ok...so it seems that I'm loosing engine coolant pretty quick. When driving around town for like a week or two there is usually still some coolant in the reservoir, seems like it's slow...but once I go on the highway and drive it for about an hour at about 80mph it pretty much disappears. I can smell a light "sweet" odor. I have checked the oil level, which has remained a constant and there isn't any white smoke when I start it up, so I'm pretty confident that it's not a head gasket. As far as the radiator cap goes, it seems that it has a pretty good seal, and there is no evidence of leaks...wtf is happening...

 

bump

 

cmon...someone has to know what to do...

buummpp

 

you say you smell a *sweet* smell....do you smell this inside the cab??

 

it's more like under the hood, I can smell it better outside the cab, but get a faint trace of it inside as well

 

You should go get it presure checked. The thing with a coolant leak is you if it's leaking when hot your motor could burn the colant off and you'll never find it. Check by your water pump, that may be what leaking.

 

heatcore is ruled out then,I agree with pace you need to have it pressure tested and then you should be able to find the leak.

Check the t-stat housing as well

 

I read on another post that 3.0s have some "infamous problem" with this, it didnt really touch on what the problem was, could someone enlighten me...also where can i get it pressure tested, how much does it usually cost, and could i do it myself?

 

your goin to have to take it to a radiator shop and have them pressurize the system. That should be the last resort if you cant figure out the problem. Crank the truck and get under the hood and check all the hoses,connections,and housing for signs of leakage.

 

ok, I'll give it a look tmrw then.

 

I'm gunna say water pump. When mine went the coolant was disappearing, the pressure was good, nothing looked wrong. Turns out the coolant was leaking out of the water pump. It was never noticed because the excess coolant was being blown away by the air movement.

 

Maybe its a headgasket, He said he looses power going down the highway.

EDIT- sorry, just read that he didnt think it was a headgasket.

 

yea also im not loosing power lol...i had a blown head gasket on my last vehicle...what a nightmare lol

 

any more opinions?

 

ok so i went to pepboys, found out they charge $35 to pressurize the system...decided, hey why not just replace the rad. cap, since I do remember one cold day when I popped the hood i got quite a bit of steam...also i looked at the water pump, its bone dry bone dry (thank god)..however i did notice a weird spot where there seemed to be a little build up of coolant...wasnt sure if it was from when i spilled a bit of coolant whilst pouring it once upon a time ago...I'll post a picture of it in a few, its one of the drive belt's pully things, right below the water pump all the way on the bottom, and is pretty big(i have a 3.0) can anyone tell me what it is? If not i'll post a pic in a bit.

 

My truck does the same thing. After I park it and get out I can smell a slight "sweet" smell from the grill of the truck. No white smoke, dosent overheat. The coolant from the overflow bottle just disappears. I can't remember the last time I added coolant but I checked it the other day and it had a lil in there.

I got a coolant flush done at the dealer back in the beginning of Oct.

 

Ha, sorry, I read part of it wrong.

 

I have this same problem. I will fill my resevoir up to the fill line then like a week or two later I'll check and theres nothing in it. I repeat this every couple of weeks. I check the radiator itself and its always full inside. I haven't noticed any leaks underneath the truck either. And I haven't smelled anything out of the ordinary. This always has me scratching at my head.

 

Exactly what happens to me.

 

Well...nice to know I'm not alone lol...do you all have 3.0s by chance?

 

ok...so what is this? it's right below the water pump and is the first thing you see when looking under the truck...if you look at the second image i circled where it seems that some coolant has accumulated (may just be spillage..idk)

 

From what I can tell thats your oil pan. Doesn't look like coolant to me. I had this problem and then my engine went boom because I never found out what it was. Ended up my heater core had a hole but my heat and everything still worked fine because I kept adding fluid. On the firewall there is little hole on the bottom, this is where all the fluid leaked out, I never had any kind of puddle in the truck so I never knew.

 

No I got a 4.0

 

it's def. greenish lol... it must just just be from when i spilled it last time i filled...good to know.

 

check that lower radiator hose.they go and shoot coolant out,give it a sqeeze.