Ford Explorer Fluid Leak

i20west

My 1998 Explorer XLT has 170,000 miles on it. I get a full tune-up every 50k (change all the fluids and spark plugs), get the oil changed every 3,000 miles and have only had one major problem (rear differential a few years ago).

Yesterday, after I pulled into the garage, I noticed a dark fluid (brownish maybe) leaking from near the passenger-side back door. My 2-year-old had spilled a cup of tea on the way home, so I figured maybe it was leaking out. The stain was still pretty wet looking today, so I gave it a sniff and it's definitely not tea!!

At that point, I looked underneath and saw several little things along the edge of the vehicle that kind of resembled wing nuts but were more of a boomerang shape. A few of them had that same brownish fluid around them, including one on the driver's side. I noticed that the fluid around the boomerangs was sticky.

I have a repair manual for the Explorer, but I looked at the power steering and transmission sections and didn't see the boomerangs. Under the hood, the fluid levels were normal for engine oil and power steering. Transmission fluid was full, but it had been a few hours since I'd driven the Explorer.

Any help on how to fix the leaks would be greatly appreciated. I tried "tighening" the boomerangs, but the bolt/screw thing they're attached to does not appear to be threaded!

Thanks in advance.

rmncoknme

Could it be from the air conditioning? Water comes out of the AC system on the passenger side, and in winter it could be dark from dust or (yech) mold. Also, the exhaust system could leak water out, if you do alot of short trips in cold weather there is more water in there since the system doesn't get hot enough to evaporate it away.

kattru

Hi, I have a 1999 EB Ford Explorer that has sprung a leak in one of the hoses today. The engine ran hot, pulled over and filled radiator and radiator coolant container with water, got home ok, saw bubble coming from hose in the front that leads to radiator cap area from radiator coolant container. Is it easy to replace this hose and what exactly is the hose called. I do very little mechanical work, but I'm broke and need to fix this myself. Also, how can I tell if this is the only hose that is leaking? thanks for any answers. Confused in Texas - Mike

ahoron

Fluid near the rear door it could be rear axle seal? or brake fluid? Chack the brake fluid in the master cylinder if thats okay I would suspect the axle seal because you didnt say the brake pedal was low or brake light came on and you have had work on the rear end