Hi y'all. Ive got a coolant leak in my 2002 Ram 1500 5.9L and I'm not sure where its coming from. And it seems like it doesnt start leaking until the engine is turned off. Yesterday I got everything dried off, filled up and went drivin. Got temp guage up to halfway then shut it down. During the drive the heater never blew hot air. A few minutes later it had just begun to leak. It was wet all along the juncture of the block and whatever the water pump bolts onto (timing chain cover)? I cant see the uppermost right area of water pump so I cant tell if its wet up there. Whatchyall think?

 

Kinda sounds like you've got a bad water pump... Might be time to pull the cover off and take a look at it.

 

I had this happen to me about a month ago. It started leaking after the truck was off and no temp rising, but after about a week i noticed the eng temp would start overheating and then looked at the engine. i noticed the fluid was coming out of a weep hole at the bottom of the water pump and i was almost empty on coolant. i replaced water pump, hoses, belt and the radiator cap.

 

Thanks guys for the input. The water pump is dry unless the leak is from the area I cant see and then running down along back of pump. Could the weephole be at the top on the right side? What about the bypass hose? Would that leak be in that area? Tryin to pinpoint this before diggin into it. If its just the pump or hose, no problem. But if its sumpin more, like replacing timing cover gasket, might have to take it to a shop because of time constraints. Thanks again.

 

on my 01, I had the smallest hose leaking, which is above the water pump. Had to take a lot of stuff of to get to it.

SJ03

 

the weep hole was located on the bottom of the waterpump. for about $200 and 4 hours of my time, i just replaced everything. But it could be possible to have a small leak in the hose but seems to me that it would leak while the engine is running as well.

 

Then its definitely not the weep hole. All dry around bottom of pump. Im hopin now that it is bypass hose. That would be easiest, but it DOES seem like that would leak with engine running. Gonna get a tstat, bypass hose, and belt tomorrow and start takin stuff apart. My biggest fear was a leak at block and timing chain cover, but coolant doesn't normally flow there does it? If coolant was leaking from there, something bad would be happenin, right? But even then wouldn't it be a mix of coolant and motor oil?

 

Do you have the ability to pressure test the system? The pumps aren't too expensive and it should really help you determine where it is leaking.

 

Heater core leak? Check passenger floor board.

 

Shoot, buy the pump from PepBoys and just take it in whenever it fails. It takes 30 minutes to change. Lifetime warranty.