Why am I overheating and losing coolant?

TMFGO45 · Jul 17, 2011

I have an International 4400 straight truck with a DT466 engine.

For a while now, the truck keeps running hot, constantly hitting 210-215, even 220 if the climb is right. We are always 2 bottles low on coolant, and after refilling it still runs hot, and a bottle is gone in a day.

I've been told I could have a cracked head gasket, but nobody knows for sure because everything runs great, except for the temperature, and it hasn't been torn down just to check it, due to it still running fine.

Problem is, where is my coolant going? I can never find any on the ground. And there is no evidence of coolant in the oil. At the rate I'm losing it, I should know how it's escaping. I don't think that much can boil out of the overflow tank, or can it?

Anybody have any recommendations? Ideas? Things to check?

(i added k-seal HD, but didn't seem to solve anything)

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Monty · Jul 17, 2011

If it's not on the ground, and not in the oil .... the only other place is it's going out your exhaust.

But I'm no mechanic, so I won't try to offer a solution.

TMFGO45 · Jul 17, 2011

Notanewbie said:
If it's not on the ground, and not in the oil .... the only other place is it's going out your exhaust.

But I'm no mechanic, so I won't try to offer a solution.

Yes, I have a blow by exhaust, I'm going to be checking for any activity there. If it's coming out of the actual exhaust, is there a way to check that? And a cracked gasket would cause that to happen wouldn't it?

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60MPH · Jul 17, 2011

You said it is not in your oil, did you have it sampled?? it takes alot of water/coolant to change dirty diesel oil. I would have it sampled ASAP!! If it is not on the ground and not in the oil the only other places it could be is the cab (leaking heater core or lines for it) or going out of the exhaust. Do you get a puff of white smoke when you fire it up?? or when driving it. You said 2 gallons low all the time, how often is that? every day, every 100 miles, or 500 miles.

Mine just got a water pump it was weeping only after sitting a couple of hours off. I would check the pump when I stopped for fuel or at a customer and the darn thing was dry

If I let it sit for about 6-8 hours there would be a small puddle on the ground and I was topping off 8-10oz every morning. I had my oil pulled as I have a gear drive pump and wanted to make sure it was not leaking into the engine oil, it was not thankfully.

I am sure others will give you some advice as to what it could be.

Remain safe and profitable every mile!

redytrk · Jul 17, 2011

My blown head gasket acted the same way. A pressure test turned up the blown gasket, Two grand later i`m back on the road.

Turtle · Jul 17, 2011

I don't think you are overheating and losing coolant, I think you are losing coolant and then overheating.

I had the same thing happen recently, for 6 months. I kept losing coolant. Not enough to overheat (unless I ignored the Low Coolant light), but enough that I was having to add some weekly. Never so much as a drop on the ground. I feared the worst, but none in the oil, none out the exhaust.

Turns out, it was a leaking hose up near the heater water valve, and it was dripping down behind the engine onto a very hot transmission housing, evaporating nearly immediately, which is why none could ever be found on the ground.

greg334 · Jul 17, 2011

OK seeing no one mentioned this - change your radiator cap on the expansion tank.

TMFGO45 · Jul 18, 2011

greg334 said:
OK seeing no one mentioned this - change your radiator cap on the expansion tank.

Already done

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TMFGO45 · Jul 18, 2011

60MPH said:
You said it is not in your oil, did you have it sampled?? it takes alot of water/coolant to change dirty diesel oil. I would have it sampled ASAP!! If it is not on the ground and not in the oil the only other places it could be is the cab (leaking heater core or lines for it) or going out of the exhaust. Do you get a puff of white smoke when you fire it up?? or when driving it. You said 2 gallons low all the time, how often is that? every day, every 100 miles, or 500 miles.

Mine just got a water pump it was weeping only after sitting a couple of hours off. I would check the pump when I stopped for fuel or at a customer and the darn thing was dry If I let it sit for about 6-8 hours there would be a small puddle on the ground and I was topping off 8-10oz every morning. I had my oil pulled as I have a gear drive pump and wanted to make sure it was not leaking into the engine oil, it was not thankfully.

I am sure others will give you some advice as to what it could be.

Remain safe and profitable every mile!

I had the oil tested. Showed possibility of coolant. I'm getting oil changed again today or tomorrow, I'm getting it tested again.

Brand new water pump.

No smoke anywhere, ever.

And I'm saying a bottle a day.

I think it's the head gasket, but if I have them tare it down that far, I might as well get an in frame overhaul done while I'm at it. Or ride it out until something has to be done?

?

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fortwayne · Jul 18, 2011

I had the same problem. No fluid on the ground.
Turned out the radiator was so plugged from 12 years of road junk, everyday sludge etc that was causing the problem.
Don't know how old the truck is but if the radiator has never been taken off and cleaned inside and out that could be the issue......just saying.
Ran me $1000.....**** near could have got a new or rebuilt.

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TMFGO45 · Jul 18, 2011

fortwayne said:
I had the same problem. No fluid on the ground.
Turned out the radiator was so plugged from 12 years of road junk, everyday sludge etc that was causing the problem.
Don't know how old the truck is but if the radiator has never been taken off and cleaned inside and out that could be the issue......just saying.
Ran me $1000.....**** near could have got a new or rebuilt.

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I was thinking about getting it gently blasted out.....not the way to go? Should be taken apart and cleaned out?

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greg334 · Jul 18, 2011

Radiators are cheap. The one for my little truck is about $250 and if I have something like a class 8 it is just about $100 or so more.

blizzard2014 · Jul 18, 2011

60MPH said:
You said it is not in your oil, did you have it sampled?? it takes alot of water/coolant to change dirty diesel oil. I would have it sampled ASAP!! If it is not on the ground and not in the oil the only other places it could be is the cab (leaking heater core or lines for it) or going out of the exhaust. Do you get a puff of white smoke when you fire it up?? or when driving it. You said 2 gallons low all the time, how often is that? every day, every 100 miles, or 500 miles.

Mine just got a water pump it was weeping only after sitting a couple of hours off. I would check the pump when I stopped for fuel or at a customer and the darn thing was dry If I let it sit for about 6-8 hours there would be a small puddle on the ground and I was topping off 8-10oz every morning. I had my oil pulled as I have a gear drive pump and wanted to make sure it was not leaking into the engine oil, it was not thankfully.

I am sure others will give you some advice as to what it could be.
Remain safe and profitable every mile!

Running out of people to talk to again lol!

davekc · Jul 18, 2011

If you have a temperature gun, just point it at the radiator. That will tell you if that is the problem. I would follow with a pressure test on the cooling system. As for oil testing, forget Speedco. Had this problem with a bad injector and oil smelled like diesel. Two different tests at different Speedco's said oil was fine. Sent a sample to a lab and it confirmed our suspicions.
Speedco oil analysis are worthless based on our results.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results".

fortwayne · Jul 19, 2011

TMFGO45 said:
I was thinking about getting it gently blasted out.....not the way to go? Should be taken apart and cleaned out?

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Getting it gently blasted does not do the job. Take it completely off and cleaned inside and out.

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FATFILLUP · Jul 19, 2011

I had my radiator clog up when some dumb shop mechanic put prestone into my coolant overflow box. My van uses dexcool and it caused my radiator to get completely plugged up. That's the only thing I know about coolant systems.

purgoose10 · Jul 19, 2011

TMFGO45 said:
I have an International 4400 straight truck with a DT466 engine.

For a while now, the truck keeps running hot, constantly hitting 210-215, even 220 if the climb is right. We are always 2 bottles low on coolant, and after refilling it still runs hot, and a bottle is gone in a day.

I've been told I could have a cracked head gasket, but nobody knows for sure because everything runs great, except for the temperature, and it hasn't been torn down just to check it, due to it still running fine.

Problem is, where is my coolant going? I can never find any on the ground. And there is no evidence of coolant in the oil. At the rate I'm losing it, I should know how it's escaping. I don't think that much can boil out of the overflow tank, or can it?

Anybody have any recommendations? Ideas? Things to check?

(i added k-seal HD, but didn't seem to solve anything)

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Get an oil sample. It will tell you if the antifreeze is going into the engine.
Do you see white smoke from the stake when going down the road? Is water dripping from the pipe? Yes does sound like a blown head gasket. Need to find out as soon as possible because if it is a head gasket and left unattended it could crack a head. (worst case senerio)
Pressure test the radiator make sure its not plugged. While doing that check for bubbles around the head gasket area. Do that when the engine is cool.
I would guess to say that its a h/gasket.

RETIDEPXE · Jul 20, 2011

If it's a head gasket, it likely is leaking internal at the combustion chamber. Pull the cap off the recovery jug (caution - place a heavy towel over cap when hot, don't burn yourself, leak may only show up when warmed up), run the engine at an idle and there likely will be a steady flow of air bubbles coming up from the engine caused by the combustion. Some recovery jugs are chambered off like my M2 so you have to look pretty hard.

I had a mind boggling coolant leak for a while and discovered it by placing a clear hose on the recovery jug overflow and directed it to a place where it would puddle if draining. Determined it was leaking out the overflow tube only while running down the road. 1st thought, new cap, but no help. Finally I discovered a small nick in the plastic jug's lip where the cap's rubber seal seated as if someone had nicked it with a chisel. The nick was so small it could be found using "feel" only (something an old mechanic taught me back in the 70's), not big enough to be visible. Sanded it down smooth and problem fixed.

Not too different then the fix for an annoying oil leak I had on the front oil galley plug on my C9 that didn't show up until 400,000 mi.s. I would replace the $2 o-ring and it would stop for about 30,000 mi.s and leak again. The o-ring was ripped open half way around it, but not hurt from a cross section view. Bought a new $40 new improved plug with a 17mm hex head hole instead of the molded bolt head. Same leak. Again, using the "feel" check determined the casting in the head where the ring seated was not cleaned up well and was tearing the o-ring after so many hot/cold cycles. Sanded it down smooth to the touch, flushed it out and now it stays shiney Cat p*** yellow.

Let us know what you find on your coolant leak.