Puzzled ? Usin Water !

[Butch]

Can anybody tell me how I could check my D/A for a leaky headgasket.The engine is usin a little water & no leaks anywere.Checked the exhaust & dry as can be too.I know a gas engine you take a compression check through the plug holes.How do you do it with a Diesel?Pull the injectors,yikes.It takes anyweres from 1 quart to a half gallon a month.Were Im at is extremely hot here,heat index from 105-112. I wonder if it isnt evaporating as the hot air is going trough the radiator core.If it sits it dos'nt use it.I do use the 50/50 mix from GM.The darn thing is running perfect far as performance & has all the power its putting out.Im pretty good at fiquring out a problem but this time I cannot find it or fiqure were the liquid is going.I even checked the cap to see if it was bypassing that down the overflow pipe,nothing.Sure am stumped with this problem.Even when temp is up to 195 I cannot detect the usage.I kinda thought that at that temp it would create more pressure on the system and show a leak if there was one somewere.I see the cap pressure on mine is 15 lbs.Even checked the heater core,nothing.Oil level is perfect to,right on the mark and no bubbles in it.Who ever gets the answer to this puzzle gets a free kangeroo with a saddle,50 jumps to the gallon.

 

[whatnot]

What year is it?
Does the exhaust have any burnt anti-freeze smell?

 

[deeretracks]

Check your water pump...Could be leaking when it gets up to temp but cooking off before it has a chance to puddle.

 

[Butch]

The truck is a 01 3500 D/A LB7,106,450 miles,No antifreez burnt smell off from the pipe.Im kinda thinking Deertraks might be right on it.Looked it over today,everything dry as a bone.Thought maybe it was coming out of the bypass hole on the bottom of the pump but dry there too.When I come off the road I leave it run and check it at 195 temp,no leaks.Then in the mournin I look ,same situation.It has come down in the reserve tank about 3/4 inch in 2 days so its going somewere,but were?I hate to put more pressure on the system for fear of a blowout some were ,then that,ll cost too.Kinda stumped with this one.

 

[Heartbeat Hauler]

I've lost about 1/2 gallon of coolant over the past 5 years with no leaking or puddles. Dealership says it is my water pump and it was gonna cost a huge amount of cash to fix. I had them replace my radiator hoses, the small bypass hose and the rad cap. That was about 3 months ago no loss yet. Fingers are crossed, but for the small amount of coolant I'm loosing over a long period of time, I'm not going to replace the water pump until it gets a whole lot worse!

Side bar: Dealer tech told me (when my 96 Caprice was serviced) that dexcool cars should replace the rad cap every....oh crap! I can't remember :doh: .......but most folks don't replace caps. Maybe the cap is letting some coolant escape.
JP

 

[torgmaster]

check upper radiator hose after it cools down or in the morning.if it is hard then you have pressure in there,thus probably head gasket bad

 

[SFC Cobb]

I had a leaking headgasket. If it is not visible on the outside it is going into the crankcase. Look around the lower edge of the heads and see if you find evidence of a leak, a brownish color, where the coolant leaks but evaporates when the engine is hot. Not all of it coming out there. Some is likely in the crankcase. Carefully check the oil levels for no useage. With that many miles you are likely using some oil between changes.

 

[Butch]

My truck has'nt used a drop of oil since new.That many miles,the engine should be just coming around far as performance.A good diesel should be good for at least 300,000-500,000.It takes at least 90,000 to bring a good diesel up to top performance.They should be topped out around 90,000-250,000.I drove big rig for 25 yrs. and always got at least 350,000-500,000 before a major overhaul.I have come to the conclusion that it is the heat here.Yesterday the heat index was 114.

 

[SFC Cobb]

Drive it hard and it will use some oil. I have had 2 DMax's and my son has one. It won't be much oil but a little. I worked my 03 towing trailers and it was alway don't less than a quart by the time I got 10K on the oil change. I noticed that the oil level had not decreased much and started looking for water but could not tell if had water in the oil.

After many thousands of miles a very small wet spot appeared under the vehicle. I checked it out and found it was coming from the head gasket. The dealer put a GM stop leak product in it and it stopped it. I was not wanting to do a head job at that point so I was glad it stopped the leak. I put that stuff in it once after that and then finally had the gasket replaced. I could tell it was cooking the coolant and some oil along the head edge for a long time and then it started leaking again so it was time to do the replacement.

The mech said that the cylinders still had the factory hone markings in the cylinders...no wear at all at 247,269 miles.

 

[Sparky8370]

When my head gaskets first went I didn't notice any coolant on the ground. (But I knew it was dumping out the overflow while driving down the road.)It wasn't in the oil or out the tail pipe either. Yours may be doing the same thing. Like someone else mentioned, check the upper rad hose once it's cooled.

 

[SFC Cobb]

One clue I had that the coolant was going into the engine was vapor coming out the exhaust. Diesels don't normally put out vapor smoke.

 

[Butch]

Nobody won the kangeroo yet,LOL,keep trying,I just want to thank everybody for the interest in trying to help me with this problem.Im down to the conclusion of either evaporation from the heat here or such a small leak thats its undetectable or headgasket.Eventually it'll show up.

 

[LarryJewell]

Is your coolant reservoir turning black? Mine is!!!!!

 

[LarryJewell]

Mines at the dealer right now being checked over, hope its not the head gasket, but I suspect that it is.