Annoying problem

[Jetmek319]

Hi Folks,
My Truck has been vexing me for about three months now, and I'm running out of hair to pull out! I have developed a coolant leak and cannot locate where the leak is. It is somewhere on the forward, passenger side of the engine. It is not a severe leak, about the size of a dinner plate in the morning. The kicker is that it only happens when the engine is cold. I can drive 10-15 miles around town and not lose a single drop, but I parked the truck for a couple of days when it was 0-10 degrees overnight and there was the puddle again. I put a tracer dye in the coolant and have spent hours looking around and found nothing. No coolant in the oil and no unusual smoke (black or white/gray). No oil in the coolant and the coolant does not smell like oil, fuel, or exhaust. I'm suspecting a head gasket with a tiny gap that is open when cool and sealed when warm (?).....

I dunno...and the head shaped dent in my workbench is getting larger.

Any ideas????

[JER-1]

Originally Posted by Jetmek319

Hi Folks,
My Truck has been vexing me for about three months now, and I'm running out of hair to pull out! I have developed a coolant leak and cannot locate where the leak is. It is somewhere on the forward, passenger side of the engine. It is not a severe leak, about the size of a dinner plate in the morning. The kicker is that it only happens when the engine is cold. I can drive 10-15 miles around town and not lose a single drop, but I parked the truck for a couple of days when it was 0-10 degrees overnight and there was the puddle again. I put a tracer dye in the coolant and have spent hours looking around and found nothing. No coolant in the oil and no unusual smoke (black or white/gray). No oil in the coolant and the coolant does not smell like oil, fuel, or exhaust. I'm suspecting a head gasket with a tiny gap that is open when cool and sealed when warm (?).....

I dunno...and the head shaped dent in my workbench is getting larger.

Any ideas????

I really don't know but thought I read on here a few days ago about some heater hose or lines that run into the firewall area on passenger side,that can have a small leak. Runs inside the wall but the leak comes from in the wall area you can't see it. Someone with more info will say something I sure soon.
JER-1

[ianstew]

There is a hose at the EGR cooler that has leaked and confounded a few people....

[squirtgun]

Sounds like the same problem my 6.0l has.The short hose between the EGR cooler and oil cooler is leaking.
Was waiting on a reply to a M about getting 1 from someone on the site for the price of shipping,but the temps are dropping so we'll probably just swap it out with some high temp heater hose and clamps.

[Jetmek319]

Thanks for the reply, folks. I have looked at the small hose that goes to where the EGR cooler was ( I removed it about 18 months ago.) No visible signs of leaks there. The only places that I cannot get a good look is the rubber donut that goes between the intake and the front engine case, and the back third of the passengers side head. No external signs around the oil cooler areas either. I tend to think that the leak is on the "outside" of the engine as there is no coolant evidence in the valley below the intake.

Any more ideas??

[md18]

Rent or but a cooling system tester, pressurize it when its cold and it will usually make itself pretty obvious lol. Thats really the only way to find those hard to find leaks. It will go from a drip to a stream.