Help! My truck puked in the cold. Is it dead?

[freemonty]

I think I have good news. Here's what I did:

Tested the coolant- it tested to +5deg, so it's clearly not up to par and I need to replace it and it might have frozen when it was -15deg.

Tested the cooling system pressure. Without the engine running, it would not hold pressure and slowly dropped.

Then I pulled all the plugs, they looked wet, but it kind of looked oily rather than coolant.

I then turned the motor over without the plugs in to see if I'd broken any internals and to clear the cylinders. It turned over fine, no bad noises.

I checked the oil again and it seemed satisfactory, so I put the plugs back in and tried to start it and it started! It sounded OK, no noises and except for the first couple seconds it wasn't rough. I had oil pressure but I shut it down anyway and then checked everything again for leaks. No leaks so I hooked up the coolant pressure gauge and started it up again and according to the manual for the tester I let the engine warm up and it ran fine.

The system would not hold the 13psi that my cap specified but it seemed to level off at about 7-8psi. When I shut it down I noticed a very minor hissing and I found a radiator leak on driver side upper corner. It was minor, just bubbling, not really leaking.

Soooooo, that's where I'm at now... I haven't actually driven it yet, but I think tomorrow I going to take it to Autozone in the morning and grab some radiator stop leak and see if it will plug that small issue. Other than that guys I don't know, nothing seems particularly wrong with it anymore....

Anyone got any theories?

By the way, it's up to 25deg here now and yes, I do drive my truck year round here in Chicago.

[BrianG]

If you can hold off driving it a couple of days, I'd pull the radiator and have it soldered instead. That radiator fix stuff 'may' fix your leak, or it may plug up way more than just your little leak. Also, you say the leak is high on the radiator, I'm not sure that the fix in a can stuff would even work for that. I'd get it fixed right, that's just my two cents.

[69sinker]

I would suggest a lower pressure radiator cap if your not going to replace the radiator.

[freemonty]

Well I just didn't think the radiator leak was my main concern. It explains why my coolant usage went up the last month or so, but there's no reason I can't drive the truck for the time being and monitor the coolant closely until I can get the radiator fixed.

I'm more concerned about internal damage. It seems to be running OK, but I was curious if anyone buys my theory that the oil puked out the dipstick tube connection because it was too thick and the milkiness I saw was just condensation?

If I tried to solder the radiator leak, can it be done with just a simple soldering iron and the same solder I use to solder wires? Or does it take something special?

[70blackfish]

put a camping stove under your oil pan for a bit..
i live in cali I'm sure there are better ideas for the cold...

[geezer#99]

Originally Posted by freemonty

but I was curious if anyone buys my theory that the oil puked out the dipstick tube connection because it was too thick

That's not possible without high crankcase pressure and thin oil. Your motor never ran long enough to create any crankcase pressure.
Likely it was oil passing on the oil filter gasket. The filter contracts more than the rubber gasket and it'll puke a little oil.
Some of your coolant loss could be due to several small leaks on your heater hoses or rad hoses once again due to the bigger contraction of the metal tube the rubber hoses are attached to. Check all the hose clamps and tighten them a bit.

[prairewolf]

... My Landcruiser pumped some Power Steering fluid on ground when Really cold after start up, it was so cold I think it pushed it past low pressure hose clamp. ... I thought that was oil at first. .......... might not help you but thought to mention it anyway.

[Zable49]

Originally Posted by freemonty

Well I just didn't think the radiator leak was my main concern. It explains why my coolant usage went up the last month or so, but there's no reason I can't drive the truck for the time being and monitor the coolant closely until I can get the radiator fixed.

If I tried to solder the radiator leak, can it be done with just a simple soldering iron and the same solder I use to solder wires? Or does it take something special?

First off, I dont recommend running with a cracked radiator ever. You never know if that little crack will become really big and puke all your coolant on the freeway. Then your screwed....

On the solder thing.... No its a totally different solder that can withstand 300+ temperatures and higher pressure. Something I did awhile back (10+ years ago) on my dodge when my radiator cracked was pulled my radiator and found where it was leaking within the rows. Carefully pull backed the fins (Small area) until I got to the row and used JB Weld and carefully patched up the radiator. It was alot cheaper to do this then a new radiator since I was low on funds.

I know people will chime in and say that JB Weld wont last, well I hate to break it to them but it held for 5 years until I got rid of the truck. yeah I just forgot that I did it, that's why I never replaced the radiator later down the line.

[BlacklandCamper]

Your local parts store should have either magnetic oil pan heaters, or a dip stick replacement heater. My store has the latter, and we don't see anything below 0deg.

Another thing you could do is switch to a different oil. If you run 10w-30 to 20w-50, switch to a 5w-30. Castrol has a 5w-50 classic engine blend that is designed for flat tappet engines.

Glad to hear no freeze plugs were busted. I second the advice on getting the radiator soldered, stop leak is never a good idea.

Here is a visual to show you why...

[zeldman]

Please, please, please do not use stop leak or anything like that. It stops up leaks, but it also stops water from flowing inside the radiator. And your radiator man will really be pissed off. As the picture above shows, it WILL stop water from moving.

[storm9c1]

+1 on the StopLeak additive. NEVER use it in anything that you want to keep. It makes a mess of the cooling system as shown above. I've had it clog the radiator cores solid, and destroys the heater core as well. I also found glass-like deposits on the water pump impeller. That additive contains large amounts of silicates. Nasty stuff.

I've had good luck temporarily soldering radiator tanks with silver pipe solder and a torch. Silver has a higher melting point. Be sure to scuff/sand the area. And use pipe flux. Build up the solder as thick as possible. It doesn't last forever so plan on replacing the rad. But it should get you through the winter.

[freemonty]

Alright ladies and gents, so how do I pull the radiator? Does anyone have link to a video or instructions, think I could figure it out but never hurts to see examples. How long should I anticipate and how many quarts of coolant does my system take? Thanks guys.

R

[BlacklandCamper]

First you need to remove the fan, and fan clutch. Just unbolt from the water pump.
Now for the fun part.

The cleanest way is to use your drain petcock to empty the coolant into a container, if your petcock is unusable, or broken, pull the lower hose from the water pump first, use the hose to direct the flow of coolant into a container. Pull the cap while it is draining, and remove the upper hose. You will see coolant come from the water pump as well, if your container is big enough it will catch the fluid.
After the coolant is finished draining, carefully remove the trans cooler lines, and tie them out of the way. You may lose some fluid at this time, the trans cooler should have no more than two quarts in it, so you will want to top off the trans when you are finished.

There should be four bolts holding the radiator to the core support, two on each side.
Once those are out, the radiator will be ready to pull out from the top.

Install in reverse order.

Your total cooling system should be around two to three gallons total. Buy full strength coolant, and make your own 60/40 mix.
Remember, coolant is a year round thing. It wont freeze in winter, and will cool better in summer.

['69C-10]

Originally Posted by freemonty

By the way, it's up to 25deg here now and yes, I do drive my truck year round here in Chicago.

Sorry, I don't have any useful information to add, I was just happy to see I'm not the only one driving my truck in the salt.

[Daner]

While you have your coolant removed it would be a good time to replace one of the freeze plugs with a coolant block heater. I would place wagers on the oil filter gasket as well.

I've heard horror stories about oil pan heaters "cooking" the oil. I don't have any personal experience with them though. To keep our cattle waterers from freezing all it takes is a 60 watt trouble light but that is left on all the time. I would gauge your wattage to how fast you want your oil to heat up and how long it will be plugged in.

[motorcritter]

My experience with Benz diesels is a block heater is the way to go, for trouble-free starts at low temperatures. A plus is your heater/defroster is ready to go when you start up! It's almost as nice as heated seats. After seeing the ravages of 'stop leak' in cooling systems that came in the shops I worked in, I am not one to suggest using them. At one point GM (and possibly other OEM's) used a sealant in the factory installed coolant. It was a combination sealant & lubricant package, and supposedly didn't clog passages up or cause electrolytic corrosion. That being said, a proper mix of coolant and distilled water, changed out every two years, avoids a lot of cooling system problems and catastrophes. A leaky radiator can cause a whole lotta trouble, and I would opt for a new one, or a decent (not leaking) used one. I also concur with the oil filter gasket fault- real cold and thick oil can overwhelm that seal. You may have some leakage at the dipstick tube, but that is going to minor compared to a leak at a filter junction. Cold does weird things- I grew up in northeast Ohio and saw enough of the weirdness. I hope everything works out well for you, though.