losing antifreeze

Before i have the same problem with my cat c 13,loosing cooland without leaks,was the headgasket a good mechanic find the problem .

 

Maybe it's a heater core. Usually will leave the floor of your passenger-side box wet if your core's gone out. Had that problem in my last truck. Kept losing coolant and the shop guys couldn't figure out what was wrong, lol. Although, the first shop guy I talked to checked the side box and it was dry. A day later, I checked it and it was sopping wet.

Coolant loss started slowly, too. Didn't take too long for me to lose all of it within a day.

Anywho, thought I'd toss that out there for ya.

 

Had you been watching your gauges, you would have noticed the temps climbing higher than normal long before the buzzer went off....but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and call this your first indication that something might be wrong.

Again, something is still obviously is wrong. It's what...30 or so miles from Sherman to Cheyenne, and then another 100 miles south to Denver....and you still haven't stopped to see why you're running hot?

Well it's about time. You drove another what...230 miles past Denver...360 or so miles from where you initially noticed something might have been wrong before you stopped to find out WHY you were running hot?

If you had stopped when you first noticed the temps climbing, you might have seen where the coolant was escaping from. 360 miles later, any wet spot would have dried up. Not only that, but how much damage do you suppose might have been done to that engine running 360 miles with a less-than-full cooling system?

Oh well....it probably isn't your truck, so why should you care about something like that? There isn't a problem until the truck shuts off...

 

Next step is oil analysis. High sodium levels will indicate that coolant is entering the combustion chamber.

 

Yup. Put your hand over the filler neck, block off the overflow and see if it builds pressure. If so, then head gasket or cracked head.

 

Do a leakdown test. If the engine holds together long enough for warranty to expire, thats what Cat protocol does. I had one with OPT left and had the same problem. Cat wouldn't tear it down. 2 weeks after I sold the truck I saw It sitting at the local Cat shop with the head off of it. By then it was out of warranty. If I'd done a leakdown test, they would have had to tear it down under warranty. Lookf or sodium and potasium in oil. Extended life coolant is harder to find as a contaminant as it contains no glycol.

 

Glycol won't show up in an oil analysis unless the coolant is leaking directly into the oil. The sodium in the oil comes from the sodium silicate additives in the coolant. In this case, a high sodium result will be proof enough that it's burning coolant and worthy of a warranty diagnosis and repair. A leakdown test could be inconclusive.

 

run your finger around inside of the oil fill if you have grey gooey slime go get a head gasket

 

Oil analysis is normal. Sodium is at 3 ppm. Potassium is 3 ppm.Copper 2 ppm. Iron 16 ppm. Chromium 1 ppm. Aluminum 2 ppm. Silicon 9 ppm. Lead 1 ppm. Tin is 0 ppm. Antifreeze, fuel dilution and water were all negative. I'm stumped. Sample had 12598 miles on it when sent in.