6 Months ago my coolant reserve was bone dry. I didn’t have any coolant so I made the half mile trip to autozone to buy more. When I got there I found that it was at normal levels again.

I’m under my truck yesterday while it is still warm and I can hear what sounds like running water in my radiator.

My engine doesn’t run hot, at all, and I seem to have enough coolant so I’m really at a total loss here.

Also, over the winter I found a small puddle of coolant under my truck, even saw a drop fall but could never find where the leak was coming from, or any loss in my coolant level.

I mean NOTHING was wet under there. Since that day I’ve never had another drop of coolant anywhere under my truck. Several other fluids, but no coolant.

Any ideas?

 

as your coolant heats up, it expands and will "overflow" into the coolant resevoir(sp) the coolant u say on the ground may have come from the resevoir. if your coolant get really hot (hot day, towing) it can overflow from there and make it appear u have a leak. either that, or its magic

 

forgot to mention that the puddle was under the drivers side end tank...

 

does your engine have a 53 embossed on the side of it?

 

not as far as i know...

I went looking and checked everything I could see and didnt find a big fat 53 anywhere, or even a small one

 

maybe its a bad radiator cap , sounds like too much action going on
in the tank

 

Best thing to do on coolant leaks....most I have seen they drive their caddy's into the dealer smokin hot and say, "we have a coolant leak" or " we're seeing orange fluid under our car". So you pressurize the system while it is smoking hot and guess what......no coolant leaks. If you can't get a visual fix on where the coolant is coming from, like crusty formations around ends of hoses, water pump gasket or weap holes you pretty much have to let it sit overnight and let it cool completely. Then pressurize the radiator to what the cap says, if it's 16psi, pump it up to 16 psi. A lot of leaks only show up while cold, expansion and contraction I suppose. That's the best method I have found for finding coolant leaks.

Running or cold it should be at the full mark on the resevoir, Sounds like it had air in it or low and when it cooled off it sucked the resevoir dry and when you drove it....it expanded and put back. Obviosly......I'd check for a leak, if you saw a drop of coolant awhile back, it's got one somewhere....find ya a radiator pressure tester to put some pressure on it while it is cold and check for leaks. I know a guy who had side tanks leaking on his Cummins/Dodge.

 

If it was a #53 Block it would leak on the passenger side.. And it would have a crack just under the freeze plugs.