I had Meineke lower my exhaust yesterday so I could install the bumper (after removing the body lift). Looks great, I really enjoy this truck now. So I go out to take some pictures of it in the driveway and notice a fairly large puddle of water under the passenger front side of the engine. I crawl under, and yeah, it's coolant. Huh. The right side motor mount appears wet, and it doesn't appear that it's coming from the water pump area. It also doesn't appear to be coming from the heater hose on that side of the engine, and I can't tell if it's coming from the head gasket. That's my sinking suspicion -- that it's an external head gasket leak. No change in the way the engine runs, no change in operating temperature. It did use all of the coolant in the overflow reservoir, but the radiator was still full.

Nothing got pinched during the body lowering, and I swear this leak only happened after I left Meineke. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I'll wait until tonight to make a good diagnosis. I was without a good working flashlight last night, and I need to drive it around some to get the leak to re-appear I think. So unfortunately, after I got the truck the way I want it, it's laid up in the garage!

But I will post some photos of the new stance. If I was made of money and just had to burn some, I might lower it 1 inch in the back, to get the truck more "level", but I'll let it alone for a while.

 

It's most likely your timing cover that is leaking based on your description. Mine was leaking and running down the block, across the oil pan and dripping off the motor mount on the right side. It was leaking up high behind the water pump. It was hard to spot even with a flash light. I had to stand at the pass side of the truck and look behind the water pump to see it.

I know how ya feel...get one thing fixed and another breaks.[:@] I had the same thing happen with my wifes car...took it in for a tune up and a week later it developes a coolant leak... I just keep telling myself that fixing it's still cheaper than a new car payment.

 

Thanks a lot for that. I drove it around the block last night, to get the leak to re-appear. And you know, that's exactly what mine looks like. The leak was way high up -- almost appears like an intake manifold leak, but it's not quite THAT high up. It looks to be leaking to the passenger side, and it wicks down along the head gasket seam and runs down the motor mount. It really looked like a bad head gasket, but there was too much leakage for that. I was going to pick up a new water pump and new serp belt (and still will). What else has to come off to replace the timing cover? I hate messing with crank pulleys and seals, but that sounds like what I'll have to do.

 

Yep sounds exactly the same as what mine was doing. After we got it apart we noticed that there are imperfections in the casting on the upper sealing surface of the timing cover that caused the leak. I replaced the water pump, idler and tensioner pully when I replaced the timing cover gasket. The harmonic balancer has to come off to remove the cover so we replaced the crank seal also. (gasket kit comes with the crank seal) THe old crank seal is a bear to get out but not too bad. It was a little tricky getting the new one in also(a press would have helped instead of using a hammer and block of wood) Most of the stuff on the front of the engine has to come off. The power steering pump was about the only thing we didn't have to remove. The alternator and a/c compressor both have to come off (a/c lines can be left on the compressor and just layed to the side) You will need a 32mm socket and impact wrench for the crank pulley bolt and a tool to remove the clutch fan. My buddy that did the job used an air hammer to break the nut loose on the clutch fan which worked great. We were able to leave the radiator in place but space was limited with it in there bit the shroud will have to come out when you take off the fan. It's a good time to put fresh coolant in since you have to drain the motor anyhow. I also went ahead and replaced the thermostat and gasket whicle I was there since it's much easier to get to than it would be later. (plus it eliminates any chances of having another leak) It's a big job so if you decide to do it yourself make sure you set aside basically an entire saturday to get the job done right. I think it took us about 5 hours to change the timing cover gasket which includes a couple runs to the parts store.

Parts I replaced were:
timing cover gasket and crank seal ~$60
water pump and gaskets~$45
idler pully~ I think it was around $130 for it and the tensioner
tensioner pulley~ ^
thermostat and gasket~$10
coolant~$20

The whole job rang it at right around $250ish for parts plus what I paid my buddy for labor.

Good luck.

BTW: Don't let it go and drive it around for a couple of days like I did. Mine was only leaking slightly until it finally decided to let go and become a full on wet engine compartment. Dang thing nearly overheated on the way to get it fixed and I coasted into his driveway and right up to the garge with it blowing coolant everywhere. Luckily it didn't hurt the truck at all.

 

i had the same kind of leak a couple weeks ago and it only happened that one day...havent had it happen since, but now i know what to look for at least

 

Thanks guys. The truck is parked, in the garage, waiting for me to attend to it.

I have a subscription to Alldata, and interestingly, it says the only items needing to come off to do the timing cover are the water pump and power steering pump. It doesn't mention the alternator or the A/C. Intuitively, they're right on the front -- it would appear like they have to come out also, but I don't know.

A few questions:

1) The fan clutch nut is a large one. The service manual (actually, Alldata) says it's a "right hand thread", but also says to turn it counterclockwise to loosen, when looking at it from the front, which says it's a normal thread to me. Which direction is "loose"...and how the heck do I keep the water pump stationary? Based on which direction the fan turns (counterclockwise), I would think the nut would have normal threads. Alldata says to use a screwdriver in the water pump pulley holes to lock it in place, but the holes are so small, and the fan is so close, you can't get anything in there.

2) Alldata says a special puller is required for the harmonic balancer. I have a steering wheel puller -- that may not be strong enough. Any advice there? Thanks for the tip on the 32mm socket required for the balancer.

The idler and tensioner pulleys seem good. I do think I'll replace the radiator hoses while I'm in there (and like I said before, the water pump and drive belt). I'll also go ahead and throw on a high-flow 195* thermostat while I'm at it (one of those "mightaswells"). The heater hose tube on the water pump appears to be slightly kinked, so I may need a new one of those while I'm at it -- that maybe a dealer-only item, though. I'll get on the web and see if I can source that.

 

It might be possible to remove the timing cover without taking the a/c and alternator out but you'll have much more room to work with them out of the way...especially to clean the gasket surface. You won't have to disconnect the a/c lines and it only takes a few minutes to remove the alternator. You might get away with leaving the alt. in place though. Alldata may be referring to models with no a/c also.

There is a special tool to remove the clutch fan but I don't know much about it since we didn't use it. The air hammer with a chisel type bit worked it loose with ease. (You just have to hit the edge of one of the faces of the nut to spin it loose. The threads are normal right hand threads (counter clockwise to remove if facing the engine from the front of the truck). I tried the screwdriver thing also...didn't work for me either.

We just used an impact to remove the bolt on the harmonic balancer and hit the pulley from the side (much like you would to remove a ball joint) and it came right off. You could try the steering wheel puller but you might be better off renting a puller from autozone or someplace like that if the hammer trick doesn't work. I'm about 99% sure the 32mm socket is the right size but it's been a few weeks since I did the gasket on mine.

I wouldn't bother with the pulleys unless they feel loose or are making noise like mine were. As for the hoses it's a good idea to replace the small bypass hose behind the water pump if you decide not to replace any of the others. The t-stat is worth doing while you are there...it's much easier to access with the other stuff out of the way. Not sure about the heater hose though since mine was in good shape.

It's a big job but if you bag, tag and label everything it isn't bad at all for the backyard tech... I say that now only because I've been through it but it was intimidating at first. Luckily I had an off duty mechinic taking care of most of it. haha
Hope this helps...good luck.

 

Just another Suggestion while you are in there, you might as well check the timing chain, if I needs replacing, do it. Check to see if it has the tensioner if it does it has been replaced, in 1997 they didn't have it but in 98 they did, I believe but if it doesn't have it probably time for a new one anyways and it's like 100 bucks to do that, not a big deal considering your already there...

I have pretty much torn everything from my truck just about. Not, heads, and axels. But everything else has been removed:
Engine, Transmission, Timing Chain, harness. Pain in the *** but, it's good to know how your truck is doing, and exactly how everything is, I personally don't want anyone else to touch my truck anymore, they seem to cost money and not do anything... Last time they did maybe a compression test that was usefull. 300 bucks later, 140 psi all around.... (about 100k miles on the engine.)

 

Wow...great news. The leak isn't nearly as bad as I thought.

I just could NOT get the fan clutch off. So I took it down the road to a local garage, slipped the guy a $20, and he zipped it off for me. I drove home without any fan at all (did just fine) and started tearing into it. The water pump was easy enough to remove. But I couldn't gain access to that bypass hose at all. So I decided to go ahead and unbolt the alternator and A/C compressor, and remove that large mount, so I could get to the hose. Glad I did -- because after that mount was off, the leak was clear. It's a 59 cent thermostat housing gasket. It wasn't evident looking down from the top, but when looking at the front of the intake manifold, you can clearly see how the coolant has drained out of the housing and washed down the block. The timing case seal is dry. Whew!

So I'm going to go ahead with the new water pump anyway. It's a Duralast from Autozone. Comparing the old and the new, it looks like it's made from the same tooling. The old (Chrysler) pump has the Chrysler pentastar on it, but otherwise, it's largely the same. Even the impeller design is identical, which is what I look for in a replacement water pump. I've had bad luck there before from aftermarket pumps. So I cleaned the gasket area up tonight and will go tomorrow to get a new bypass hose and some clamps. I also bought new radiator hoses, but honestly, the original ones look to be of a higher quality than the replacements. So I'm going to return them. The replacement lower hose doesn't even have a spring in it. I've also got a new 195* Superstat and a new Goodyear Gatorback belt to finish it off. So this went from a 5-10 hour job to one that I should be able to put back together in another hour (besides parts store running in the morning).

I think my truck must have some sort of HD cooling system on it. I saw two fan clutches available, and the one my truck has is the physically larger one. And the fan is a 9-blade fan. Most I've seen have either 5 or 7 blades. This is one tough fan and clutch set up.

 

Sounds like $20 well spent if you don't have the tools to remove the fan. I originally thought the t-stat gasket was to blame on mine but it was the very top of the timing cover. Good to hear you got lucky there. I used the same water pump as you and so far it has worked fine. I've had mine on there a 1-2 months so far with no issues. *fingers crossed* Seems to run very cool since even in warmer weather. My hoses are the oem ones and they were in amazingly good shape so I went with it. I've heard mixed opinions on running the 195 t-stat with a basically stock engine but mostly related to heating for the winter.

I'm going to have to check out the fan on mine again. I never paid attention to the number of blades. I've never heard anything regarding a larger fan...it could be part of the tow package. Do you have an external trans cooler besides the one in the radiator?