About every three to four months I have to top off the coolant, its like the truck is drinking it, does anyone know what could be causing this or is it normal? Thanks!

 

You dont want to hear it..... Head gasket.... Noway to know for sure on your truck. but I had a old firebird that drank a gallon a week till it blew out. One day I was driving home at night and when I went under a street light it looked like a shot from the old John Candy movie " uncle buck" The whole street was filled with white smoke that just hung there. It would be really cool if I could do this on demand to stop tailgaters....

Anyhow good luck... For the record my dodges coolant is about the same level after 5 months of owning it. I have 40k on the truck.....

 

Mine has 135k on it. How much do you think it would cost to get that fixed?

 

Alot. But I would do a compression check on it first before I got to nervous. Make sure all the psi readings are about the same on each cyclinder Also make sure the collant is not leaking out a hose or the radatior. Also check the area around where the thermostat is. That has a seal too. Check the water pump area also....

 

Thanks, I've never seen any spots on the ground where I park it so I figured it was getting burned up somewhere![:@]

 

usually you can smell it if you are burning coolant... also youll see more a white tint to your exhaust..it its whiter or a lighter color than just plan clear... then youll have a problem and your burning it ... witch would more than likley lead to head gasket... lets hope not!!!!!

 

Yea, lets hope not, I'll probably go and get that compression check. But my exhaust isn't showing any discoloration at all.

 

Are you sure that the coolant isn't being blown out of the overflow container? How full do you have the radiator and then how full is the overflow? Overall, it sounds like the head gasket. Let the truck warm up and then lay your hand flat on the tailpipe opening long enough to build up backpressure. Smell your hand to see if it smells like glycol. That will help as well.

 

Another thing to check is the neck on your radiator. I had a small pin hole leak couldnt smell it or see it but the neck had discoloration too it. When i pressurized the radiator it made the neck get a small wet spot the size of a ball point pen head. Very weird....Nothing that some hi temp solder couldnt fix. Best of luck to you hope it isnt a head gasket...

 

That's a common problem with the V10s, but I believe the V8s had a different overflow.

I would also have to put my vote in for the head gasket. Either that or the LIM gasket. And if you tear it down to do the LIM, you might as well do the headgaskets too.