Hmmm... I've seen this once (just once) before: Weak antifreeze frozen in the lower radiator hose, with the squealing sound actually being the whistle of pressurized coolant blowing out through a weak spot in the hose. Which is preferable to a good strong hose that won't leak and instead blows up.

Might it have been more of a whistle than a squeal?

I'm really just thinking out loud here -- having seen it only once it's not something I'd be looking for again. But it's cheap enough to look for it if the temps get down to what they were when you had the problem.

 

Ya right. I wish. But that ain't gonna happen. lol

Wasn't really a whistle, more like a squeal. Perhaps some new coolant hose clamps would take care of that if that is what it was though. Now that I washed off the engine, I should be able to tell better where the cooland might be coming from when the first new drops appear (hopefully in the morning).


Holy crap, I think that might be exactly it. Your post actually reminded me of something I posted about a few months ago. I forgot all about it, but back in Oct, I was having a few drops of coolant on the ground, but only on cold mornings, never after the truck was warmed up. I posted about it here, but kinda forgot about it because I got distracted in conversation about timing chain and cams:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...intenance.html

 

My radiator started leaking a few years ago after I revved it up a little while the coolant was still cold. It had a little crack right where the plastic end cap meets the metal.
The funny thing is that my dads radiator is leaking in the same exact place. I'm going to change his today.

If the radiator was leaking on the back side and the coolant got on the shroud then the fan would suck it up and sling it everywhere, meaning squeaky belt.

The good thing about our trucks is that almost the entire radiator is exposed so you can spot a leak pretty quick without taking anything apart.

 

So I went out today figuring it was plenty cold last night that if it was going to do the leak I have been seeing, it would have. Not a single drop. Everything is perfectly dry. I ran it for awhile, and still nothing as far as leaks. I tested the antifreeze, and the arrow was between the -34 and -45 lines, so it should be good. If there is a leak, I suppose it could be pooling somewhere, and then leaking out when the area gets too full, in which case I might not see it for a few days. I think this is unlikely though. The overflow tank was still at the same level it was at yesterday too.

I did have the squealing noise when I first started it up. It's the belt tensioner. No noises coming from the water pump.

I'm still stumped. I hate to throw parts at it without having a definitive explanation as to where the antifreeze is coming from. Doing the water pump and timing chain will run me several hundred, and I will be pissed if it is still doing the same thing after because I didn't find for sure where the leak is coming from before I did the water pump job.

 

Check the bottom inside of the fan shroud and see if it's wet. I don't know the weather conditions in CS, but I also recently thought I had a leak. Turn's out it was just snow/ice at the bottom of the rad. melting and draining back along the shroud to look like a WP area problem.

 

hmm, is your intake manafold leaking coolent ,maybe a gasket blew or a bolt needs tightning.

 

Definitely not that I can see anywhere, I checked for that. There is no coolant in the oil either.

 

well thats a good sign, maybe do timing chain, maybe timing cover is leaking ? i bought a comp cam double rollor timing chain for 46 bucks off summit. was going to do it while i did my airgap but i ran outta time because off that broken bolt . people say it makes a good bit of diffrnece depending on the milage and the abuse of the truck.

how the thermostat gasket and the coolent bypass hose look ?

 

I went out one day and fired the truck, and had the unmistakable smell of coolant.. Stopped w/engine running, popped hood.. looked.. nothing.. next morning all was well.. a few days later same thing..

I decided to squeeze the upper hose after it was warm, and there was no pressure in it yet, but when I did a drop of coolant seeped out of the hose where it meets the radiator.. I let it go out of curiosity.. It built pressure after a while and no matter how I squeezed there was no coolant spray..

The next morning I felt like messing with it, fired truck up and squeezed the hades out of the hose- squirt, squirt POUR... I figured the plastic was broken on the nipple.. Nope.. I just had to double band the hose..

Just a thought..

 

I replaced them both when I did my plenum about 2 years ago.