Loss of coolant somehow????? HELP!!!!

bordum128 · #1 06-05-2010, 07:10 PM

One more thing (Sorry im just learning how to work on my truck). Like I said, I have only had the truck for 3 days and so I decided to check the fluids. The oil looked great. The oild cap was clean. Thranny fluid was clean. HOWEVER, I noticed that the radiatior "overflow resivor" was bone dry. I then looked at the radiator and noticed that it was a bit low (I had to add about 3 cups of fluid to top it off). I cannot find any place where it has been leaking! Every once in a while, I can smell that "radiator fluid" smell, but I cant pinpoint it. The truck runs and idles smooth and does NOT over heat. Thank you! Oh, I let it run for like 5 min and I noticed that a small amount of water was dripping from under the truck from the exhaust (Right about the middle of the truck)

E1N Ranger · #2 06-05-2010, 07:16 PM

I have had the some problem lately. Found a small leak by the thermostat housing and change thermostat and gasket. Still smell antifreeze every and then. Not over heating either. Hope someone on here has some insight for us.

bordum128 · #3 06-05-2010, 07:23 PM

Well thats good to hear! (I suppose lol). Yeah, my first worry was that I have a blown head gasket!

STL · #4 06-05-2010, 07:27 PM

I would watch the overflow resivor for the next couple days and see if it goes down.

Did you look to see if the actual resivor was leaking underneath

bordum128 · #5 06-05-2010, 07:38 PM

Actually I did not check to see if it was leaking. Im thinking of just doing a total flush and refill.

FireRanger · #6 06-05-2010, 08:14 PM

Thats a good thing to do anyway. One way or another, just get it filled up to normal and see what it does. I'd be willing to bet it never happens again.

bordum128 · #7 06-05-2010, 08:17 PM

10-4 thanks man!

sgtsandman · #8 06-06-2010, 03:41 AM

Could be that you have a pin hole leak some where. Look for stains on the ends of hoses (if there is an internal failure you will get weeping through the cords), around the thermostat housing and around the radiator tanks. If the leak is small enough, there will be no dripping, just staining.

Generally speaking, if there is a head gasket leak, it will show in the oil (it will be milky) or you will get catastrophic engine failure. The truck I bought had that. The head gasket let go suddenly, hit the hot #1 piston and cracked it. I'm now running with a junk yard engine with roughly 100,000 miles less on the clock compared to what the odometer says. Since you said the oil looks good, I don't think that is the case.

Another indicator of a head problem (cracked) is liquid coming out of the tail pipe well after condensation should have burned off. Probably not the case for you either since there would be a lot of coolant loss which doesn't seem the case for you.

bordum128 · #9 06-06-2010, 09:34 AM

Hey thank you so very much for the lengthy and well thought.out response. Yeah, according.to.the person i bought it from, its a junkyard motor too. About 4k less than truck. They even gave me a copy of the invoice. Thanks!

donmac07 · #10 06-14-2011, 09:04 AM

Hey, i am having the same problem, did you ever figure out the problem?

CUTiger · #11 06-14-2011, 01:49 PM

Interesting...I'm having a similar problem. My overflow tank drains and my radiator goes down relatively slowly. The oils not milky, there no water coming from the exhaust, can't smell burning antifreeze or see any white smoke. My best guess is a small crock/tear/hole in a hose that only shows itself when the engines hot.

richarddhoward · #12 06-14-2011, 01:55 PM

I had this issue as well, and I was just talking about this in a different thread with someone the other day. Mine seems to have gone away when I replaced the radiator cap for a brand new one. Your system uses pressure to raise the boiling point. If the cap lets off steam before a certain PSI you are boiling off coolant. I would maybe try this. I think the cap cost me 12 bucks or something like that. Easy fix.

bordum128 · #13 06-14-2011, 10:45 PM

Hey. Yeah I replaced the thermostat and cap and the problem went a away. I'm a mechanical moron and I replaced the thermostat by myself, it's pretty easy.

richarddhoward · #14 06-15-2011, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bordum128

Hey. Yeah I replaced the thermostat and cap and the problem went a away. I'm a mechanical moron and I replaced the thermostat by myself, it's pretty easy.

Good to know!

Fightinirish157 · #15 06-16-2011, 12:01 PM

I had a leak like that too, couldn't see it, no puddles just coolant going away. I had a small crack in my radiator replaced that and was good to go.