At loss on coolent loss

[Barry Nave]

A 360 mile trip pulling a flat bed with a 9x12x9 shed on top,800 2x6x9 and shed full of goods the low coolent light came on :eek: . No over heating,gage's all running where should be.
Top of water and headed home.
Week one went by and CK tank each morning,FULL.
Did not CK any more. Week two light back on :confused: Toped of tank again,day one fine. smile.gif
Day two fine(today) smile.gif
Whats going on :confused:
Eng up to temp,psi when cap is removed.
Eng running no bubbles in tank.See no leaks at a stand still anyway and no ordor of antifreez.
Runs good,starts good even in 10* temps at work.
At home the truck sets in a warm shed.
At work it set out in the cold.
I'm a contractor and at times I may or may not drive the truck during the day.
Bad thing is I know something happened.
Way Me After All The Trouble Free Years :(
Before the trip started with the load,all fuilds levels were up so the coolent loss was during the coorse of the trip.

[ 01-17-2004, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: Bnave95 ]

[RobK]

You might try pressure testing your cap. I had a similar situation. After a relatively light tow I noticed a puddle under the passenger side of the truck while refueling. A quick look under the hood revealed the overflow tank was overflowing. After getting home and letting it cool the tank was just about empty so I refilled it and the same thing happened a couple weeks later. Neither time did I have any problems with overheating. So, a quick check of the cap revealed a weak spring that was passing coolant to the overflow sooner than it should have.

Good luck!
Rob K.

[Barry Nave]

Thanks, Thats a start.
Some how it has to be a simple thing I'm not seeing.

[EWC]

I used to own a 95 that I had to put heads on . Drove it for a couple of weeks and then had a good tow for about 7 hrs . The next day the low coolant light came on . I thought I had hurt the motor , the temps were around 230 , but it didn't smoke and the power was still good . Filled the coolant and at the end of the week , the light came on again . Turns out the quick connect heater hose above the injection pump was leaking enough to cause a small leak . Replaced that connector with the older style , with hose clamps , and problem solved . The quick connect connector was replaced with a whole new assembly when I did the heads and was only a few months old .

[Randee of the Redwoods]

I'll back up EWC on that quick connect fitting. When my truck was finished, I noticed the coolant crossover had a new fitting on it as well. Woody had said something to the effect of another coolant leak on top of the motor.
My 6.2 also had a mysterious coolant loss. Cap fine. Motor fine. Oil fine. Headgaskets fine. Water pump fine. I eventually determined the loss to come directly from the radiator from seepage. The radiator core had corroded to the point coolant would seep through the metal during use. No visible leaks anywhere. What tipped me off was light steam from the hood area on cold mornings with a warm truck and rust tracks on the back of the core itself. I understand these diesels are hard on radiators.

[James Schaack]

i have been battling the same problem of an unidentified coolant loss. finally went to a radiator shop to check on getting a pressure test done. guy came outside to have a look and he found the problem right away. a spot on the top right side of the radiator behind the shroud had become very thin, weak and was very slowly leaking. you could just see where the metal was damp. just like Randee said, i never saw any coolant on the ground, it would always evaporate before dripping. if you can't find the source of the problem, i would suggest a pressure test to determine a good/bad radiator. good luck!

James

[stephen_board]

I had a similar situation...coolant getting low slowly with no visible sign. I could smell it but not see it.

A friend and I were looking under the hood one day after driving 20 or so miles and he noticed a drip from one of the Ts that sends coolant to the rear heater (my truck's a Sub). The T was dripping on the passenger side valve cover and the water was running onto the engine valley only to evaporate.

I replaced the T and the coolant stays now.

basically, remember to look at all places that coolant flows.

good luck!

stephen

[tom.mcinerney]

My expansion tank had a crack i only found after cleaning the tank.

[Barry Nave]

Thank's guys :D
I had to tighten lower rad hose clamps :rolleyes:
Have not CK those sence Gear& Cooling mods 3yrs ago redface.gif