Where is the coolant going??

[thomaslord84]

I am in south TX (600 miles from home)at work and yesterday I went to go get some groceries and I stopped at a redlight, then I noticed that I smelled coolant through the a/c vents. I pulled over and there was no coolant left in the degas bottle. I filled it with water and drove onto the store, maybe 20 miles, and again when I stopped I could smell it, and again there was none in degas bottle. Did my shopping filled again and drove back to rig and searched for leaks. It is not puking out of the degas bottle and I cannot find any visible leaks anywhere. Degas bottle and cap is about a month old. All together it lost maybe 2 quarts of coolant. I also noticed that my ECT and tranny ran about 5 deg warmer than usual, EOT was normal, and it got HOTTER while idling. When the local parts store opens Monday I'm going to get a gauge and hose to check coolant PSI. What do you guys think?? Any input/experiences is appreciated.

[dieselmatt]

Is your exhaust smoking?

[thomaslord84]

No not at all.

[willholl79]

My 6.0 has started the disappearing coolant trick too. No leaks, no smoke, no coolant in oil or oil in coolant. No puking to speak of. I have to put about a half gallon per month in. I assume it's a head gasket that is slowly leaking coolant in to cylinder, not enough to noticably white smoke.

[thomaslord84]

Originally Posted by willholl79

My 6.0 has started the disappearing coolant trick too. No leaks, no smoke, no coolant in oil or oil in coolant. No puking to speak of. I have to put about a half gallon per month in. I assume it's a head gasket that is slowly leaking coolant in to cylinder, not enough to noticably white smoke.

That would be very very hard to do if you have a EGR delete because the cylinder PSI is soooooooo much higher than the 16 PSI that the coolant system runs.

[willholl79]

Originally Posted by thomaslord84

That would be very very hard to do if you have a EGR delete because the cylinder PSI is soooooooo much higher than the 16 PSI that the coolant system runs.

I realize this, but maybe the cylinder psi is over pressurizing coolant system while it's running, then looses a little coolant back into the cylinder when it's shut off. Start the truck again and out it goes. I'm not sure this is the case, but I do know I am loosing coolant and have no leaks, no puking, no smoke.

[Rodslinger]

Originally Posted by thomaslord84

That would be very very hard to do if you have a EGR delete because the cylinder PSI is soooooooo much higher than the 16 PSI that the coolant system runs.

Not to be rude but I can show you different on video of mine.

[thomaslord84]

Originally Posted by Rodslinger

Not to be rude but I can show you different on video of mine.

Learn something new everyday. It just seems to me that that would be almost impossible as the PSI is so much different. I could see it happening when it is just sitting there, but I would have to see the video of it happening while running to believe it. Not trying to call you a lair or anything. Just hard to believe.

[06harley91]

I had this problem before. Had a egr delete and nothing else but I was noticing loss of coolant with little or no puking. Turned out it was head gasket failure and on cold start I would notice just a little puff of white smoke coming out the exhaust. I'm sorry for your troubles but with my experiences with the 6.0 just spend the money and have studs, oil cooler put in. No need trying to fix the one problem as all of these cause domino effect.


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[thomaslord84]

Originally Posted by 06harley91

I had this problem before. Had a egr delete and nothing else but I was noticing loss of coolant with little or no puking. Turned out it was head gasket failure and on cold start I would notice just a little puff of white smoke coming out the exhaust. I'm sorry for your troubles but with my experiences with the 6.0 just spend the money and have studs, oil cooler put in. No need trying to fix the one problem as all of these cause domino effect.


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app

I have the BPD oil cooler and I am going to call a diesel specialty shop and see how much studs/HG would cost me. I think that it is about time. I will hook the gauge up and check the coolant PSI before I commit. What is a decent price to have studs/HG done if the heads are not cracked or too far out?