Tonight I drove up the hill 25 miles to get some pine logs. Drove back 35 miles and dropped the trailer and wood off. I jump back in the truck after I unloaded the trailer and my heater was not hot and I could smell anti freeze. No puddle under truck. Looks like it came out of the over flow. I was able to get 1 3/4 gallons back in the radiator. The ten miles back home to my house the temp gauge would fluctuate from 140 to 180 but never went above 180. My thought is water pump is serging or t stat is sticking. Would the t stat shut closed if it goes bad? I am thinking of just replacing the water pump and t stat. I have no water dripping from the water pump/ t stat area.....

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

The first thing I would do , is go to the autoparts store , and get the little kit with the paper strips in it for testing the coolant for co2, Sounds like you may be getting combustion gas into the coolant , that would cause it to overflow that much coolant. Do you have any way to test the actual coolant temp coming out of the head at the top hose, to verify that the gauge in the dash is correct?

 

Hey JKM I did a lot of searching on this site and found the temp gauge jumping is normal. The temps out here in Reno, Nevada are getting colder so maybe the T stat is just cycling more. I never noticed jump from 150 - 180 before but it must have to do with the colder temperatures outside. I started up the truck today. No water in oil. No oil in water. No leaks anywhere after I shut my truck off last night. And no leaks today. I do seem to hear water running through my heater more than normal. But that could be the t stat cycling as well.

When T stats goes bad do they stay closed or open? And my other thought is maybe my radiator cap may be getting bad. I noticed today the radiator cap does not seem to have a good seal so I will replace that. Maybe I had some leakage at the cap.

Truck is running great as usual. Tons of power and will smoke like a freight train if needed....

Thanks for the suggestions..

 

sounds like a head gasket to me.

get the cooling system preassure tested. and t-stats usually get stuck open and depending on the type of engine they will either overcool the engine or over heat it.

 

Head was off 10 months ago for new head gasket and screw in studs. I am not getting any water in the oil. And no oil in the water. I will run it some more and check the water level and then report back.

Dave

 

Sorry , I did not pay enough attention to the numbers you posted , I was thinking 190 was the lower mark on the gauge , my bad. That temperature change you noted is totally normal , i would be more worried if my truck DID NOT do that, I would say your thermostat is perfectly fine.

You could do a pressure test on the cooling system , but it might not tell you much, does the exhaust smell like coolant? Has your oil level risen any? It's hard to tell if there is coolant in the oil , as it will settle to the bottom. The chemical co2 test I mentioned is good (it's like litmus paper) , if there is co2 in your coolant, you probably have a headgasket problem, the pressure from combustion can force gases into the coolant , but the relatively low pressure in the coolant ( and larger molecules) won't allow coolant to force it's way into the cylinder through the same leak.

 

I did replace my my radiator cap today. The old one was not very tight and did not seem to be sealing. Drove truck today and temp gauge did it's normal thing, 150 to 180. Truck is running great and no water leaks. I think my old radiator cap was allowing coolant to slip by the cap. I was towing this summer and got he temp a little to hot and lost some radiator fluid through the overflow. I might have not got the radiator as full as I thought when I added fluids..

Dave

 

I towed again today and after I dropped my trailer I noticed my heater was cold again. And again I was 2 gallons low on water in my radiator. No puddles under my truck. Oil was a quart low and clean. The loss of water only seems to happen after I tow??

 

Hmmm, what about if you run it with the rad cap off??? Is it blowing any bubble in the rad as though it could be leaking past the head gasket?

 

Tool I had the head off a year ago with new gasket and screw in studs. There is always a chance that the HG is bad now. Lets hope not. Just very strange that I loose exactly 2 gallons after I tow. And no water lose when I am not towing...

 

I almost garentee you have a blown head gasket, just because fluids don't mix doesn't mean its not blown. I had one blown to the outside on #4. The reason it does it when your towing is the engine is working harder and cylinder pressures are going to be higher. I would try a retorque on those studs to see if it'll seal up and you can run till you get to a good point in time to do another head gasket.

Here's a pic of what it looked like after a year of running around on a retorque to seal it up. Check my gallery for the other one, same thing on 3 cylinders, plus it was blown to the outside on #4.

 

How can you not notice 2 gallons of fluid on the ground? Finding where it's going will answwer your question. Is there not any signs of it anywhere under the hood? Is the block full all the way up to the valve cover? (don't laugh, my sisters s10 blazer did that with an intake leak)

 

JD7 I will check the heads bolts this weekend. It it is a blown HG that will be all the excuses I need to get a new dodge while I rebuild the old 94...!!!!

Charlie read all my posts and it will answer all of your questions.....

 

Update..... Head bolts tight. No loss of water in two weeks. But I do hear water running through the heater A lot? Truck is running excellent as usual. Could the water noise in the heater indicate a "going out" water pump? Or another indication of a bad head gasket?

 

I am going to replace the gasket in my 98 tomorrow, I have exactly the same symptoms. I even changed the t-stat just because i didnt want to have to change the headgasket. Mine runs perfect, but as soon as I hook to a trailer and have higher boost #'s it will blow coolant out of the overflow. Mine also makes the sound of water rushing through the heater core, and the cold heater, witch it did not do before coolant started coming out of the overflow.