Coolant in an odd place

[68_250]

Just noticed the other day and have been hesitant to drive it since I noticed.
I have a recently aquired 71 F100 with a 302. Which is quite tired by the way.
So any way I noticed coolant pooling behing the water pump in a lttle valey area near the distributor. Where is this coming from.
Is it just a bad water pump gaket? Or something far worse?

[mrsnicks]

It's been my experience when you get coolant there there is a leaky hose going to the inlet. That's the first thin I would check. Make sure the hoses aren't cracked/frayed at the ends, and tighten the clamps. Use a shop vac to vacuum out the coolant so you can see if it still leaks, and at what rate the leak is.

Patrick

[fordman]

on a 302 its probably a hose in that area.

[Fordtastic]

if on passenger side i would say a hose if on dist side i would almost guess a leaky intake

[Fordtastic]

recently for me i had the little hose's on top on the passenger side come loose and leak it did also get into the valley on the dist side too though so check those three hose connections first. if it is wet under the distributor i would say the intake manifold since there is a water passage right near there (if it turned out to not be those hoses).. but i agree to verify via shop vac and carefull inspection before going to all the trouble to swap water pump gasket or intake manifold gasket