Coolant Loss

jonnyslim · March 3, 2008

Hey guys,

I have been lurking for a while but this is my first post. Great Website.

I love my truck, but something seems amiss. Over the past 2 months I have noticed that about once a month I will lose quite a bit of coolant and my low coolant msg. will appear on the message center. I have never had a vehicle that used up this much coolant, so what gives? BTW i park my truck in the same spot everyday and there is no sign of any leakage on the pavement or under the hood. Has anyone else experienced this problem? The truck has aprox. 78k mi. thanks in advance.

Killerbee · March 3, 2008

If you can't find a leak, you have a bad head gasket, IOW it's going out the exhaust.

What kind of tuning do you run? Tow much?

s10473 · March 3, 2008

Same thing happened to my fathers truck not to long ago. Parked it in the same spot everynight and no coolant there. W efound it to be a pin hole in the lower coolant hose, that only leaked under driving conditions. Changed it out and not problems since. Hope this helps.

jonnyslim · March 3, 2008

If you can't find a leak, you have a bad head gasket, IOW it's going out the exhaust.

What kind of tuning do you run? Tow much?

No tuning as of yet, but i have been thinking about it. I do a little towing just a 1.5k boat and 6k car hauler. maybe just twice a year with the hauler. Thanks for the tips guys.

wgabert · March 3, 2008

I would assume this is a 6 L engine. These engines are notorious for having leaking gaskets between the water pump and. block. Easy to do.

Warren

kal el · March 3, 2008

leaking around the water pump gasket is very common on theses trucks. I haved changed alot of them after dealers and garages said they couldnt find a leak or that it was intake leak. the gaskets leak just a small amount of coolant and it evaporates off the hot engine so there is no puddle. get a trouble light and get underneath and look and you should see the streaks from the water pump down the engine where it evaporated.

jonnyslim · March 3, 2008

Sorry guys but my mechanical knowledge doesn't extend beyond changing tires and oil. Where should i be looking? the more specific the better.

If it is the water pump gasket do i have to drain anything before i replace it? Yes it is 6.0L

BC2500HD · March 4, 2008

Hey guys,
I have been lurking for a while but this is my first post. Great Website.

I love my truck, but something seems amiss. Over the past 2 months I have noticed that about once a month I will lose quite a bit of coolant and my low coolant msg. will appear on the message center. I have never had a vehicle that used up this much coolant, so what gives? BTW i park my truck in the same spot everyday and there is no sign of any leakage on the pavement or under the hood. Has anyone else experienced this problem? The truck has aprox. 78k mi. thanks in advance.

I would take it to a shop and have them pressure test your cooling system. Maybe it only leaks when it's warm and under pressure.