Hello all,

My 2002 1500 Ram seems to have sprung a leak! I was towing a trailer with brush to the landfill a couple weeks ago when the "check gauges" light came on. The temp gauge was spiked to the red. I was right at the dump so I popped the hood and let the engine cool while I unloaded the trailer. After about 1 hour of unloading I started the truck and the temp gauge went to 1/2 way and stayed there until I got home. Once home I saw what the problem was, I was about 2 qrts low on oil and about the same in the coolant resevoir. The resevoir was totaly empty and the first quart went straigt into the radiator. I topped up with coolant and changed the oil. The oil was dark but that's it. After that I started keeping track of the coolant level. The leak has continued but the overtemp has not.

The simptoms.

1.) coolant leak - seems to be comming from the overflow tube on the coolant resevoir next to the windshield wiper fluid tank. It does not leak when idle, only when running.

2.) system overpressure - when I come out in the morning to go to work I check the coolant level. when I remove the cap on the resevoir there is a good deal of pressure in the system.

3.) rough idle - The truck has started to idle a little rough, but it smooths out once I accelerate.

4.) broken exhaust manifold stud - The driver side exhaust manifold recently had a broken stud. It took me a while to fix it, but it has been repaired.

What I've tried

1.) Adding coolant - Still am about every 3 days

2.) took cap off of coolant resevoir and ran engin - I did this after I got home one day. The engine was still a little warm when I did this. After I started the engine the return tube imediately began squirting coolant back into the resevoir (thermistat open?). There was a little steam rising from the resevoir, but I didn't get any bubbles or gysers when I raced the engine.

3.) looked for leak - I got under the truck and looked for the leak. I have traces of coolant down the side of the wiper tank and on the fan shroud.

4.) checked fluids - I checked the oil and what I can see of the coolant. The oil is clean and clear and there doesn't seem to be any oil in the coolant.

5.) Checked exhaust - I get a small amount of white "smoke" occasionaly after i start the engine, but it goes away in a short time. It's not thick like smoke, but thin like when the truck is running in winter. It doesn't smell particularly sweet, just like exhaust.

What I might have F'd up

1.) When I filled up the radiator after the first overheat i used green undiluted glycol based coolant mixed 50/50 with water. For all the subsequant top ups i've been using prediluted "universal" coolant. I just relized that the '02 uses the red dodge HD coolant.

2.) Took it to the Dealer - I took the truck to the dealer a little after I bought it (Used, 75K) and had all the maintenances done, all the fluids replaced, and the TSB for the blower motor done. Honestly, it's never been the same. After the TSB work the mixer door went bad so I only had heat on the passanger side and defroster. THey also diagnosed ~2K in trans/suspension work that didn't need to be done.

possible causes?

1.) The radiator cap looks a little crusty. Not sure if that could cause the problem or not.
2.) Air pocket - It could be an air pocket in the rad from letting the coolant get so low the first time
3.) thermostat/water pump - the age old answer
4.) Head gasket - The age old worst answer.

If you guys could shed some light I would realy appreciate it. If I don't get this figured out soon I'm going to take it to the local shop, but I'd like to try to figure it out on my own (with some help from friends)

Thanks

Redsol1

 

hate to say it man, but pretty sure its the head gasket. losing oil, coolant, and blowing white smoke... pretty tell-tale signs. take it to a shop to have it checked/confirmed. If you want a temporary cheap fix, they sell head gasket stop-leak type stuff to fix the head gaskets.

 

Hey AF Hemi,

I changed the oil about 2 weeks ago and haven't lost any since. It's still clear with no sign of coolant.

I forgot to mention that i can hear the "Running water" sound of either a head gasket or air in the coolant. I've also found a couple references to a coolant cap failure doing this. when I topped up the coolant i just poured it in and didn't bleed the system. My plan is to pull the bleed screw tonight and change the cap. If that doesn't work I'm going to make an appointment at the shop.

La'

Redsol1

 

More information:

I have no engine codes and no CEL's

Thanks,

 

Hello all,

Thanks for the help. I replaced the radiator cap and burped the engine, but i decided to take it to the shop anyway. They pressure tested the system and found no leaks nor could they recreate the leak, so it looks like the cap was the culprit. I got a flush and fill just in case the G05 and univeral coolant might react. I'll keep an eye on it for now and see what happens.

Thanks again for the help.

La'

Redsol1

 

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't had a chance to update the situation. I replaced the reservoir cap and the truck kept leaking. As the weather turned colder the white exhaust got worse and worse. I took the truck to the shop, and it had a multitude of problems. Blown head gasket first, then i had a chunk blown out of the side of one of the pistons. This chunk got trapped between the piston and cylinder wall and scored the side wall in a couple places. The shop said it was very odd because the engine was quiet except for the exhaust manifold. i ended up pulling that engine and putting in a new one (65k, less mileage than was on the truck when i bought it). now I'm working thru the usual O2 sensors and other things that go when you pass gallons of coolant thru the exhaust system.

Thanks for everyone's help. I've got more things i want to do with the truck so I'll be here for a while.

La'

Redsol1

 

Take it for a compression test on all cylinders. It's probably head gasket leaking coolant and allowing the motor to pressurize the system.