‘87 f250 6.9 small coolant leak

[charle1999]

I have had my 87 for a little over a year. She doesn’t get driven as much as she would like but she is very healthy, always starts and thrives on regular runs. But, she has a small coolant leak that I find annoying and want to fix. Where do I start looking? Were are the typical places for leaks? Thanks

 

[Scotty4]

Are you seeing coolant on the driveway?

Do you use SCAs?

Last coolant change?

With oil fill cap pulled is there a ton of blowby?

Last oil change have coolant?

Rad cap look okay and overflow full or at the correct level?

Plenty of weird places to leak on these but if you are not seeing any coolant hanging around, check for blow by, coolant in oil or oil in coolant, and if possible check your compression.

 

[riphip]

Where is the leak coming from? Front, side(s), top or rear??

 

[charle1999]

Thanks for the replies. I’m in the middle of the smokaton here in Oregon and I can only stand to be outside a few minutes at a time. When the smoke clears in a few days I can check and have some answers.

 

[riphip]

May also just be something simple like a radiator cap. Go back with a 7lb cap. Original is 13lb.

 

[TahoeTom]

Look at the rear of the head gasket. Visible from under the truck. I have had two original head gaskets leak externally there. The 6.9 has coolant ports at the lower corners that were replaced by cup plugs on 7.3. I wonder if this was to address this problem. The 6.9 will run cooler with this design, and the 7.3 "cooling mod" removes the cup plugs and uses a 6.9 head gasket.

 

[chillman88]

May also just be something simple like a radiator cap. Go back with a 7lb cap. Original is 13lb.

I keep seeing this turn up, does anyone have a part number? I haven't found any listed as fitting our trucks because they CAME with 13psi. I would like to try this on mine.

 

[Scotty4]

I just got a 13psi one from Oriellys. Fits great.

 

[riphip]

STANT 10328 Lever release