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Devin
Dodge Dakota
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10/28/2003
13:17:34
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 Subject: Coolant has disappeared???
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So I was driving to Austin the other day when my check guage light came on. I immediately noticed my temp guage was on red. I managed to drive into a gas station a few miles away and knew I had no coolant b/c the heater didn't work.
So where the hell did it all go? I just flushed and changed the coolant 6 weeks ago. Yes, it was refilled. I can't find a single leak anywhere. After I refilled it, it seems to be fine after few hundred miles. I've heard the radiator caps can go bad? So could it slowly evaporate some of the fluid until empty? Any other senarios?
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EBL
Dodge Dakota
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10/28/2003
13:44:53
|  RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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Did you replace any hoses when you were flushing it? Sometimes you get a small leak where you don't have any dripping.
You have also had cooler weather that last few days that would have let your system run lower without noticing. (I'm assuming you had the same weather as Houston.)
If your engine runs hot normally and the cap does not keep pressure in, you could boil off your coolant in bursts, but I think you would know this problem exists because your truck would always run hot.
I would tighten all hose clamps and make sure you are not leaking around the thermostat housing.
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RaZoR1
Dodge Dakota
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10/28/2003
14:34:40
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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What colour is your oil??? And what's the pressure like??? Blowing any white smoke?????
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Devin
Dodge Dakota
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10/28/2003
15:04:24
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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No, my truck has 89K. Runs perfect. Oil pressure is always around 50-60psi on the gauge. Only use Mobil Syn 1 but getting ready to change it tonight do to the coolant episode. Temp gauge has always been at 180. Never noticed it nor the oil guage deviating.
Devin
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bman42
Dodge Dakota
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10/28/2003
15:16:39
|  RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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the cap idea is a good start. I had an old F150 that did that. I think the system constantly bled coolant into the reservoir ando out of the system as vapor. Like everyone else said too, check all the fittings. i also found some loose ones on my old ford.
Another option is getting some Bar's Stop Leak or some Prestone Radiator sealant and run that in your system. if ou ahve a leak somewhere, it should plug it.
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CurtisG
Dodge Dakota
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10/28/2003
20:26:50
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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Go to Autozone ... rent their rad cap and system tester .... test the cap and make sure its holding at 14psi ..... then test the colling system the same way..... pump it up to 14psi .... and make sure id doesnt drop... look for leaks if it does.... if you see no leaks and it wont hold pressure..... pull the spark plugs and check them .... you could have a slightly blown head gasket and injecting water/collant into a cylinder and burning it off....
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Devin
Dodge Dakota
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10/28/2003
21:48:05
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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Thanks for all the input guys.
I recently replaced the thermostat to a 180 so I performed some hose adjustments. However, like I said I see no visible leaks. The system drained over about 2 months so I seriously small leak unless someone played a crappy prank.
I'll run up to AutoZone and test the entire system as suggested. I just gapped my plugs at .060 and they looked perfect so I seriously doubt the head gasket. I went to an MSD 6AL, 8.5mm wires, Accel supercoil, NAPA distributor cap and rotor. Good results. Runs much better on the highway, thus, shifting has improved greatly.
Devin
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PDX Dak
Dodge Dakota
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10/29/2003
20:03:41
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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I recently put a 3" lift on my 01 QC and didn't tighten the radiator hose extension down enough and had a ton of fluid leak out of there. I fixed that and filled up with water, which kept my temperature moderated. Still, with the lift, the bleed valve was set below the level of the fill cap....so I couldn't get all the air out with out jacking up the back of the truck to level it.
In a nutshell.....you might have a leak..check your hoses again. Once you find that...bleed all the air out of your radiator.
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Brandy
Dodge Dakota
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11/18/2003
13:30:55
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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Devin,
The exact same thing happened to me this past weekend. I'm online looking for answers now. I've never had a temperature problem, next thing I know all my anti-freeze is gone and I'm over heating. System was flushed last year ... and fluids were checked 2 weeks ago. There is no leaks anywhere.
When I stopped my truck and let it cool off, I checked my radiator ... it was empty and the cap was covered in a thick brown mud-like substance ... my first inclination would be my cooling system is rusting ... except that there was no color change (brownish) in my anti-freeze a couple of weeks ago when I checked my fluids. It also wouldn't explain the heavy mud substance. I'm thinking maybe there was a chemical breakdown in the anti-freeze somehow and maybe that produced the mud ... Today, I'll need to flush the system because surely my lines are clogged now.
Does anyone have any information on a drastic chemical breakdown in anti-freeze?
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Sean
Dodge Dakota
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11/18/2003
18:15:41
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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Had the same problem a month ago (minus the brown substance) I found that the rad cap was not completely tight - even though I had not removed it for the past few months. I find that when you put the cap back on it stops turning and if you release and then try to tighten it again it will turn about another 1/4 of an inch. Since I now double check the cap I have had no further problems.
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Dave Mitchell
Dodge Dakota
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11/21/2003
13:02:35
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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DId you check your carpet on the passenger side? Many have stated that is where their coolant ended up after a heater core failure.
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teamfast
Dodge Dakota
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11/22/2003
10:24:37
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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if you are losing coolant and there are no leaks, its getting by your head gasket. its even hard to diagnose before its too late.
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BJGray149@aol
Dodge Dakota
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11/22/2003
21:27:08
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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This may help with the problem. If you are losing coolant and you can smell it on the 5.9 engine there is a bypass hose at the top of the water pump. It is direcly under the A\C compressor bracket it may be leaking. I had the same problem losing coolant until it finally got worse. Hope that helps.
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will
Dodge Dakota
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12/27/2003
13:24:18
| RE: Coolant has disappeared???
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It could also be your intake gaskets. Check for any bugs and sticky crap on the top of your intake.
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