coolant mystery....maybe..

[Fireman5606]

First of all, I want to say hello to everyone. I have had the priviledge of gaining a lot of information from this site..Thanks. Now on to my question, I have a 2003 F-350 CC, LWB, 6.0, 6spd. Only mods are a true flow air filter, turbo back stainless 4" exhaust, and a superchips programmer. I have owned this truck for over 3 years with only minor problems...water pump, ball joints, and a few rear axles seals. It has 81,000 miles on it, today I drove it about 10 miles down the road and everything was fine..started home and the temp started to rise, got high enough to turn on the light so I cranked the heat wide open and dropped a gear...it cooled back down to about normal. I was only about a mile from home so I managed to drive it in. When I got it parked I still had the heat cranked up, but it had started to blow air the same temp as the outside air. Shut the truck down and checked the coolant level...and surprise..none. Filled it up with coolant (about 2 gals to fill degas tank), fired it back up and it is running around the normal on the temp ( let it idle for atleast 30 mins with the air on) but still no hot air from the heat and no idea where the coolant went. My question is why not heat from the heat? Could there be air lock in the coolant system? My next question is where did the coolant go? No pukking from the bottle, no unusual smoke/steam, no apparent leaks. It appears that everything is perfectly normal now except the heat issue. Any ideas? Do I have head gaskets in my future? Does warranty cover them? I appologies for the long post, but I wanted to give as much info as possible. Thanks in advance, Kelly

[bigcountrysg]

If you are still under the 5 year warranty or if you have the extended warranty. I suggest you go to a dealer.

It could be a list of different things. I would start with a pressure test of the cooling system.

[Fireman5606]

I gonna call them tomorrow ( happened after closing time), not sure about the 5 year warranty truck is an 03, but it is covered under an extended warranty until June of 09, or 89,000 miles which ever comes first. Thanks.

[Fireman5606]

Just a heads up, I don't know if this is a nationwide thing or not, but the Ford dealers in my area of NC (about 5 different dealers) said they can no longer offer loaner/rental cars if the vehicle is being repaired under warranty. According to them you will have to provide your own temporary transportation at your costs while your truck is being repaired, which really ticked me off. The dealer where I bought the truck (used, thank God I got the extended warranty) said they are one of the last one's in this area to go to the "new" rental system, and they arranged for a rental car at their costs until my truck is fixed, but everyone else said no dice. So You may want to check with your local dealer before scheduling a service, and find out if you will have to walk to work the next day. If I understand correctly this takes effect starting in October. Guess I should have bought the Dodge..