Loosing coolant

[wyo6.5]

For the past six weeks now I have been losing coolant in my pickup. At first I only noticed a small difference, last night my coolant level was just below the cold level, now its about half. Ive heard that the most possible cause of this is cracked heads. Is there any other possible scenario? My mechanic said it would be about two grand to put new heads in my truck. Is this right? I really don't want to sell my truck but I can't afford to put new heads in it. Is thier any other possible reason?

[afthours]

check the heater core so offen over looked. small amounts are hard to spot but there are cooling system tester sold that are sold for about twenty bucks that will rule out the head gaskets and the cracked heads..completely.

[scoobert]

$2000 for heads?where did you go a dealer?
go to a diesel shop and ask them, right before i bought my truck the headgasket went, they did a complete head rebuild, they said it was a $800 job. and it was losing coolant. do you hear a bubling sound from the overflow tank? if yes then heads...

[Husker 6.5]

For the past six weeks now I have been losing coolant in my pickup. At first I only noticed a small difference, last night my coolant level was just below the cold level, now its about half. I've heard that the most possible cause of this is cracked heads. Is there any other possible scenario? My mechanic said it would be about two grand to put new heads in my truck. Is this right? I really don't want to sell my truck but I can't afford to put new heads in it. Is thier any other possible reason?

$2G? If the combustion gas test results say you have a bad gasket/head here is the worst case scenario: Two brand new heads complete with valves and hardware and a head gasket set from Walt will set you back about $870 plus shipping. The heads are not that hard to remove, I had both of them off of my truck in about 7 hrs. Start liquid wrenching the exhaust fastners a day or two ahead of time, saves major headaches. Get both the Chilton Chevy P/U manual and the Haynes Diesel manual. Read them first, there are some different things in there for first time diesel wrenchers that are different than gas burners. You will have to pull both heads to be safe to determine head vs. gasket. As Walt told me, look for cracking between the valves. Be carefull, the heads are a lot heavier than they look, don't want to turn a good head into a boat anchor! If the heads are OK, complete gasket set from Walt is only a Benjamin and shipping.

If you want to spend your hard earned cash on labor for something you can do yourself over a couple of days if your mechanically inclined.... First rule out external leaks from radiator, hoses, heater core. A lot of radiator shops will perform the combustion gas test for no or low cost if you don't want to buy a kit.

[wyo6.5]

I did a cooling system test and it is not my heads, thank god. I have more problems on my agenda though, A front wheel bearing and some faulty glow plugs.

[Husker 6.5]

I did a cooling system test and it is not my heads, thank god. I have more problems on my agenda though, A front wheel bearing and some faulty glow plugs.

Your lucky! Five cracks between two heads with mine! Was it a combustion gas test, or a pressure test? Bearings and glow plugs are easy, but you're still losing coolant somewhere, and the LAST thing you want to do is blow a headgasket or toast a head due to low coolant and overheating in the head.

[wyo6.5]

It was a combustion gas test, should I do the other one to? I added coolant up to the fill line and I have been constantly monitoring it this past week and have not noticed any drop in the coolant level. I also listend for a bubbling sound in the coolant tank while the engine was running and checked for bubbles, couldn't detect either. I will let you know if I have anymore problems with it.
Thanks for your suggestions guys,
Ross

[Husker 6.5]

It was a combustion gas test, should I do the other one to? I added coolant up to the fill line and I have been constantly monitoring it this past week and have not noticed any drop in the coolant level. I also listend for a bubbling sound in the coolant tank while the engine was running and checked for bubbles, couldn't detect either. I will let you know if I have anymore problems with it.
Thanks for your suggestions guys,
Ross

No, not neccessary. The combustion gas test will detect any combustion by-products (gas or diesel) in the coolant system while the engine is running, and since it didn't, you're OK on head or gasket leak. The pressure test is useful for finding external leaks, but with it you can get faked into thinking you have an internal leak if you can't find a hidden external leak like in the heater core, but usually you will smell that one! Out of curiosity, did you add Bar's Leak or some other stop leak to the cooling system prior to the combustion test, since you mention that it has stopped leaking? If so, keep monitoring your coolant level, you may not be out of the woods, yet. Any run hot situation can cause the head/gasket leak to re-activate if there is one. Good luck, warm wrenching weather is just around the corner.

[dgastone]

Did you locate source of loss? I have had the same problem on my 02 express 3500 with 142k mls. I did a coolant dye check with rental equipment. water pump weep hole leaking! Time for WP replacement! The dye tester works great to pinpoint oil leaks too!

[surreysinner]

My coolant was leaking and it turned out to be my water pump main bearing was leaking.

[C-Power]

i was looseing coolent too.... then i found out i had a cracked block....hope you dont have that