1/2 inch low?
Where I live it can be up and down 3 times that amount depending on the temperature.

 

Good point, so does mine on my V10 know that i think about it.
I think he means it goes down and never comes back up.

 

Remember, guys, I've only had this thing since May!

All levels mentioned are with the engine stone cold after sitting overnight. Outside temperatures were between 70-75 degrees.

We're not talking a large temperature difference, here!

Also, when my wife picked it up they told her that sound was simply the fan clutch coming on and that it was normal. She insists that it is NOT the fan clutch. She drove it today and apparently saw some white smoke out of the exhaust pipe when it did this...

Also, the service writer insisted to me he topped the fluid off himself, but it was low again this morning. I'm going to be home tomorrow night, so I'm gonna take a closer look at all of this myself...

 

If you think the one of the EGR coolers is leaking, it's usually the top one.

If your water temp gauge moves hot to normal erratically it's a sign that the EGR cooler is malfunctioning. Happened to a guy I know. He drove a few hundred miles while the engine ran roughly, temp gauge displayed wild changes in temps. Two days later the coolant filled up cylinder #8, passenger side rear of the engine.

Thing is, you have to place a good load on the engine for an extended period of time to diagnose it, in my opinion. Pressure test is probably your only other option but the system may need to be hot to make something reveal itself.

If it were me, I would probably just forget about it, run it as hard and as often as possible. Any time I think I sense a problem, I just put my foot in it and try to blow it up. My engine makes some interesting noises while driving and I just push it harder. Can't seem to break it.

 

Well, you guys had a good idea so I went ahead and tried it. Fortunately my dad didn't need his car at the moment and didn't mind me borrowing it for awhile. So I was then able to put his Dodge where it belongs...in my TRAILER!





~5,500 lb Durango + 3,500 lb trailer = roughly 9,000 lbs total.

Drug this setup around I-270 once and brought it back to my parents house, a total of just over 70 miles. Couldn't get it to behave abnormally or lose coolant. Strange, considering my coolant level's been topped off 4 times since I bought the truck....

In other news, something else broke! My A/C is making some really awful noises, especially between 1700-2000 RPMs. It's very loud in the cab and it comes on and stops as the compressor cycles on and off. Downright obnoxious when I'm on the highway running 1800 RPMs constantly. This one's easy to figure out, as it seems like when they opened the A/C system up to replace the engine some contaminants likely got into the system. These contaminants must have cycled through the A/C system and munched up the compressor. It's still cooling but the noise is getting worse every day, and there's a very noticeable drag on the engine when the A/C is on now.

Took it in today and insisted the tech listen to it with me so I didn't hear the old "can't reproduce the problem" line again. He agrees as to the cause, and I have an appointment to get it fixed on Thursday.

Here we go again...

 

Sorry to hear about your A/C. Nice trailer though! Did you Line-X the floor? I did it to our 36' fifth wheel trailer. Holds up nicely.

I still can't get over how great the side mirrors are on these trucks.

 

yes, I hope that you get all this fixed soon I know it is frustrating....can I borrow the trailer please?

 

I thought about line-x-ing the trailer floor when I got it, but I was concerned as to how well it would hold up. I was thinking about how it was engineered to stick to metal, and that I was concerned about spending so much on a finish that may not last forever.

So I went down to Lowe's and bought some Valspar skid-not paint. It's got a similar finish to line-x, but it's an acrylic based paint that seems to be holding up very well. Every so often I go drop $23 on another can and add another coat.

As frustrating as it all is, the A/C problem doesn't have me too aggravated. This is a problem that I know will get fixed, as it's already obnoxiously loud and it's only getting worse. Furthermore, this isn't the type of failure that's likely to cause me to break down. We'll see, there's gonna be a different tech working on it on Thursday. Bill, the tech who did the engine swap and all the other work on mine, is in school all week. Gonzo's the guy who I spoke with yesterday, and we talked about my mysterious cooling problem, and he told me he could check again and give it a shot. He seems to know his stuff, so we'll see...

 

Gonzo? He must be good with a name like that. That's a cool name/nickname! Our trailer has an aluminum floor and with the etch primer Line-X requires to coat aluminum it has worked great. My cargo is rigging gear, rolling lift dollies, various steel brackets, x-ray machines, CT scanners. I can drag a 250lb hunk of steel on its corner and it wont scar the Line-x or separate it from the floor. Very impressive. I can set a 4500lb. piece of equipment on the floor with four bolts under it to hold it up, the bolts dent the Line-X but no breakage and no slipping while going down the road.

It's big money for the Line-X but now you know why I use it. The installer would'nt warranty it though. I don't blame him.

 

Yeah, he really seems to know his stuff. I guess we'll see tomorrow whether or not that's true...

As nice as it would have been, I currently don't have the budget lots of people here do for add-ons. I actually went a bit over budget on the truck, so I try and economize where I can. If I used it for work, however, it'd be a different story.

You seem to haul some unconventional stuff in there, I'm sure line-x is well worth the cost for someone in your position. Just out of curiosity, which line of work are you in?

 

Hey Crazy, or is it Tom? Our business is small, my father and I plus 2 other people. We are medical equipment riggers. We cover 10 SouthEastern states for Toshiba Medical installing their new X-Ray systems, CT scanners and Vascular systems. All those machines they have in hospital radiology deptartments. We also work for independent folks who just need the machines moved, removed or stored.

This is why I drive a lot. Next week I leave SC for work in AR, LA, and GA. Last week I was in MO and FL. It's fun traveling around. I have collected some really good BBQ dry rubs, cracklins in LA are amazing.

What do you do?

 

I prefer Tom, but it doesn't matter to me much. I created this account over 6 years ago when I bought my first Ford truck, and at the time couldn't think of much better. I was also 17 at the time, and it more or less reflected my personality...

Medical equipment, huh? That must be an interesting line of work, especially with how much you get to travel. Also explains the 50,000 miles a year!

I, too, travel for a living. Unfortunately I don't drive something that comfortable at work! I'm an OTR tractor-trailer driver for the moment. Have been doing this ever since I got out of the army in '07. Couldn't figure out what I wanted to do, so I got into this until I could figure out the direction I wanted to take in life.

Now that I have that figured out I'm working on changing jobs to get ready to go back to school. Mark Kovalsky kind of inspired me on that note...

My pickup truck is mainly something I use for various things, which includes dragging around my car hauler when I need to, as well as hauling my little motorcycle trailer and other things. Originally looked at an SD because at 10,000 lbs loaded, my car hauler was going to slowly destroy my F150. Never really needed the diesel engine, but with the deal I was offered i just couldn't walk away. MPGs could be a bit better, but otherwise I love it!

 

Well, it just came out of the shop this afternoon with a shiny new A/C compressor. Hopefully this will be the last time it sees the dealer for awhile...

 

I hope so....
This is getting ridiculous.

 

i hope things calm down for you too.