As you may know I've been eagerly anticipating my first ride of the year. I changed my oil, greased her up, checked the other fluids and took off. When I got back from my 15 mile drive I decided to give her a wash before my wife and I took off on a much longer (60 mile) trip. About an hour later as I turned around and was leaving I noticed a puddle underneath where the truck had been parked. The area around it was already dry so I decided I better check it out. Turns out to be a puddle of oil and I'm already 1 1/2 quarts low! So I filled up the oil again and start the engine to see what's going on. It looks like the oil is coming out of the road draft tube in a nearly steady stream. Panic time. I'm ready to call my engine rebuilder cousin to see what could be causing this when I decide I better take another look. Turns out the oil is coming from the cover on the oil filter, running down the back side, down the pipe and onto the road draft tube. So I take the cover off and discover the gasket is folded over. Everyone knows you should check for leaks after you change oil. My problem was being in too much of a hurry and I don't think I've ever had a leak before so complacency sets in. I don't even want to think of what would have happened if I had gone on the long trip. John

 

Glad you caught it. A flatmotor is fairly hard to kill, but running it out of oil is a sure way to do it.

And another item is added to the check list.

 

I had a similar situation with my '51, except it was with the coolant. I didn't bother to check the coolant level after using the truck almost daily. I knew that it had cooling issues. I've even installed an auxilary coolent overflow tank.

I was coming home one day, driving of the freeway at around 55/60 mph (that's all she could do), when I heard loud rapid backfiring. I immediately pulled over and saw a plume of smoke coming out of the hood cracks. There was coolant all over the front of the truck. As it turns out, the radiator cap malfunctioned and all of the coolant ended up in the overflow tank. The overflow tank could only hold so much until it spilled out. I was running on no coolant for a few seconds.

Luckily, I wan't far from home. I called my father-in-law and he came out with a big 5 gallon jug of water. I filled up the radiator with water and went home.

Ilya

 

How's that go...I'm slow, but at least I'm dumb, too...

Very long afternoon made short...had issues with my thermostat, overheated in DC beltway traffic, needle heading up the guage. About the time it neared the top traffic opened up and we started moving steadily. Needle came right on down...whew! Every stoplight after that the needle would shoot right on up. Got it home finally. You smart guys are already way ahead of me...almost completely empty of coolant fluid. Replaced the thermostat and flushed/refilled the entire coolant system, installed a coolant overflow system. I was very lucky...

Matt and Toulouse