This just in from the the shop....
"Pressure tested and found nothing. See no residue or trace marks from antifreeze - has fuel leak in valley, haven't pinpointed it yet"...
Hhhmmmm to the coolant....

 

Did they test the degas cap as well? My thought is if maybe the cap is allowing a touch of smell out

 

That was my initial thought. My first txt to him was, "maybe it's the cap"... No I don't think they did. Do they just go bad? I mean is it common? I could just buy a new one in ebay tonight if it's cheep enough to buy it based on suspicion...

 

Anything that has a relief and a reusable seal can go bad. But I don't know if it's something that would go bad very often. It was just a thought

 

I hear ya.. I'll take a look on fleabay...

 

Huh, who'da thunk it was the cap?.... <ahem>

Why wait and pay shipping on evilBay? It's a readily available FLAPS part, shouldn't be more than $5-ish.

 

Lol! Yup you nailed that one! Good call! What's "FLAPS"?

 

Friendly Local Auto Parts Store.

 

Ha! I gotcha now.. Is that a 16lb cap? I'm not at home right now...

 

Fellas, I hate to be that guy who brings up the beaten to death subject but correct me if I'm wrong: Motorcraft VC-5 50/50 is what I want to use to top off my cooling system correct? I really HATE how crazy the topic of coolant is.....
http://www.powerstrokediesel.com/doc...nformation.pdf

 

Depends on what you mean by "top off". If the level is low, then yes, you'd add conventional anti-freeze and DISTILLED water in a 50/50 mix. Re-test the SCA, and add if necessary. But that VC-5 is just plain old-school anti-freeze, the cheapest stuff you can buy at the FLAPS. Nothing magical about the Motorcraft brand. And if your coolant level is going down regularly, you need to find out where it's going.

 

Yup, just had the system psi tested and I did end up getting an OEM cap on Flebay.. I'm not sure if it's going down to tell you the truth.. I was smelling coolant then I couldn't remember if my level had been at the lower cold mark or the upper cold mark, so I thought I'd just top it up to the upper mark... My SCAs are spot on right now but yes I'll keep an eye on them.. In all actuality I'm due for a flush...

 

16 psi caps on both our trucks.

Edit - noticed one good thing in that PDF about the Motorcraft product. It contains a bittering agent. If it were required in all anti-freeze here, as it is in Europe, the title of this thread wouldn't be "...sweet smell...". After a collision/spill, conventional coolant can kill animals who find it sweet and are attracted to drink it; bittering agent prevents that. Would cost about $0.03 / gallon to add. I wish I knew where it could be purchased separately.

Edit2 - checked the MSDS on Fleet Charge; already contains bittering (Denatonium Benzoate).