I was driving my 93 Dakota 6 cyl today and stopped at a store for a moment. Returning to the truck I noticed antifreeze running down the sidewalk from underneath my truck. It was dripping from the passenger side so my first thought was the lower radiator hose. I was about a mile and a half from an Advance Auto so I decided to drive it there and see what the deal was. The temp remained cool driving over there. I could not find a hole in the lower radiator hose.The reservoir barely had anything in it. After cooling a bit I checked under the radiator cap and the radiator was full. I refilled the reservoir and cranked the truck. After letting it run a few minutes, nothing was leaking so I drove it around 45 minutes home and everything seemed ok. Any suggestions?

 

maybe the res. has a leak . or bad hose . check to see if any are soft and replace them

 

check the resevoire for cracks, check the water pump for leaks, check your oil and see if coolant got mixed in.

 

thats what puzzled me. I looked over the hose and reservoir and they seemed to be ok. Otherwise would it not have leaked out again when I refilled it?

 

water pump could be starting to leak out the weep hole.

Or you could have a more serious issue and the motor could be pushing coolant back out the radiator, which may have overflowed the reservoire. how old is the radiator cap?

 

The truck has 126,000 miles so I would guess its the original cap. The previous owner's Dad bought it new and only ever changed the starter as far as mechanical things. What is the life expectancy of the water pumps and radiators on a Dakota?

 

my water pumpwent out recently at 130K miles. If your radiator cap is old consider replacing it with a vented cap.

 

could be a sticking thermostat. had it happen to me. it stuck and the truck overheated while idleing, then it opened and the overheated coolant rushed into the rad increasing the pressure. it blew by the cap into the overflow and out onto the ground. it was fine after that but i replaced the the thermostat anyway. my overflow was also almost empty afterwards, but was almost full before it happened.

 

I just went down and cranked the truck and let it run a minute. I noticed antifreeze start dripping out from around the middle of the pulleys. If only it had held out another week, I was going out of town tonight!! I did look at the radiator cap, it is vented though I don't know if its original or not.

 

sounds like the water pump. owned my 89 3.9 for six years and im on my second pump. while you have the block drained its a good idea to replace the thermostat if you think its original. i used a failsafe that only fails in the open position. i would rather have cool air blowing on me on a cold morning than have to replace a blown head gasket in the winter. they may go by a different name in the states but its the same idea.