Losing Coolant

Smoky

Full Access Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
478
Reaction score
0
Location
Mississippi State
I seem to be losing coolant somewhere. No smoke of any kind can be seen but I had to add about a half gallon of G05 mix today.

I started noticing this morning that i could not get any warm air out of the heater registers. Within about 5 miles from start it started showing check gage and the gage was hot. When I slowed down the gage cooled back down. Ive had to add coolant before to the tune of about a half gallon for 5,000 miles. No white smoke has been seen and no leaks on the concrete. I have looked for drips on the engine and can't see any. Anyone know where else I can check? Could the radiator have a pin leak?
 

DaveBen

SDD Senior Member
Joined
May 31, 2005
Messages
9,627
Reaction score
81
Location
Ukiah, California
Head gaskets. You might check the oil and look for signs of water-in-oil; milky oil. I hope I am wrong.

Dave
 

RoyBoy

Diesel Dork
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Messages
1,305
Reaction score
1
Location
central WI
Check cooling system pressure. Tee a gauge into the small return line at the bottle. If it climbs as load increases, it's head gaskets starting to leak. Could also be the EGR cooler starting to leak. Main thing is not to run it that low on coolant for now. You will have more problems if you run hot too many times...
 

RoyBoy

Diesel Dork
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Messages
1,305
Reaction score
1
Location
central WI
Oil is not milky. If its the EGR cooler wouldm't I have white smoke?

Yes, normally. But I'd think that if you only lost 1/2 gallon in 5k, you may not notice any smoke. Just before I did head gaskets on mine, I was going through about a gallon every 100 miles (towing).
 

AK Rover

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
200
Reaction score
1
Location
Kenai, Alaska
When my EGR cooler was failing I didn't notice any white smoke. Only way I knew I had a problem is I noticed the level in the reservoir was lower than the last time I looked.
 

jamzin

SDD Junior Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2006
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Location
lWinter Haven, Fl
coolant lose

I've experienced coolant lose ( 2/3 gal over 4 months ) and called my dealer's service advisor. After inspection, tech said the EGR cooler gasket was leaking. They replaced the EGR cooler, engine oil cooler, and head gaskets on my truck. Don't know if all was really necessary or if they were real good to me beacause I've been a long time customer. Thankfully, I was still under warranty @56000 miles/4 1/2 years. (2006 F250, 6.0L)
Reading different diesel forums/columns, any of these parts could have been the problem so I consider myself lucky that all were replaced. Service advisor said Ford was using updated parts and I shouldn't have any future issues.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
30,540
Messages
266,126
Members
14,668
Latest member
scottu5
Top