Hey everyone, just bought my daughter her first truck it's an 04 Dakota SLT quad with the 3.7.

Down the front of the engine it was pretty dirty and some form of liquid has mixed in with that dirt to make almost a paste. I suspect coolant but I might be wrong. Looks like it's coming from the top front of the engine by where the coolant hose attaches but it was dark so hard to see.

Few things I checked

When the engine was cold (ice cold actually) this morning the overflow showed about 3 dots up from the add line which seems right cold engine probably not much in the over flow.

Tonight engine hot overflow to the full line, also makes sense to me since the fluid expanded etc.

Check oil no milky oil so doesn't seem to be anything there.

I bought a pressure tester so will do that this weekend.

I scraped some of the dirt paste off and tried to smell it didn't smell like coolant but my sense of smell is horrible.

Temp gauge after truck being on for about 30 min was on the cold side of center still.

​​​​​just looking for confirmation pressure test seems like the next logical step?

Thanks
​​​​​David.

P.s. she absolutely loves this truck already so hoping nothing major.

 

It could probably use a few gaskets based on age alone. I don't know much about the 3.7 engine (I like my pushrods) so hopefully somebody can chime in about the engine layout.

 

Well, you haven't established whether you're actually losing any coolant yet, so the pressure tester should determine that. You said the dirt is down the front of engine so I'd suspect leaking water pump, but it could be anything till you walk through the checks. The water pump is right behind the engine fan. You can grab the fan blades and rock them. If there is even the slightest movement, the water pump is shot. You can also see coolant weeping if it's not too grungy down there. Run the coolant test but also wash the engine down so you can get a clear picture when/if it leaks.

Water pump video...
https://www.google.com/search?q=dodg...WqQjjRpJU,st:0