Investigate all puddles!
There are a few reasons someone will take care of their vehicle. For some, it's pride of ownership. I fall into this category, but when traveling with an older used vehicle that gets you to the gig, disaster prevention is the order of the day. If you don't make it to the gig, no fans get greeted and made- you know the rest. It's gonna be a bad day. So, we all want to avoid breakdowns at all cost. Which brings us to this little nugget: No puddle under the van ever goes without investigation. Ever.
If you see a small one, and think "that'll make it till we get home," think again. In the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee while you drive, you could easily pump out all the coolant, oil or antifreeze, and then you're stuck.
Case in point: we were in northern Michigan, and I walk out to the van in the morning, and here is a 2 inch diameter puddle on the ground just behind the driver's side door. What's up with that? I crawled up underneath the van, and do some investigating.
On Ford vans with rear heat and air, coolant and refrigerant lines run underneath the van all the way down the driver's side. In our van, the coolant lines had corroded and looked pretty bad. I immediately looked under the hood in the coolant resovoir and could see we had not lost much if any coolant. That told me the leak was a) brand new, or b) not that bad. I decided we could head home and I could fix it when we got back.
I tried to find the coolant lines to replace my corroded ones, but the ones I found were incredibly expensive, and I had a thought- these are essentially heater hoses that run to the back, why couldn't I just run some more heater hose back there? I searched the interwebs and found a guy who had done just that. I thought I would give it a try.
First stop, eBay, where I found someone with 50' of 5/8 heater hose for sale. Snapped that up, done. I started thinking that having that heater hose running all the way down to the back of the van would be exposed to a lot of rock and debris from the road. Then I came upon an idea- wrap the hose in that wire loom that they use to wrap automotive electrical wiring. That would help us in two ways- 1- protect the heater hoses from road debris, and 2- give the heater hoses a bit of buffer against rubbing up against things and wearing a hole in the hose. I started looking for the wire loom on the internet and came across Del City. You would think that's where Del McCoury lives, but it's not. Del City sells all kinds of cool things, and one of those cool things is high-temperature automotive wire loom. I was on a roll.
Came the day to do the deed, I crawled underneath, and with my reciprocating saw (saws-all) I carefully cut through the old coolant lines, one at a time. This is very tricky and not for the timid. Right next to those coolant lines are the refrigerant lines for the rear air. You do not want to puncture those lines- they are under very high pressure. If you have the heebie-jeebies about this, get a real mechanic to do it for you, ok? No kidding, this is dangerous stuff.
NOTE: Use a catch pan to collect all the coolant that about to drain out of those lines, ok? Don't be an idiot and wreck the environment for everyone else on the planet. Besides, critters like to drink that stuff. It tastes sweet, but then kills them. Please, be safe.
I measured out the heater hose, cut it, then slipped over the wire loom. The wire loom is a sort of flexible pipe that has a slit down it so you can wrap it around things, in this case, the heater hose. Trace how the hoses carefully, do one at a time so you don't get them crossed up. Use good quality hose clamps to clamp the new heater hose to the stubs of the old rigid lines. Then use black military grade wire ties to tie it all up to the old corroded lines. Refill the coolant you lost, run and test for leaks and there you go! Total cost, not including sweat equity on my part, < $100!
It would probably be smart to carry some extra heater hose, clamps and coolant in case you started leaking on the road. And always check your coolant level before you leave and along the way. Here are some pics of the repair:
This is the front of the van. You can see the old corroded lines, the new hose in the wire loom, and the clamps attaching to the stubs of good heater hose line coming from the engine.
This view is about midway down the side of the van. Those are A/C refrigerant lines running below:
This is where the lines run over the rear axle. I was very mindful to keep the new lines tied up and out of the way so they don't rub against anything, or would take minimal damage from road debris or a flat tire.
Same view from outside van going by rear tire.
Back side of rear tire. The lines then turn upward and clamp to the heater lines coming down from the interior of the van.