The Case of The Mysteriously Disappearing Coolant

['94IDITurbo7.3]

As the title says

i have been driving my truck for a month now since my cooling system work.

I noticed the other day that my overflow tank was empty.
Well i filled it bck up to the cold level.

When i filled the system up with coolant a month ago i filled to overflow tank up to the cold fill level.

Yesterday i was looking around under the hood and noticed the overflow tank was empty agian.
I filled it back up. i have not check it today.


The coolant level in the rad is just fine.
the engine oil level and color is good.

I have absolutely no leaks from anywhere in the cooling system.
rad is bone dry.
upper and lower hoses are bone dry.
the drain plugs in the blocks are bone dry.
No coolant smell in the cab from a possibly heater core leak.

Since the overlfow tank keeps loosing its fluid i think the problem is confined to the overflow tank itself.

I was thinking about it on the way home today.
Correct me if iam wrong...under normal operating conditions the coolant overlfow tank is not used. it is oly used if the coolant temp starts to get out of control. then the valve in the rad cap opens and then the coolant can flow into the overlfow tank. when the engine temp cools back down the coolant in the overflow tank is pulled back into the rad.

My temps stay right at 190*F all the time.

If my line of thought is correct then the only answer would be the coolant tank has some sort of leak in it.

As far as i know my rad cap is good. i can always try the cap that came with my champion rad.

Any thoughts?

thanks
sorry for the long post.

 

[freebird01]

mine does this as well....along with the other issues i posted about in the aluminum rad thread.

how does yours react when it had a load behind it?

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

mine does this as well....along with the other issues i posted about in the aluminum rad thread.

how does yours react when it had a load behind it?

I don't have anything to tow. all i haul is myself, my laptop, nd books.

 

[RLDSL]

Try a new cap first. seal may be bad. heck I run a zero pressure system and started smelling coolant last week and about had heart failure , turned out the cap seal was dribbling over the edge and burning off down the side of teh rad. Need to order up a new cap ( since it's not under pressure the loss is minimal , no big hurry )

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

Try a new cap first. seal may be bad. heck I run a zero pressure system and started smelling coolant last week and about had heart failure , turned out the cap seal was dribbling over the edge and burning off down the side of teh rad. Need to order up a new cap ( since it's not under pressure the loss is minimal , no big hurry )

I will grab that tomorrow morning from the extra rad that i have in stock

I will also check my overflow tank again.

I could care less if there is a leak in the overflow tank. i just want to be sure i don't have something else wrong with the rest of the system.

 

[91idi]

Also make sure the hose from the radiator is not leaking at the radiator or overflow

 

[f-two-fiddy]

Check the Heater Hose Clamps, at the heater core.

 

[Black dawg]

check at the back of the heads at the head gasket

 

[Midwest_Mudder]

Also make sure the hose from the radiator is not leaking at the radiator or overflow

i was just about to suggest that. a new hose is like 80 cents. mine used to do the same thing, until i decided to sit and watch my truck after shutting it down. sure enough, instead of the coolant going back into the catch tank it dribbled down the side of the radiator and would collect in my fan housing so there would be no drops on the ground.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

i was just about to suggest that. a new hose is like 80 cents. mine used to do the same thing, until i decided to sit and watch my truck after shutting it down. sure enough, instead of the coolant going back into the catch tank it dribbled down the side of the radiator and would collect in my fan housing so there would be no drops on the ground.

I will check it out.


I put my cap from my champ rad on and the water temp stays a little steadier now and a couple degrees cooler.

 

[sle2115]

If you completely drained the cooling system, and can't find a leak, you may have just had some air in the system that is exiting and being replaced with coolant. Mine took a couple refills after flushing and filling the last time. Was over a period of a couple weeks in fact. After filling a couple times, it stayed constant and has been that way ever since...which reminds me, it's time to do that again! lol

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

If you completely drained the cooling system, and can't find a leak, you may have just had some air in the system that is exiting and being replaced with coolant. Mine took a couple refills after flushing and filling the last time. Was over a period of a couple weeks in fact. After filling a couple times, it stayed constant and has been that way ever since...which reminds me, it's time to do that again! lol

I had the same thought. probly something simple like air.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

thought i would update.

I put the rad cap the came with my damaged champ rad on and i don't seem to be using coolant now. i did get to finally pressure test my old cap and it would fail at 14 psi and then not hold any pressure. it would leak off right away. you could actually hear it leaking.

 

[snaponprofile]

Hello folks, Why start a new thread when this one has a similar issue?

My coolant is disappearing, I decided to look in my rad. today and to my shock, it looked dry, so I put about 2 gallons in the radiator and filled the overflow. I have NO leaks and I did a coolant flush in the spring.

Could it be coming out my exhaust? I have a puff of white smoke when I start it and when the Rpm's drop fast it will do that also. Could that be related to the missing coolant? Is my timing off?

None in oil, none on the ground.

 

[riotwarrior]

.....I run a zero pressure system and started smelling coolant last week and about had heart failure , turned out the cap seal was dribbling over the edge and burning off down the side of the rad. Need to order up a new cap ( since it's not under pressure the loss is minimal , no big hurry )

Ok so are you running Evan's coolant? If so what was the cost for the amount for your system?