Post 12, second pic. With the trans plate on it's not a perfect straight access. Possibly doable, but you don't want to distort a core plug.

I'm still betting, and hoping, it's the block heater.

Three bolts, top hidden one is hardest to reach, and easier for me without the cables in place. It wouldn't be the first starter to hang by the starters cables (2/0ga), but you would need to pull the negative terminals of both batteries to prevent a short for either situation.

This helps get the top bolt back in place.

 

I can see that plug you are talking about......nice and dry when I reach around it with my finger. Thanks for the tips on the starter removal....I will definitely be unhooking the battery grounds.

I sure hope it's something easy like the block heater. Isn't there also that block drain plug right above the starter also?

 

Ya know, I'm going to start charging 25 cents per picture .....

You can see all three from this picture I took for my starter video.





You might want to take a look at my starter video at about 3:40 in. There might be some things that will help if you've not done this before.

 

There is a sleeve for the glow plugs that I'm told might possibly cause a coolant leak.
Would be super rare, but if I'm not mistaken that sleeve does pass through the coolant passages of the head.

 

Mike, any idea if that would leak to the exterior or interior?

 

I had a similar leak located on my starter and it ended up being the pipe thread fitting on the egr delete part that threads into the bottom of the intake manifold. I was a tricky one to find as it would drip down to the top of the block run alongside the edge of the cylinder head and then make its way down to the starter.

Rob

 

I had exaclty the same thing on my '05. EGR cooler hose was leaking. Yo can't see the water om the valley since it's under the egr cooler. It would drain down aand onto the starter. I put UV dye in the coolant, then put a UV light on it and you could see where it was pooling up just under the egr cooler outlet. It only takes an hour or so to replace the hose, that is, if you still have a egr coolerr or "blue hose".

 

I'm trying to picture what part you are talking about. On my EGR delete, there is a fitting with an oring that seals against the hole on the bottom of the intake, there is no threaded fitting.

 

***UPDATE***

Well, at this point I'm kind of at a loss. I went home today and got up under the truck...yep, it's got that same drip under the starter...and a small spot on the floor. I dry everything up under the truck......and I checked the top of the valley where the EGR delete hose is...perfectly dry. I got back under the truck with my borescope and spent some time looking at everything up around the starter. The freeze plugs were all dry, the block plug was dry, the block heater was dry, even up under the intake where the EGR delete hooks up....dry. .......everything was dry.

I hooked my compressor up to the coolant system......hit it with 14psi. I went though everything.....nothing is wet, nothing is leaking, everything looks fine. The one thing I DID find, was that if I worked that little arm on the valve on the coolant line going to the heater core back and forth, I could get some coolant to cove out where where the arm pivots around. Other than that....nothing. Even after having 14psi pressure in the coolant system for 30min....nothing.

So at that point, I disconnected the compressor, and fired up the truck. I let it idle for about 45min....got the coolant temp up to around 194deg. Nothing.....no drips anywhere, nothing under the truck, nothing anywhere. I even turned the A/C on for a while, and the heater on for a while to cycle that valve in the cooling hose open and closed........nothing. I even put a paper towel under the EGR tube, one under the heater core valve, and stuffed one down into the valve long the joint there the head meets the block. After idling 45min.....NOTHING. No signs of coolant anywhere.

I'm letting it cool down now....maybe as it cools down something starts to leak? At this point...I'm stumped.......maybe that little valve had leaked a little bit at one time, and it just took a while for all of the coolant to drain down the side of the block and on the the ground? Very strange......I hate issues like this that are hard to fine, and don't follow any logic!

 

The valve situation is easy to A-B. Get some tubing or nipple with a 3/4" OD and replace the valve. Where I installed a ball valve in that location I used 5/8" copper tube, it's OD is 3/4". Ya got to hunt a big plumbing store or McMaster to find that.

 

I took the truck for a pretty hard drive....got it nice and heated up. Got home...still no leaks, nothing. I stuffed paper towels under that heater valve, the EGR delete blue tube, and down in the valley wherever I could fit them. I'm going to let the truck cool down for a few hours.....maybe as it starts cooling, something starts leaking. I guess I will just wait a few hours until the truck is cooled down...maybe I will find some red coolant on the paper towels somewhere??

By the way, what does that valve on the hose going to the heater core do?....what's it for? The only way I can get the arm to pull in, is if I turn the A/C on ....any other time it's open. I have had the A/C on a lot the last several times I've driven the truck....maybe that arm going back and forth made it leak a little....and then it just built up down at the bottom of the block, and it's taking a while for it all to drip out? That's the only logical answer I can think of......everything else it bone dry, not even a drip of coolant anywhere.

 

Well......even after taking the truck for a hard drive, and letting it cool for an hours...nothing. The bottom of the starter is bone dry, along with the top of the motor, the EGR delete tube, and all of the heater core hoses, and even the bottom of that valve......I left all of the paper towels under everything, maybe it will show something in the morning. Very strange...how do I go from a few drips a minute, to nothing over a period of a few hours. This kind of stuff drives me nuts!!

 

With the larger cab trucks, especially in the south, it prevents coolant going through the core so the A/C is cooler.

 

imq707s-My EGR delete coolant pipe screws into the small piece that has the o ring and bolts to the underside of the intake. That is where my coolant originated. It was a small leak but I always noticed some small drips on the starter.

Rob

 

The valve in the coolant line to the heater core on my '04 leaked intermittently like you described-- coolant fan under intake along top of valve cover to top of starter. Took awhile to find.