I found my coolant leak, I have two holes that apparently were caused by corrosion over time. They are both on the very back of the manifold, one on each side. It is where the coolant comes out of the head. Anyone ever seen this before? Can they be TIG welded?


It is on my 1998 2500 4X4. All stock. Bought it for the boy to drive. Paid very little as a fixer upper. So far it is going very well. Just read about the plenum fix so we will do that also.


UPDATE: So I spoke with a friend who has a TIG welder and he looked at the problem and felt that he could fix it. He welded it up and it looked pretty good. Cleaned everything, plenum fixed and mod done. Installed with all new gaskets and bolts. Truck running better than ever. Now the fun starts. Drove it maybe 10 miles and the welds did not seal and coolant is leaking out again. So bought one from the wrecking yard, all is well with this one. Did the mod and cleaned everything. Ready to install this one. My question is this, being the intake manifold bolts are new could they be re-used or do I need new ones again? Don't really want to buy an entire kit if I do not need to.

 

That's a very bad sign, one indicative of lack of maintenance -- the coolant went far, far too long without being changed. You'll probably see it manifested in other ways as time goes on.

Were it mine, I'd be at the wrecking yard looking for another intake (and doing the plenum fix to it) rather than fooling with the old one.

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

Think I would be doing a VERY thorough cooling system flush as well......

 

Will do.

 

... likely followed by replacing the radiator and heater core, one or both of which may well start leaking when the scale comes loose...

It really is a drag inheriting someone else's deferred maintenance.

 

I'm with ya. However on this one I'm not surprised. Went into it expecting these things. the previous owner thought the tranny was bad but it wasn't, just needed a new shift solenoid. Only paid 1500.00 for the truck. A lot of cleaning and some basic maintenance she's running pretty well.

 

You haven't indicated what corner of the world you're in.
I have a stock intake on the floor of my shed.

 

I would flush the block. And flush the rad separately.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to upgrade to a all aluminum rad anyway. Those plastic sides like to leak where they meet the aluminium

 

I'm in Arizona.