coolant leak at reservior cap
 

hey everyone,

I just purchased a 2007 f350 outlaw edition with the 6.0. some reason after i got this truck home i smelled coolant when i parked it. it was a 2 and a half hour drive home and never had a problem. the temperature gauge never moved and i did a few systems checks on the way home and it said all systems ok. there were only a few drops of coolant just enough that i could smell it. i drove it to work yesterday morning and it was fine coolant level stayed the same. after i went home it was also fine. i took it to a birthday party and it was also fine. i had driven it kinda hard on the highway and it was fine when i parked it. no smell and engine compartment dry. i took my friend for ride and excellerated hard with it once. we got back and could smell it. popped the hood and it was everywhere. it looked like a hose clamp going to the reservior we put a different one on and it was fine on my way home except for a couple drops of coolant on the top of the reservior (we did add coolant to the min line thats where it still is). i drove it today and the only coolant that showed up was a couple drops right around the cap on the reservior. i have read storys that it could be the cap or a small crack in the reservior (it looks like its getting old and brittle) I have also heard horror stories about this being caused by head gaskets. i hope this is not the case. please help give me some ideas. this truck is chipped by not sure with what. that was gonna be my first investment in a reader. HELP!!!!!!!!!!! this motor and turbo sound great.

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i forgot to add that this also had a k&n air intake on it

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i just took the truck for a ride. my coolant level is around a 1/4 inch below the min line which from some of the posts i gather is ok. the level did not move at all and everything was bone dry when i got home. i beat on it with no problems. i still smell coolant but i think its just left over from yesterday spraying all over. i will keep a eye on it but i'm hoping that it was just overfull. please feel free to give me any other ideas i will post more updates

First of all i would check and see if see if its already had head studs installed. It sounds like its building too much pressure in the tank like a head gasget problem. They are simple to check thought, get about 10feet of 3/8 gas line with a t fitting and a 15psi guage. Unhook the small line that goes to the resevoir and put that new line inbetween it with the parts. Run the guage into the cab and take it for a drive. I cant remember for sure but if the guage goes over 5 psi u most likely have a problem with a hg. And if it pops off at 15 psi then u have a hg problem for sure. I think also if your pullin a trailer up a hill it helps mak better results. Just to put a bigger load on the motor. They have better videos on here that explain it in more detail. I am not completely sure about what psi u should worry about a bad head gasget but they have lots of info on here to help out.

thanks cfarley i will deff give it a try. last night and today its been fine i've even really romped on it going up hill. i have been told to check the head bolts. what is the best thing to do go to ford and have them run the vin? thats one of the options i've been told to do.

studs are an aftermarket item, all trucks have head bolts from the factory... studs are a aftermarket upgrade

i know that much haha. thank you. someone told me to bring the vin to ford and see what its had done. the past 2 days its been fine coolant levels stayed the same no bubbles anywhere everything is dry. i was thinking they over filled it i'm gonna keep an eye on it and try one of those quick easy head gasket checks.

oh ok, your talking about an oasis report from the ford dealer...

ya i guess thats what its called. if it doesn't blow out any more coolant you think it might be ok?

i hope, my truck has 180k on stock HGs... i beat on it too.

i plan on studing it this summer:jump:

like i saw in other posts it has the sticker on the degas bottle for the fill lines it is now about a 1/4 inch below it and hasn't had a problem since. the temp stays the same it has heat with no cool periods. when i start it it blows blue smoke for about a minute if it is cold. we have a old 7.3 at work and it does this for about 5minutes. no white smoke from my truck.

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Well back t the drawing board took the truck out to dinner tonight and it blew a little coolant. Not much just enough to piss me off. This must be why the dealer had me sign a waiver cause of the chip. I will be trying to go after him now.:argh:

some trucks run lower than others, unless the bottle goes empty just monitor it and don't add unless it goes empty, that what I would do. I got 250k on stock HG and maybe put a quart of coolant in it since 03, and that was before they came out with that sticker.

Fill out your sig so we have all the info and mods to your truck makes it alittle easier... From what I hear it could also be your oil cooler? Do you have access to a scanner? If so check you eot and ect...

would a bad oil cooler make it blow coolant out of the degas bottle? it did it again tonight after a 25 mile trip on the highway. i checked it when we got where we were going and there was a little coolant. when we got home same miles on the highway it had more. i don't get it last night i took it and did probably 20 miles and beat on it and it was bone dry. now i drive it gentle and it blows out coolant. when i bought the truck it was fine no coolant leaking anywhere after test drive and all. i got it home and it had dripped a few drops. when i picked up the truck the dealer insisted that the truck was fine (it was all dry under the hood when i got it) and wanted me to sign a waiver because of the chip (still not sure what it has for a chip trying to find a reader) i signed the waiver because everything was fine:argh: you mean to tell me that it blew the head gasket blew on the way home? i don't think so now that i think of about it i think they were trying to cover up that something was wrong. i'm hoping since the waiver said go easy because of chip and nothing about head gasket i can go after them. i don't trust their mechanics anymore and want to use one of my own now. keep the ideas coming i'm willing to try anything. i've had this truck a whopping 3 days.

When the oil cooler goes bad your resevor fills with a milky white mix of oil and water. U will know when that goes bad. Also your oil will get low because its being pumped into your coolant system. U might try putting a new cap on the coolant system. I have heard that they are only good for a few times poping off then they need to be changed. But since the truck has a chip its building more boost than a stock. Since these motors only have 4 bolts per cyl instead of the normal 6 on other motors make these ones not like to keep the heads down unless they have studs. It might be just a small leak and slowly building pressure in the system. I would look into doing the hg test, Or take it back.

up date...
took my truck to my cousin today he's not a diesel tech guy but he is a mechanic and he knows some about diesel. he went threw what he could do and found that most likely has the wrong coolant. he said the coolant was weak. he checked the oil for coolant and all looked good. i contacted the dealer and they want me to bring the truck back so they can take a look and see if they should take out some coolant. at this point i decided to take it somewhere else to get a second opinion. wednesday it goes to a different shop. the guy went to school for diesel and was the top go to guy at our local ford dealer before they pissed him off and he went out on his own. he comes highly recommended. he is gonna go threw it and see if he can find out what is wrong so right now i'm hoping for the best. praying its not the worst. my cousin also suggested that we change the cap. but i had already learned that from you guys. i will keep you posted when i find out more wednesday. thanks again everyone for all your help. you have all been more than a big help.:c:

Can you take some pictures under the hood. Specifically down in the valley (I want to see if you have an EGR cooler still), and around the valve covers as much as possible, I want to see if you have headstuds or bolts.

6.0's don't have "chips"... programmers only. Most of them are crap, they just trick the PCM into adding timing and fuel without really "tuning" it...

No code reader is going to tell you what is on there, and now you can't even re-tune it with another tuner (well you could, but you're not going to have a "stock file" to save). That truck needs to be brought back to the dealer and flashed back to stock, then you need to go buy a good tuner like an SCT with custom tunes.

You're not losing a LOT of coolant just yet. FWIW, when you lose coolant the lame-o gauges on the dash aren't going to tell you squat. They're not really even "gauges".... they're all but useless. They'll show the same temp on the "gauge" over a real spread of something like 75*'s. Get some real gauges in there. I'd recommend fuel pressure (0-100psi), ECT (engine coolant temp) EOT (engine oil temp), a pyro if you're going to continue running tunes and call it a day for gauges. A coolant flush and a coolant filter should also be at the top of your list of things to do.

What are your plans for the truck? Grocery getter? Heavy hauler? DD? Weekend warrior? How much power do you think you'll want down the road, or is just a tune good? (It never is for anyone...haha).

Your situation is most likely not the cap or the bottle, but I would replace them anyways after hearing your description about them.

Your issue could be an EGR cooler, or headgaskets. Typically these problems come AFTER the oil cooler is plugging up. It is usually the source of most issues with the 6.0. You can read more about this, as it's a whole topic on it's own, just search around here. I've beaten the topic to death about the coolant debacle etc....

Some blame the coolant, others blame the sand casting in the blocks... tough call.

What we DO KNOW, is a coolant flush, a new oil cooler, an EGR delete (if you live in a place that allows this), a coolant filter and some new coolant will set you straight and drastically lower the chances of headgasket failure. :c:

Thanks. So if i bring it to ford and have them flash it back i will be able to keep my stock setting when i buy a new tuner? I will take those pics either in my lunch or when i get out before i bring it to the new mechanic. I plan on using thie truck as a daily driver but also to tow my 19 foot boat and haul my tractor from job site to job site as needed. I also would like to have thr ability to get up and go at the sane time too. Once i figure out the coolant problem i planned on gettinga new tank and cap.

Right, they'll flash it to stock, and you'll lose whatever is on there. When you get an SCT and load a tune for the first time, it will go through a "save" of your stock file. You can even dump that stock file to your computer of choice as well. Without that stock file initially on there, it will have nothing to save, so you can just keep writing over whatever is there again and again, but never be able to go back to stock. :c:

:jump: talked to the mechanic today..... he could not get the truck to leak coolant at all he tried all day. i put a new cap on before i went there and it was all bone dry around it when i got there. he tried everything and everything checked out. head gasket is good along with egr and oil cooler. he did say it has the wrong coolant so i am gonna have him change that out some time soon. the only thing he did find wrong was the right rear axle seal was leaking bad. and it needed a rotor. he had it all almost back togeather when i got out of work today. will be picking it up tommorow after work cant wait. thank you all for your help. :c:

glad it worked out:c:

picked the truck up after work. guy was great. he didn't charge me to go threw the truck top to bottom. he only charged me parts and the labor to do the axle seal and it was actually the caliper. only cost me 273.37 not to bad i was figuring 500 or more for everything including looking at the truck. still trying to figure out the tuner thing he says that it is chipped i tried to explain that i was gonna flash it back to stock and put a new tuner in it. i tried to tell him what you said about there not actually being a real "chip" in it and it just having been tuned. i think i am going to go with the sct livewire. is 571 a good price?

also the mechanic and his son both fell in love with the truck. they said they can't believe how nice it is and that it has some serious balls the way it is now. i just wanna be able to control my tunes.

With the tunes you're better off just paying whatever the good tuners are selling them for. It wont help you to save $50 on it by buying it on ebay because then you'll have to turn around and pay $50-$80 per tune on top of it. When you buy it from the guys who write the tunes, they typically throw custom tunes in for free...:c: