Coolant Escaping
 

Coolant coming out somewhere around the degas bottle, but it is not coming out of the cap. Popped the hood for inspection this afternoon(as I usually do), to make sure everything is intact with no leaks. Kiss of Death stared me in the face. As stated, it did not appear to be coming from the cap and preliminary review led me to believe it was coming out of one of the 1/2" dia. hoses that go to the top of the degas, so I cut off about a 1/2" from both and re-clamped. Took it for a hard run and came back and it was there again. The leak appears to be around the intake duct or above it as nothing below it shows any signs of leakage. Therefore it points to something associated with the degas. Maybe I have a split in the tank somewhere, but it only leaks when you dog it. When I released the cap, there is pressure on it, but not like I had when it had blown headgaskets. I would consider the pressure observed as being normal.

Nothing like sitting here pounding your head and trying to figure out what I may have bent, crushed, poked or otherwise pissed off to have this happen. Last night I finished the CCV mod. and I had to remove the Intake portion (which is nicely coated with coolant now), off to get at the CCV hoses and to re-route. Unfortunately, the leak has to be above the intake and it is spitting down on it. Which puts it back around the degas bottle/tank/reservoir. :humm:

Any ideas folks?

The bottle is probably cracked, they get brittle and I've heard of it on the 6.0's before. :c:

Yep, not uncommon. I'd just put a new bottle/cap on there...

Thanks guys for the input. That's the logical approach. Man, the dude at the Parts dept. at the local Ford, I think he likes me. He sees me coming and starts grinin... Damm perve. I'll stop by NAPA and pickup some more 1/2" hose also and that should eliminate those 3 elements as being the cause.
Oh, I also noticed something else: Every time my dog goes outside with me, he goes directly to my truck and pees on the left front wheel! Is he making a statement?:humm:

I had a similar issue with my '07. There was white residue all over the overflow tank and she went through a full gallon of coolant in a little over a week. I was shittin' bullets thinkin' my EGR went out but suddenly it just stopped, no more pukin' coolant, no more residue. I'm not sure what happened but I'm glad it stopped.

Have you added coolant to it? You probably have blown headgaskets using that much coolant. Usually it stops when the coolant level gets really low. Do you still have heat in the truck? Is the fan kicking on a lot? Hows your coolant level?

You ever felt like a Dork? I do. The good news is, I found the leak. Even better news, it ain't coolant. After changing out Degas bottle, it still leaked. So, I performed a highly strategic maneuver. I wrapped a white towel around the degas bottle (with tie wraps) and executed radical throttle positioning to attain an egt of 1450 on the highway (oh still haven't found my speedometer as it buried somewhere along the way). Got back and towel had no red coolant marking and degas was clean like I had just purchased it (imagine that). Nevertheless, there was still spots all over the towel and intake duct. I rub my finger across the spots and made a startling discovery, it ain't coolant. It is OIL coming out my broken dipstick! Hell I didn't even know it was broken. I guess it pays to inspect a little closer instead of faulty conclusions on my part. "I'm a DORK".:ouch:

It's all good, at least it's a simple fix. That's a good thing. The question is, how the heck did that break?

1450? I've seen the needle on my 1600 degre pyro buried more than a few times. It moves faster than my speedo does.

Yepper, already got a new one on and it has stopped leaking. I have run the s**t out this truck trying to diagnose this simple issue. I believe the engine is going to hold together quite nicely too. Only thing left to do is a tranny flush and new tires. Likely to go with the Pro Comp Extreme All Terrain.

They are an excellent tire. I know two of my buddies are currently running them. One on a 2002 Ford Ranger, and the other on an 06 Dodge 2500 cum-apart. Both are very satisfied with them and both have run other pro-comps before.

"cum-apart" hahaha. Loved your response regarding the engine issue and the "blowed up" comment in another thread...

I gave up trying to reason with ignorance, so dumb responses just get a dumb response right back haha. Makes the day a little less stressful. Have you posted pics of your truck yet, I want to see it. :pca1:

What part of the truck? The that needs the bath or the part that I've had my head stuck in for the past month and a half?

I did add coolant, that's how I knew it went through a gallon because it took about a week of just topping it off to go through a 1 gallon jug. Fan is running normal, truck doesn't run hot, still have heat, the last time I topped it off I brought it about 1/8" below the full line and it hasn't dropped since. No white smoke, no leaks anywhere around the engine.

So where did the coolant go? Do/did you have a leak somewhere? Have you checked your oil to make sure it doesn't have milky look to it? If it looks good and your dipstick isn't measuring a 4 qrts. above full then someone is stealing your coolant. Call the law...:bat:

It was boiling out through the cap but hasn't since. Every mechanic I talked to was stumped that it was boiling over yet there was no coolant in the exhaust nor was there any issues with my EGR and just as suddenly as it started it stopped. Only explanation they had for me is that the EGT got too hot and started boiling it when I was towing.

Sometimes yes they will flash boil in the EGR cooler and just puke a little out with out actually having a bad cooler or headgaskets. Could be early warning signs of oil cooler clogging.

Your fan shouldn't even be coming on unless you're towing really heavy and really hot. I can never get my fan on even when towing our 21' travel trailer up hill in 90 degree heat. Only had it come on when coolant was low.

Like I always say do not throw parts at it . You could have pressure tested the system and easily found this.

lenzhotrod, I can only assume you are referring to me purchasing a coolant bottle and cap when attempting to discover where my leak was coming from. I don't have a pressure tester in my shop and at the time I was troubleshooting I felt certain it was coolant. Logical explanation at the time was it was escaping from the degas bottle. The bottle had been on the truck since I purchased in 2004 and it looked like it needed a "makeover" on it anyway. So, I purchased one and cap $85. Thank you for your words of wisdom as I never thought about performing "root cause analysis" first.

I may speak words of wisdom, but unfortunatly do not always do as I say!!!!!

Plot just thickened on this "horror" story. It's been about six weeks since I put this beast back together and everyday after I drive it I will pop the hood to make sure everything is good. Well, it's back. Coolant blowing out the degas again, but this is indeed coming out the cap. I immediately threw up lunch and then executed a deliberate "what the ***k"? When I popped the cap there was a lot of pressure in the system. Took it back out and did a "torture test" on it and brought it back and plugged in the AutoEnginuity and checked EOT and ECT. Oil and coolant temp. were within two degrees of each other (191/191.5). Of course more coolant had spewed. Looking at the coolant level with engine running and cap off was at the Max level (relative to the yellow tape). Maybe to much coolant in the system perhaps, but it hasn't done this before and I have purposely dogged it to see if it would hold together. Guess I got my answer.:td: I did turn my heater switch on and off and did notice a slight drop in coolant level, but also noticed with the heater on, I had a pulsation in the tank. Kinda of like a pump draining a bucket of water, but not constant flow. I have never changed the thermostat, but I can't rationalize that causing the spitting of coolant out the degas. Maybe the pulsation flow in the tank when I turn the heater on... Anybody have any ideas? If not, anybody have any C4?

Yea mine has been doing the same thing. It was coming out of the cap and then it stopped for a while, now it's coming out again. Got it pressure tested and that turned up okay. Just put a new thermostat in and completely flushed the cooling system. To my surprise it is still coming out of the cap. Got the pressure test done from my buddy(Diesel tech) from the dealer. He has no idea either and I'm definately lost to what it could be. Oh and the degas bottle level always says the level is okay even though there was a puddle of coolant running down the driveway twice before i flushed the system.:argh: Anyone have any clue what is going on. Just getting tired of smelling coolant everyday!!:dang:

Well what does a pressure test tell us? It says the cap and tank are good. If the headgaskets are blown, it is OVER-pressurizing the system and pushing coolant out again. So the pressure test doesn't really tell us that. If your gaskets are blown, please be sure to use OEM Ford gaskets this time. I've heard a lot of bad things about black onyx as of late.

Yea I'll be sure to do that. The way he talked though, the pressure test was a sign for the gaskets. He even took it for a spin with the gauge coming in the window and said the pressure stayed the same throughout the ride, but I'm just going from what I thought I understood he was saying.:humm:

Check your water pump. I had basically the same problem with mine,My truck is a f 550, dominator service body,5000# imt crane, welder,torch tanks, etc... This thing is heavy! I checked the pressure in my cooling system under a load and my cap was poping off just as it is ment to do (over pressureization of the cooling system) Then i pressure tested my cooling system with the engine warm and lost no pressure, this told me the system was tight. Everyone i spoke with told me head gaskets, even the dealer, i just couldnt buy what thay were selling (so to speek) I checked my thermostat and it was bad, installed a new one and the same problem, i removed my water pump and my impeller was broken, almost in half. Installed a new pump and problem solved, what was happening was lack of coolant flow when pushing the truck, causing it to overheat, heat = pressure in a pressureized system, too much pressure then the cap starts to work on the tank relieving pressure. Its not allways the head gaskets. I hope this helps :c:

Ok, that makes more sense. I've seen some of them just pressurize the system with air to 16psi and see if it leaks. Sounds like he did it the correct way and I just misunderstood what you meant earlier.

Definitely might be worth looking in to. The impellers on our pumps suck, they crack and break quite often actually. Bulletproof diesel is developing a billet impeller wheel now.

Ok. I'll look into that one. In the book I have, it says i have to remove the fan shroud, fan, and radiator. Do I really have to remove the radiator so I can get at the water pump?:humm:

Yes its the best thing to do ( remove radiator) If not you can damage it, once you remove the shroud it comes out real easy.