Hidden Coolant Leak - help!

[BlueRT]

Hi guys, i'm a fresh member to the board and i'm hoping I can find an RT guy who knows his stuff.

My 2000 RT pickup developed a coolant leak on the drivers side of the engine right where the engine mount/bracket is. I crawled underneath there and discovered the red battery cable coupled along with a very small metal tube in a protective plastic tubing that ran along twards the cab from the front of the engine. I believe the leak is coming from some where above this area and for the life of me I can't find the source of it. I'm hoping someone would know about this issue and could help steer me in the right direction so I don't get hammered $ by a mechanic.

I looked over the water pump, radiator, all of it looks fine. However there is a lot of coolant leakage build up on the steering system but again I didn't notice a small radiator for power steering cooling -- then again I could be wrong.

Can you help my find my mystery leak?

Thanks guys.

[408dakota]

Possible Freeze plug is leaking?

[waflhtirider]

I am going to vote rusted out freeze plug.

[BlueRT]

I am going to vote rusted out freeze plug.

If it is a freeze plug.. what do you think that'll take to get fixed? Gotta pull the motor out etc??

[White Turbo]

Yeah it could be a freeze plug gone bad...

One other thing you could check,,, If it looks like it's leaking from the block near the starter,,, there is a small threaded plug for draining coolant from the engine block behind the starter. It's hard to see, and you might have to take the starter off to get a wrench on it.

[Nolan]

The most common places for a coolant leak are the thermostat housing, the bypass hose, or the water pump. Use a strong flashlight and look straight down the thermostat housing and see if you have any coolant puddles on the top of the intake manifold. The bypass hose is between the front of the intake manifold and the top of the water pump. Feel around the underside of the curve and see if it's wet, again look for coolant on the top of the timing gear cover. Next feel around under the water pump and see if it's wet.

If you've got coolant on the power steering system the leak is probably at the front of the engine and is getting blown back.

The power steering cooler is the little finned cooler bolted to the front of the timing gear cover next to the power steering pump and it only carries power steering fluid.

I doubt it's the block drain plug, I've never been able to get one out of the block with less than a 4ft breaker bar!

Nolan

[grapejuice1998]

Hi guys, i'm a fresh member to the board and i'm hoping I can find an RT guy who knows his stuff.

My 2000 RT pickup developed a coolant leak on the drivers side of the engine right where the engine mount/bracket is. I crawled underneath there and discovered the red battery cable coupled along with a very small metal tube in a protective plastic tubing that ran along twards the cab from the front of the engine. I believe the leak is coming from some where above this area and for the life of me I can't find the source of it. I'm hoping someone would know about this issue and could help steer me in the right direction so I don't get hammered $ by a mechanic.

I looked over the water pump, radiator, all of it looks fine. However there is a lot of coolant leakage build up on the steering system but again I didn't notice a small radiator for power steering cooling -- then again I could be wrong.

Can you help my find my mystery leak?

Thanks guys.

Go to the auto parts store and ask about a coolant pressure tester. It's like a radiator cap with a hand pump and gauge on it. Pump up the system and get under there with a light to see if you can find the leak in an active state.

If it's a freeze plug, it depends on where it is and how accessible, as to how much work it'll take to get to it. Even if it's right out in the open, they can be a bear to get out and the new one back in.

[Rick Adams]

[QUOTE=BlueRT;42086]Hi guys, i'm a fresh member to the board and i'm hoping I can find an RT guy who knows his stuff.

My 2000 RT pickup developed a coolant leak on the drivers side of the engine right where the engine mount/bracket is.

My '99 had a leak from the freeze plug hidden by/behind the motor mount. Had to prop the motor up, remove the mount, pop out the leaker & drive in the new. It went a lot better than I expected, there is not much room to work with. They come out pretty easy, but you have to have the new one straight on to get it back in. I used a socket the same diameter as the plug to hit against to drive it in, and a little hammer cause there was no room for a big one.

[kingme16]

theres actually a tool you can buy to find leaks by snap-on

[BlueRT]

I found the leak.

Those of you who said it was probably the freeze plug.. unfortunately for me you were right.

I crawled under there with a nice light and really looked around.. noticed the head was completely dry, found the freeze plugs all dry except! the middle one which had corrosive build up on it -- not to mention it was all wet around it on the block and the motor mount. Man this blows chimp :(.

Thanks for the help tho guys :biggthumpup:. I'll let you know how things turn out. I've never replaced a freeze plug before and I dunno if I wanna give it a try in my apartment complex :/.

[waflhtirider]

Chances are it rotted out from the inside. Back in my trany shop manager days, we replaced many a Dodge freeze plug. Got to the point the we flushed the heck out of the late LA blocks and Magnum blocks anytime we ran across a rotted plug. The amount of grit we got out of some of them was astonishing to say the least.