Hey guys,

I have noticed that my truck pukes coolant from the degas bottle when the temperature drops into the teens at night. This is after the truck has sat for 8 hours or so.

This only happens at work where I cannot plug her in. My coolant is new and I don't leak at all at normal operating temperature. I'm pretty sure I have bad head gaskets because I've had cooling issues while towing this summer but gaskets have to wait 'till the spring.

Not looking for any definative answers, just wierd...puking when cold??

Thanks and Merry Christmas
__________________________________________________ _____________

'03 F-350 SRW 4x4
160,000 miles
Tuned, lifted, and worked hard!

 

First guess: Air in system from improper bleed / drain.

Air pulls vacuum as it gets really cold, pulling degas botle reserve in.

When bottle empties, it pulls air.

Expands as you drive / warm, blow coolant back to degas bottle but now volume inside engine has expanded so coolant is blown through seal.

Solution:

Get a real mechanic who do coolant change properly to do job again.



Real bad news:

Head gasket or EGR cooler or like system gone, leaking pressurized exhaust in.

Or, fine air leak that only pulls air in when it is in vacuum (from cold), but when it is warmed / running against pressure, it seals itself or is a very slow leak.

 

how full is your bottle?. it should only be at the minimum mark when cold. also change the cap on the bottle. i got a new cap from napa that doesn't "click" when you tighten it and that solved my puking issue.how bad is it puking?.is it alot or just a little.what kind of issues did you have this past summer while towing, what makes you think you have bad headgaskets?.

 

Replacing the cap is a good first try.... assuming the replacement is to Ford Specs.

 

Thanks for the replies...

I figured if I had a bad cap, it would leak when hot also. I lose nothing when hot. I lose everything in the bottle when the mercury hits below 15F outside. I have to add almost a gallon of fluid when this happens. Down to 20F outside I lose nothing.

It's most definatley a pressure problem. I just figure it's bad head gaskets allowing me to pressurize my cooling system with blow by.

It's just strange that I only lose fluid at these low temps when the truck is completely cooled.

As for my summer time cooling issues....we just moved to central Kentucky and I pull a 30' travel trailer to enjoy the outdoors. Weighs around 9000lbs. When going up some of these long grades down here she overtemped and puked a couple of times. It's getting worse...I can't even pull my camper at 45 miles an hour anymore without the temperature spiking.

Tried different tunes and then none at all...don't have a shop down here so I'm waiting 'till spring to do gaskets and studs the old fashioned way.

Thanks guys!

 

When you lose the coolant is it going out the exhaust or is it "splattering" under the hood?

 

The coolant is coming from the cap on the dagas bottle

 

as long as you buy a cap thats the same psi as the one you got now you'll be fine.

 

lets go back to how full is the bottle? it should be at or just below the min line if you dont have the sticker on the bottle.

 

The bottle stays near the minimum line....or at least it does after I fill it back up.

 

One question, how is the heater working in the cab , is it putting out good heat ? If not I would guess you maybe looking at an EGR & oil cooler replacement. You can also pull the egr valve and see if it is wet in there, if it is you are probably looking at the repair. If you know someone with a reader you can hook it up and get it up to operating temp going down the road, the water temp should be around 185 to 190 and the oil temp should be around 6 to 12 degrees warmer not towing anything.
Let us know what you find

 

JDW1, The heat is good in the cab as long as I keep the coolant level at least at the minumum level. If it pukes I only get heat at higher RPM's.
I have the ability to monitor my temps already. I'll check the oil temp later today. I constantly watch the water temp...188F - 192F...as stated before I saw it hit 230F this summer.
Thanks

 

I checked the oil to water temperature differential and it's good as gold, stays around 6-10 degrees above the water temp. I'll keep digging, but for now I'm just going to baby it until I can do the head gaskets this spring. Thanks for the advice guys.

 

Before you conclude it is the head gasket... EGR cooler is a lot cheaper to fix.

I would try a delete and see what happens first.

 

I think I would pull the egr valve and see if it is wet in the valve cavity. That would indicate a leaking egr cooler but that is usually caused by a pluged oil cooler but it is still worth looking under the egr valve.