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'94 losing coolant. No obvious drips. Not smoking. Oil looks ok.

830 views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Brewtus 
#1 ·
I've had the truck a little over 2 years and is at 145k miles. Truck is a weekend hauler and sometimes spare vehicle for family members so it sits a lot.

Loaned daughter truck last week. Before she left I topped off radiator, it was a little low. She drove it daily to work for a week and dropped it off today.
My wife decided to drive it to work and since it was a warm day she turned the A/C on. She hadn't gone far when she smelled coolant and then noticed the temp gauge showed it was running hot. She turned the A/C off and it cooled down. She parked and later I put 1-1/3 gallons of antifreeze in it.
So in a week it has lost over a gallon of coolant. I looked under the truck as I ran it and saw no dripping. There is no obvious leaks. It seems to run fine. No smoke out the tail pipe.

It has one weird quirk about it. I noticed a few months after I bought it that the dipstick had light brown foamy stuff on the outer 1/3 of it near the handle. My first thought was a cracked head and nearly had a panic attack. I changed the oil and it looked fine. Someone then suggested that condensation from our sometimes humid climate was wicking into the dipstick tube and mixing with the oil. I have crossed my fingers hoping that is the problem. Anyone ever heard of that? Anyway, I've changed the oil several times since then and the oil always looks like old oil should. No chocolate milk. (knock on wood)

So now that you have my life's story, any suggestions where I could look to find my missing coolant?

Thanks!!
 
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#4 ·
Didn't get much time to mess with this last weekend but my son found a wet area along the top area of the right valve cover. That's about where that water outlet is, isn't it? I've been watching some videos. I wonder if I should just plan on replacing the water pump one Saturday and repairing/replacing the water outlet gasket then.
 
#6 ·
Leaked fixed

After removing the alternator, compressor and the piece that holds the two, I discovered that there is a 4" hose that runs from the water pump up to the intake. It had split at one end and was spraying on top of the engine. The heat and wind was probably evaporating it.
 

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#7 ·
After removing the alternator, compressor and the piece that holds the two, I discovered that there is a 4" hose that runs from the water pump up to the intake. It had split at one end and was spraying on top of the engine. The heat and wind was probably evaporating it.
I was going to recommend checking that bypass hose. I just changed mine recently. Hope its all good now!
 
#8 ·
That blasted bypass hose seems to be a common issue. Mine was leaking near there as well. Same thing: losing coolant, but not really clear where it was going. Was slow enough either to evaporate or mix with dust or dirt. Ended up with a huge mass of congealed oil/coolant/mud between the top of the timing chain cover and the intake manifold. Glad you got it sorted.
 
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