best.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Many coolant expansion tanks of first generation LS400 have small cracks at the top around temperature connector. It is expensive, dealer wants more than $200 for a small plastic tank, a used one can fetch $100 or more on Ebay.

I think pressurized coolant expansion tank is a bad idea, coolant reservoir is safer and more reliable.

 

[Steve S]

My wifes Powerstroke is pressurized

 

[03cvpi]

Ford calls them a degas bottle and almost all of the newer vehicles have the pressurized degas bottle, which acts as a coolant recovery tank.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: dwendt44
Coolant recovery tanks are not pressurized.


On many new cars they are. The pressurized cap is on a surge tank which acts as the recovery tank.


Your mean the "coolant expansion tank."

Looking forward to a skirmish over semantics.

 

[oilboy123]

96 up Taurus and sable tanks tend to leak. Don't buy Dorman, the one I bought leaked that was brand new.

 

[oilyriser]

I call it the coolant freshening tank, because it leaks just enough to keep you adding enough coolant so you never need to change it.

 

[moribundman]

It's really the coolant aeration chamber, which allows Dex-Cool to become Dex-Death.

 

[oilboy123]

quote=oilyriser]I call it the coolant freshening tank, because it leaks just enough to keep you adding enough coolant so you never need to change it.[/quote]


Or the fish/egg stream killing leak.........

The expansion tanks sure make it easy to bleed out the air.

 

[artificialist]

Just another common part to fail.

Doorman makes new ones, so going to the dealer is not required.

 

[55Test]

Just take the tank out and JB Weld it.