Losing Coolant
 

So I got my new truck and noticed that the coolant was really dirtly looking kinda rusty, so I flushed it over and over then ran some prestone radiator flush aditive for acouple hours, then flushed flushed and flushed with water then filled with the prestone yellow jug antifreeze and mixed it to 50/50 and filled it ran it toped it off and it was full, so ever since Ive had to keep adding and adding antifreeze I did this coolant change about a week ago and I keep checking it every other day and the radiator is low again but the reserve tank for it is always full. its only low maybe a quart or two at a time.

No leaks anywhere oil still looks good and coolant is still looks clean.

the system is most likely purging itself with air over time......keep addin to it and I bet it will eventually stop

Ok, I was glad to see someone didnt mention headgasket. Im only doing 38psi of boost max so I think Im pretty safe on the HG. Shouldnt it normaly suck out of the reserve tank though? maybe the radiator isnt getting hot enough becuase its been below 30* here lately?

Fine, I'll be the one to say it.

It could be the head gasket. MAybe just purging itself, but sounds a lot like HG.

It could be blown and putting it into the cylinders a little bit at a time and then burning away.

~Wes~

I was doing wishful thinkin .....lets see what happens here b4 we mention HG..........thats a swear word

What does the coolant look like when it has oil in it? how can I truly diagnose if its the HG or not?

If the coolant and oil were mixing then your coolant level would typically rise.

If there is oil in the coolant then it would typically float to the top of the radiator and it would start as drops of oil forming on the top of the coolant and can progress to looking almost like snot.

Gets nasty at that point.

As far as ddiagnosing HG. Either more symptoms have to pop up, or you start eliminating posibilities. If you cant find the source of the loss then your looking at HG.

HG isn't a swear word. HGs are easy. One day job if you have a machine shop to do the surface work.

I can have a 12V head tore off a truck and on the work bench in 2 hr flat, and already be sitting down drinking a coke.

Let me know if you need any tips or more help diagnosing it.

~Wes~

coolanT will have black "streaks" in it, oil will be whitish colored and VERY frothy.....if your tank is filling up and not running back into the radiator, CHANGE THE RADIATOR CAP!!!!!!!!!, if that aint it, check for blockage when the cap is on..........

It does have a different radiator cap on it, there definetly isnt oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil for sure then. What other symptoms can I look or listen for?

boil the cap to make sure it is correct, ive bought new ones that didnt work......if the tank is filling but not draining back that is where your loosing your coolant.....it gets hot and evaporates out.....