I am having to top up my expansion bottle almost weekly as the level keeps dropping. Each time I check the rad and it is full. I have no water patches on the ground in the morning. My first thought was that it would be air locks from the new engine. But surely too many miles covered for that now. I don't want to keep topping up not least of all as it is hard to keep the mixture of water vs antifreeze correct.

rad/cap???

That's a thought. what are we suggesting here, that is isn't letting water into the expansion tank?

If its dropping then its getting sucked into the rad to keep the correct level, which means the watter is going somewhere.

do you have your egr valve blanked & the coolant pipe bypassed. If not then I would get it done & see if it still does it,

There is no cooler on my truck being a cable throttle.

same as mine then Luke, might be haed gasket im affraid, can you get a local garage to do a sniff test an see if there are any gasses in the cooling system.

Luke, get the engine warm, ( about 5 mins of driving ) so's the temp guage has just hit the normal spot and then have a good check around the outside of the engine, look for the wet areas, as the engine will be warm enough to leak but not hot enough to evaporate anything on the outside.

if you had an egr......... but no, so what, no fluctuating temp gauge? oily water? thermostat changed?

might even be a core plug, but not heard of those going on our trucks

Quote: LezT wrote in post #7

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Luke, get the engine warm, ( about 5 mins of driving ) so's the temp guage has just hit the normal spot and then have a good check around the outside of the engine, look for the wet areas, as the engine will be warm enough to leak but not hot enough to evaporate anything on the outside.

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Quote: Basil wrote in post #8

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if you had an egr......... but no, so what, no fluctuating temp gauge? oily water? thermostat changed?

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Double check the rad cap, they fail and leak a small amount of pressure, could have some shyte under the flaps ( there ya go Mike, an open door for you...)

I have the rad cap on the Triton. Could be same? I'll check in the morning.

I had a similar thing on my old X plate, not long after the head gasket was done it was losing about half the expansion bottle a week, I feared the worst as there was no puddle, but it turned out to be a loose hose clip on a water pipe that was weeping at the back of the head next to the manifold so the heat was evaporating the water, worth checking all the pipes and clips, also check the heat exchanger on the veg set up

Coolant pressure test would be worth doing, pump the system up to 12psi or so and listen...

A compression test will very rarely show up a head gasket problem on these trucks. On the up side though, a head gasket problem will mostly always push water into the expansion tank and fill that but drain the rad.

luke heat exhanger, not a common fault but you were talking about bad running on veg, not got a pressure weep into the veg have you ???



lez how could you think that of me

Thanks guys. Mike, I was beginning to wonder if at least two of these issues I have could be related. If it's leaking water, which it must be, then it must be a fine spray that is being evaporated quickly. Will have to double double check!

BMB how do I get coolant to 12psi? Get it up to temp until fan comes on? Then check for leaks?

no, you need a system tester, it's a bit like a bike pump that you put on the rad and pump it up.
You can check for leaks when it's hot but putting pressure on a clod system is handy as some leaks can 'seal' themselves as things warm up and expand - you may only be losing coolant when half way between cold and running temp,
There is no pressure on the cold system so nothing pushes the coolant out, then, as it heats up it loses a bit, then when hot the leak seals up with expansion.
Would explain why you are not seeing any drips when you park up.

Are you anywhere near me (somerset) I have a tester and also some UV dye that you can put in the system which will show up a pinhole leak.

Nope I'm in Portsmouth. I'll try to check again when just 'warm' and again when properly hot and fan on. But so far the leak has evaded me.

Gotta say that is one advantage of the waterless coolant. No pressure. Agreed 180degree coolant will still cook an engine in the case of high EGT's slowly cooking a gasket before the coolant gauge moves. But total water loss from a burst pipe or leak will do the same. Aye it's a moot point anyway. Still need to find the leak. Might be related to why I am sucking in air when on veg.

Update: Gave the truck some abuse for 20 mins whilst keeping a stern eye on the coolant gauge. It never moved. Pulled over, stopped the engine, popped the bonnet and listened. Nothing initially and then for just a few seconds I heard the distinct hissing sound of water spraying out from somewhere. It stopped before I could locate it but did sound like it was the left side of the bay as you look at it from the front. Or drivers side of the block if you will. What do we have down that side in the way of water channels?

Stat, lower rad hose

Quote: Yoda wrote in post #19

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Update: Gave the truck some abuse for 20 mins whilst keeping a stern eye on the coolant gauge. It never moved. Pulled over, stopped the engine, popped the bonnet and listened. Nothing initially and then for just a few seconds I heard the distinct hissing sound of water spraying out from somewhere. It stopped before I could locate it but did sound like it was the left side of the bay as you look at it from the front. Or drivers side of the block if you will. What do we have down that side in the way of water channels?

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if the metal pipe is rusty it might have a pin prick in it that will give you a hissing sound under pressure

chalk dust the inner wing and chassis leg that side luke, if its spraying it should hold the evidence long enough

That's a damn good idea! Where do you get chalk dust??

ive always battered chalk sticks in a plastic bag, it must be available as chalklines use it