hi
i am the lady of the house and the best typer. :-) so i will be telling the story as best as i can with the "info" he gave me.

we have a '98 ram 1500, 8 cyl, 5.9 litre engine, quad cab 2 wheel drive, etc.<< isn't this second generation? apologize if not.

he changed the radiator hose out a few months back as he lost alot of antifreeze all of a sudden. so he drained the radiator and put all new 50/50 antifreeze in. that seemed to take care of the prob.

after a few weeks, he started smelling a strong burnt antifreeze smell after driving the truck/parking/stopping. then he noticed liquid on the ground kindof dripping from the area of the wheel well/heater core area? the leaking, after running his heater & parking awhile, appears on the ground like where water collects in the summer from the condenser sweating. he says he cannot smell the antifreeze in the "drippings" on the ground.

so he's just been replacing the antifreeze a rough estimate is around a gallon in the last month. he just hasn't had time to really look into it as he works about a million hrs a week and its been really really really cold here and just let up this last week. hes older and just can't work out in the cold like he used to.

he says thats about it. i hope that helps give you enough info for you all to try to help us figure out what the prob is.
we thank you in advance for any advice or help you can give.

 

howdy.. it could be a number of things in the rear.
freeze plugs, intake gasket, heater hose.
its also possible that the leak might be near the front, and running to the back.
leak points on the front are water pump (very common) and timing cover and more freeze plugs.

you might want to do a pressure test on the cooling system. it'll usually id a leak.
as long as you keep it full of coolant and it doesn't get any worse, you can keep it full and limp by.

edit - important question ? do you smell coolant inside the cab or have any steam on the windshield. if so, that's heater core.

 

thx for the quick reply! what exactly does a heater core do? i think he told me something about the smell in the cab but hes gone to bed so will have to wait to confirm tomorrow. are they expensive?

i remember we had a dodge van and he had to change out the heater core and it made him very very "grouchy" and swear like a sailor but he finally got it and of course a van is a different colored horse all together.

but he did say he sure hoped it wasn't the heater core.
i'll ask him tomorrow and will post again.
thanks so much

 

Heater core cycles antifreeze through it to warm the cab, thats where you get your heat from. in all honesty he could have just not seated the hose correctly on either the radiator or the temostat housing or water pump, building pressure may just be pushing antifreeze through the cracks. Also if he had to fight " wiggling it back and forth " to get the hoses off the bottle neck for the radiator or thermostat housing or water pump, he could have very well put a hairline crack in one of the bottle necks.

Goodluck and to be honest with you it doesnt really sound too serious of a problem if hes only losing a gallon a month, freeze plugs or a badgasket would cause you to loose a gallon alot quicker.

 

thanks! i let him know this too and help him decide what the issue is.

 

yakkier, he just came in here for a drink and he said the things you mentioned are all ok as he had already checked those (but i'll coerce to look again) but he said pretty adamantly that he was sure all that was ok.
anymore ideas? he's still saying he sure hopes it's not the heater core. wondering if its has bad as the van.
thanks

 

If it was the heatercore you would be smelling a very strong smell of antifreeze coming from the passengerside floorboard, and the carpet would also be wet. and as mentiond earlier your windshield would be fogging up continusly. which hose did he change exactly ?

 

Go back and check all his connections. Check the drain plug.

Does anyone remember where the heater core is located? Its possible the new coolant eroded the heater core because of all of deposits left behind with the old coolant. I know my old Jimmy did that and the core was behind the dash on the passenger side. Imagine the fun that was.

 

Same here, i had a 96 jimmy that was a royal pain in the *** to get to, and ours is basicly in the same spot, on the firewall on passenger side behind the dash

 

yakkier he said it was the radiator hose earlier but he's long gone now so will have to wait until tomorrow sometime. do you usually hang around these boards?