Disappearing coolant
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 1,221
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Disappearing coolant
my truck was a couple inches low on coolant for some time; yesterday I brought it up to the full when cold mark. Yesterday I drove about 200 towing something miles I just looked at the truck and it dropped a 3-5 mm from the full when cold mark. Coolant appears good,oil cooler was rebuilt 4 years ago for PM, does not appear to be any coolant leaks, or coolant in the oil. The Truck is also operating as usual. Could there be coolant evaporating because my cap is bad?
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More Turbo
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 571
Likes: 8
I have had the same issue for about 10 years always stops at same level about 1/2 inch below the minimum level cant see it leaking anyplace figured it was the degass bottle had a leak but could never find anything.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,753
Likes: 34
From: Los Angeles, Ca.
It could be that it had some air to displace from being a few inches low. Mine seemed to have disappearing coolant for a few drives after topping off before it settled in, it now seems to be staying about midway between the lines.
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Jan 2017
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Now that I had coolant on hand I topped it up before posting. It was not topped up initially as some fluid was lost when replacing the OC gasket and the SCA tested good afterwards. Of course it was a nominal amount of truck food to add a minor amount of coolant lol. SCA test kit order, additive, coolant concentrare, and distilled water lol I’m going to let it settle where it lands
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It's a Van Gogh
Joined: Feb 2010
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From: Elk Grove, CA
IIRC the early years (I forget the cutoff year) the sealant used on the injector cups will melt away with the ELC. So research is needed.
Have not checked recently but the cost of ELC was like 2X that of green or gold. Even if it runs 600k your water pump won't, so replacing it is pricey.
All that said I might switch to ELC when this water pump dies. Mine came with gold coolant so the switch is easier. Green coolant requires pretty rigorous flushing since they don't mix well. There are some really good threads on this subject by way more edumacated folks than me.
Have not checked recently but the cost of ELC was like 2X that of green or gold. Even if it runs 600k your water pump won't, so replacing it is pricey.
All that said I might switch to ELC when this water pump dies. Mine came with gold coolant so the switch is easier. Green coolant requires pretty rigorous flushing since they don't mix well. There are some really good threads on this subject by way more edumacated folks than me.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,753
Likes: 34
From: Los Angeles, Ca.
IIRC the early years (I forget the cutoff year) the sealant used on the injector cups will melt away with the ELC. So research is needed.
Have not checked recently but the cost of ELC was like 2X that of green or gold. Even if it runs 600k your water pump won't, so replacing it is pricey.
All that said I might switch to ELC when this water pump dies. Mine came with gold coolant so the switch is easier. Green coolant requires pretty rigorous flushing since they don't mix well. There are some really good threads on this subject by way more edumacated folks than me.
Have not checked recently but the cost of ELC was like 2X that of green or gold. Even if it runs 600k your water pump won't, so replacing it is pricey.
All that said I might switch to ELC when this water pump dies. Mine came with gold coolant so the switch is easier. Green coolant requires pretty rigorous flushing since they don't mix well. There are some really good threads on this subject by way more edumacated folks than me.
The red ELC is indeed about 2x $.
I didn't do any special flushing and haven't noticed adverse effects, but maybe the super long life of the red ELC has been compromised by residues of the old green that was in it, don't know. I doubt I'll run it long enough for that to matter.
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 1,221
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My truck came with ELC when I had a diesel mechanic intitiTially he said aftertesting the SCA was way out of whack. He converted it back to green. Since then I added new coolant the few times I was working on coolant related stuff. I’n the middle of those projects flushing and converting to ELC is the last additional job I want to do. Lol I may convert back in 20 k miles or so once the current coolant is a bit older.
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 18,849
Likes: 179
From: Puget Sound
Now that I had coolant on hand I topped it up before posting. It was not topped up initially as some fluid was lost when replacing the OC gasket and the SCA tested good afterwards. Of course it was a nominal amount of truck food to add a minor amount of coolant lol. SCA test kit order, additive, coolant concentrare, and distilled water lol I’m going to let it settle where it lands