Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Leaking antifreeze

[elamb]

A guy I work with has a 02 CTD 2500, 5 speed that is leaking antifreeze. He had it at the dealer once already and they put a new over flow canister on it and he checked his hoses. But he still has a leak. It is blowing on the passenger side firewall. I would appreciate any advice I could give him.



Thanks,

Eric

 

[Oil Burner]

Check the thermostat for leaks. My gasket around the t-stat was bad and made a mess like you described.

-Jason

 

[rashwor]

Other things on the right side...

to check would be the heater hoses / connections and head gasket.



Let us know what you find.



Surely it would not be a cracked block!

 

[thouse]

It could be a cracked block. Look on the right side of the engine below the manifold.

 

[RustyJC]

Also take a look under the rear of the exhaust manifold for a leaking core (aka "freeze") plug.



Rusty

 

[rblomquist]

My head gasket blew out on the right side back by the freeze plug area folks are referring to. At first I thought it was a bad radiator cap because it didn't show (or I didn't notice) leaking fluid down the outside of the block. It puked out fluid from the bottle during/after shutdown which went all over the firewall and fenderwell. The next time I pulled my travel trailer (after a new cap) I went about 100 miles before I noticed the temp start to rise and when I pulled over I noticied not only fluid on the firewall and fenderwell but also running down the block.



Regardless of popular sentiment here on the board CTD's do sometimes lose headgaskets. In fact the Monday I took mine in to be fixed I asked if "I was the only one they've heard of this happen to" and the reply I got was no way, they had one in the previous friday for a blown HG. BTW, they had the HG in stock and I was back underway the next day (example of a great dealer; not stealer).





Bottom line, check the freeze plug back by the firewall, check the radiator cap, and closely repeat closely check the head gasket area for signs on leakage. I could really see mine once I lifted the airbox out of the way. I guess it could be a cracked block but if it's hitting the firewall I'd suspect one of the other possibilities first.







Good Luck

 

[elamb]

Could it be the head gasket or a cracked block even if he don't pull that much or run the truck hard? He said that he has checked the freeze out plugs and heater hoses. We appreciate the information.



Thanks,

Eric

 

[HBarlow]

My Ram suffered from disappearing coolant for its first 40k miles. It was a minor annoyance and concern rather than a serious problem and I continued to postpone taking it back to the dealer thinking I would wait until an external leak became visible or the leak became more serious. The lost coolant was never visible externally but I continued to add a small amount of coolant every time I performed an engine oil and filter change.



Finally, I mentioned the problem to a friend one day. He has owned and operated an independent shop for about 40 years. He pressure-checked my radiator cap and determined that it was leaking very slightly. I purchased and installed another radiator cap and have not lost a drop of coolant since. I was relieved it was not something more serious.



Harvey