Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnfind46
I was reading your thread. How much coolant are you loosing?Does your truck have a catch can on the radiator? These older systems will loose a little coolant when you shut the engine off due to expansion. Also,have you tested the cooling system for pressure? you can buy or borrow a system pressure tester to see if it maintains pressure over a period of time. While the truck is cold before you start it you install the proper adapter to your radiator. It replaces your cap and has a place to hook a hose. You hook the hose and pump it up while watching the gauge. You stop pumping at 8 or 10 psi. Leave it alone and watch to see if you loose pressure. If the gauge stays where its at for 5 or 10 min. you are good. If you loose pressure then you may have an intake seep,radiator hose leak,head gasket problem or radiator issue. The radiator will have a damp spot even if it is very small. Intake is a little harder to tell. Head gasket should be apparent with a lot of coolant loss,steam in the exhaust and overheating. I hope this helps. I would rather get to the fun stuff but working out the mechanical issues makes more since and the sooner the truck is driving well without brake down the better the wife will like it.Good luck!
|
It depends on the day. One day I'll drive it to work and will have lost quite a bit, the next time I drive it, not so much. I did add a temporary overflow reservoir. I've had days where it's 1/3 full of coolant, and days where there isn't much in it. Even with adding that back into the radiator, after it cools down, I'll still have to add some water to it - and that varies each time.
I was seeing white smoke/vapor out of the exhaust during most of the spring. Now that it's warmed up (consistent 90's), I don't see it as much. But, that's probably more because of the humidity and outside temps. I'm not overheating. My temps stay between 180-190, even with the hotter outside temps. I drive it work, 50 mile round trip, at 65-70 mph without any issues.
I have not done a pressure test on it. I need to. I've been wanting to do a compression test as well. Thank you for your reply!