Ok, I hope I post this right, it's my first time posting pics. Anyway, for the longest time, I would have a faint smell of coolant outside my truck after driving for a bit. I never saw any coolant leaks though until recently. I started seeing coolant running down along the timing cover gasket. At first I thought it was the water pump to intake hose, so I replaced that, and still had the leak. I looked at the leak closer, and could see dried coolant stains at the top of the two water passages that go through the timing cover. My truck only has 78,000 miles, so I was surprised at what the gasket looked like, and thankful that it didn't leak down inside the timing cover. So if theres anyone trying to find a mysterious coolant leak, I hope this helps.

 

As you can see, the gasket had completely deteriorated around the two outside edges of the water passages.

 

I would guess the water pump wasn't properly torqued.

 

I just put a new pump on it recently, but I was smelling coolant before that, and I know that the bolts on the new one weren't over torqued

 

Thanks. I think I have the same problem in my '03 5.9. Was it a real pain to fix? What was involved?

 

The alternator, A/C compressor, and the water pump have to come off first. You than have to remove the harmonic balancer. I went to Autozone to get the puller for the balancer. You'll also have to move the power steering cooler out of the way which sits right next to the balancer. You don't need to unhook the lines to the cooler though. After that, you just need to unbolt the cover, and remove it. Be careful though not to tear the oil pan gasket when you're removing the timing cover. The timing gasket set will come with a new gasket for the water pump, and a new crankshaft seal for the timing cover. Out of the whole job, I think the crankshaft seal was the biggest pain, because it didn't want to seat properly when installing it. When installing the new timing cover gasket, be sure to use a bead of silicone along the corner where the engine block meets the oil pan gasket. I also placed a bead of silicone along the top of the oil pan gasket, and on both sides of the new timing cover gasket before reinstalling.

The two oil pan bolts are torqued to 215 inch lbs
The timing coever bolts are torqued to 30 ft lbs
The water pump bolts are torqued to 30 ft lbs
The harmonic balancer is torqued to 180 ft lbs

I'm sorry for the late reply, my daughter had a soccer game tonight, and I hope this helps. If not, just let me know