mystery coolant leak

[wjamesm]

Alright i was convinced i had a cracked radiator , i have been adding coolant to the truck for about the last 2 years . the degas bottle would go down below the lower hose on the side of the degas bottle . last year i replace the degas cap , drove the truck and came back home went in the house and came back out and there was a puddle of coolant about 16'' in diameter under the drivers side of the radiator . Got under the truck with the light and saw droplets of coolant up by the radiator support post , thought well **** that sucks i need a radiator . I put the old cap back on and just kept topping it off till i found a good deal on a used Mishimoto radiator (thanks robbs4525 ) Figured while i am in there installing the radiator might as well install a complete egr delete kit , so i ordered one . So today i topped the coolant off to the cold line and thought i would pressure check it again ( i did this last year and the gauge on the pressure tester didn't show a loss , Had it up to 16lbs for over an hour .) Same thing today no pressure loss . when pressurized the coolant in the degas bottle went down a 1/4'' below the cold fill line , but after a half hour i released the pressure and it came back up to the cold fill line . I needed a little Mercon V for the power steering so i put the new degas cap on and made a trip to Wally World , Thought that would get her up to temp and when i got back i thought i would see the leak again . Well got home and the coolant level was about 1 1/2'' above the cold fill line in the degas bottle and no leak after an hour . The truck has never puked and there is no coolant residue anywhere under the truck . Checked the oil level and it's black and at the full line , exhaust doesn't smell like it's burning coolant either . Looked inside the oil fill and it looks super clean in there . So i am not sure where the coolant would be going that i would have to keep adding for the last 2 years .

 

[Powerstroker6.4]

Subscribed. I too have this problem! The coolant seems to just disappear!!

 

[webb06]

Alright i was convinced i had a cracked radiator , i have been adding coolant to the truck for about the last 2 years . the degas bottle would go down below the lower hose on the side of the degas bottle . last year i replace the degas cap , drove the truck and came back home went in the house and came back out and there was a puddle of coolant about 16'' in diameter under the drivers side of the radiator . Got under the truck with the light and saw droplets of coolant up by the radiator support post , thought well **** that sucks i need a radiator . I put the old cap back on and just kept topping it off till i found a good deal on a used Mishimoto radiator (thanks robbs4525 ) Figured while i am in there installing the radiator might as well install a complete egr delete kit , so i ordered one . So today i topped the coolant off to the cold line and thought i would pressure check it again ( i did this last year and the gauge on the pressure tester didn't show a loss , Had it up to 16lbs for over an hour .) Same thing today no pressure loss . when pressurized the coolant in the degas bottle went down a 1/4'' below the cold fill line , but after a half hour i released the pressure and it came back up to the cold fill line . I needed a little Mercon V for the power steering so i put the new degas cap on and made a trip to Wally World , Thought that would get her up to temp and when i got back i thought i would see the leak again . Well got home and the coolant level was about 1 1/2'' above the cold fill line in the degas bottle and no leak after an hour . The truck has never puked and there is no coolant residue anywhere under the truck . Checked the oil level and it's black and at the full line , exhaust doesn't smell like it's burning coolant either . Looked inside the oil fill and it looks super clean in there . So i am not sure where the coolant would be going that i would have to keep adding for the last 2 years .

You always want to check the coolant level when the truck is cold, you can't compare the level from when it's cold to later when it's hot.

I would bet that either the radiator fixed the leak or you had a leaking egr cooler and deleting those fixed that problem. Keep and eye on the level and recheck it every morning when the truck is cold to see if you're losing any. Unless you vacuum filled the cooling system you might have to top the coolant back off after all the air is purged out when you drive.

 

[wjamesm]

I always checked the coolant level when it was cold and added accordingly . I understand your post but i haven't installed the radiator or the egr delete kit yet . Just checked the coolant level this morning and the level is 1/2'' above the cold fill line on the degas bottle and yesterday it was at the level of the lower hose that goes to the front egr cooler when i added to get to the cold fill line . I suspect that there was some air in the system , when i was done pressure checking it yesterday and releasing the pressure slowly i saw a few air bubbles come out of the lower hose that's going the the front egr cooler . My degas tank is the 2 port design and the egr cooler line is on he bottom port and the top port is plugged off with what looks like a factory plug if that helps . I am still going to do the radiator and the egr delete when i get my long weekend from work until then I'll keep watching the coolant level and try to figure out where the coolant is going .

 

[Lipka101]

I had the same thing going on for a few months. I did the egr delete and my coolant stopped disappearing. We'll for a little bit anyway, wasn't long after that my lower rad hose started leaking and then the radiator.

 

[TheViking]

My former boss replaced his radiator twice within four months due to the plastic being so cheaply made.

 

[wjamesm]

Well didn't find the leak yet , Driving around on flat ground and even got on it a couple of times and coolant level didn't go down . Yesterday loaded up the quad to go riding with my buddy and the trip was a short one , about 10 miles . the first 4-5 were up a decent grade nothing terribly steep but windy with a few down shifts out of overdrive and checked my coolant level a couple of hours after i got back and the coolant level was below the cold fill line again . Today after i got home from work ( took the car , left the truck set ) the level is still below cold fill line . Topped off the coolant and got my new toy out a coolant vacuum tool to see if i could get any bubbles . well my big air compressor is down and all i had was a small compressor for an air nailer , it wasn't big enough to work .so i pressure checked it again and still holding 16lbs of pressure .