Archived Leaking coolant!

[ABarrey]

Hi, I'm on the road with fifth wheel in silver creek, WA. I've been losing a little coolant for a while, but now got a good drip coming off the block so need to get it looked at. Anyone know a good mechanic near Chehalis, or south of Olympia?

 

[petersonj]

I don't know of any shops in that area, but if you haven't gotten any help by the time you reach Portland, I have a shop and tools and I am about thirty minutes southeast of Portland.

- John

 

[DavidC]

Gotta love this site and the members. Nice of john to volunteer his services.

Dave

 

[Bob4x4]

Hopefully it is not on the right side of the block....

 

[ABarrey]

Yeah, I looked it over as good as I could. It looks to be coming from the back left side of the block behind the last exhaust port. I could feel a round plug. Freeze plug?? I filled my coolant res. This morning and drove maybe 50 miles- no load and the reservoir was still above add. The drip at the bottom slowed down I think!
Any guesses?

 

[petersonj]

Check the heater hoses for cracks or leakage by flexing them. Sometimes a hose can leak and spray a thin stream of coolant onto an object (such as the head) and make you think that you have a leak somewhere else.

Also, make sure you check coolant level in the radiator as well as the overflow bottle. Small coolant leaks can give you an incorrect assessment of the coolant level because the leak can slow or stop the normal transfer of coolant to and from the coolant reservoir. As a result, the coolant reservoir level may be okay, but the coolant level in the radiator may be low.

- John