I Am Just Sick - Back To Square 1

[BulldogTom]

I am not even sure what is wrong, but I have a puddle of green/yellow liquid all over the floor of my garage from my truck.  I just want to give up.

 

Tom

Hollister, CA

[Plymouthy Adams]

Look Murphy in the eye..and make lemonade out of the yellow looking stuff...its hard to kick a man when he is down if he himself is still kicking...

[Mikemomd]

Look Murphy in the eye..and make lemonade out of the yellow looking stuff...its hard to kick a man when he is down if he himself is still kicking...

 

Spoken wisely, grasshopper!!!

[52b3b Joe]

Best is to take a day or two away from the truck to clear your head, then walk back and take a look. I know this from too much experience of messing things up! It is the worst to work so hard on something you care about and then see it only result in something going wrong (the story of my life). A lot of times it turns out to be something simple that was over looked. I'm in the same situation on my truck right now, burned out with a few things going bad, so I am taking some time to fix a few minor things on one of my other cars to get my mind off the truck. I know it is frustrating now but there is always tomorrow. If you are anything like me, you probably feel like taking a sludge hammer to it or maybe pull that hand throttle out and watching it drive away, but in all seriousness my best advice is to let it sit at least a day before working on it again. I know the feeling of defeat all too well. Good luck, you'll get it figured out!

[JBNeal]

if'n that upper rad.hose ain't too tight or have a good seal on the t-stat neck, that rad. will seep out overnight...been thar, done that...and that's why when I rebuild an engine, I only use straight water as coolant until I get all the leaks figgered out and the fluid level stabilizes (it also serves as a final flush before glycol introduction) 

[lugnut123]

It's a whole lot better than having that green stuff in the oil. It's probly somthin simple like a loose hose or them dam gremlins. chin up

[pflaming]

The week prior to the BBQ I replaced a noisy water pump that wasn't leaking, The new one peed on my floor. I removed it and reinstalled it and it still leaked, left a nice puddle on TIm's driveway. But it is leaking less and less, so I'm just monitoring it. Antifreeze is like oil, it seems there is a lot more on the floor than there really is. Get a GOOD flashlight and track it back to the source. 

 

Good luck. 

[buds truck]

keep your chin up Tom. I will betcha its minor.

[MBF]

If its antifreeze and you have any pets, keep them out of the garage until you find the source and stop it.  It only takes a small amount of it to kill a dog or cat.  The sweet smell draws them to it.   You'll eventually get it sorted out and will laugh about this some day.  It's time to take a break and smell some other roses.

[Don Coatney]

As I see it there are two ways to approach this issue.

 

First off pout, cuss the wife out because it must be her fault, bang a spoon on the highchair to get attention, cuss some more, etc.

 

Secondly find and fix the problem. Then report what you found to assist someone else should they ever have the same issue.

 

Your choice

Edited April 16, 2013 by Don Coatney

[ggdad1951]

I tracked my mnor leak in the coolant FINALLY to a SMALL crack in the rad lower tank.  $15 fix but lots of work and frustration to get there.  Relax, walk away and calm down and then as others have said, track it down.

 

I feel your pain!

[B1B Keven]

As I see it there are two ways to approach this issue.

 

First off pout, cuss the wife out because it must be her fault, bang a spoon on the highchair to get attention, cuss some more, etc.

 

Secondly find and fix the problem. Then report what you found to assist someone else should they ever have the same issue.

 

Your choice

 

Don, is this kind of post really necessary?

Did you help him?

What was the reason for your post, to help someone else?

[Dave72dt]

As far as I know, water and antifreeze still run downhill.  Start at the bottom trying to find the source of the leak and work your way up.  There's probably a drop remaining on a sharp edge.  You can use a can of baby powder and puff the dust on likely spots since antifreeze is sticky and some residue shoud remain.  Could be as simple as sealant on a bolt or stud that goes into the water jacket, a gasket that didn't have the surface thoroughly cleaned or a loose clamp.  I know it's discouraging having it on the floor, been there, done that , but unless you say it's coming out the side of the block, it its not a major deal, merely frustrating and dissapointing and a bit more work.

[olddodgeguy]

It looked to me like an attempt to lighten the mood.  B1B Keven, your post wasn't necessary or called for.  If we can't joke about our problems then something is wrong.  Just my 2 cents.  Mike

[B1B Keven]

It looked to me like an attempt to lighten the mood.  B1B Keven, your post wasn't necessary or called for.  If we can't joke about our problems then something is wrong.  Just my 2 cents.  Mike

It wasn't lightning or funny and my post was most definitely called for. This has been handled via PM.

 

Thanks for your 2 cents worth Mike.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I saw the two parts of the answer Don gave..basically nothing gets accomplished by just talking about it..one has to be a bit proacvtive

[drillmastertommy]

I thought frustrations like this were just part of owning old wagons like these, maybe even a right of passage. Much to the annoyance of the wife various areas of our driveway have been subject to coolant or oil spillages!

I did however have to take some time away from my project after a friend helpfully replaced the fuse in my battery charger without telling me and said charger ended up one day going up in flames inside my cab. All new roof paint blistered, sound deadening liquified, new glass all round cracked, new leather seat ruined, new carpet a bit crusty and wooden steering wheel now used for charcoal sketches.

Give me a coolant puddle any day, deep breath, day away and some zen something or another.

[Reg Evans]

Gee willikers !  What'd he use for a fuse....a 16 penny nail ?

[52b3b Joe]

I thought frustrations like this were just part of owning old wagons like these, maybe even a right of passage. Much to the annoyance of the wife various areas of our driveway have been subject to coolant or oil spillages!

I did however have to take some time away from my project after a friend helpfully replaced the fuse in my battery charger without telling me and said charger ended up one day going up in flames inside my cab. All new roof paint blistered, sound deadening liquified, new glass all round cracked, new leather seat ruined, new carpet a bit crusty and wooden steering wheel now used for charcoal sketches.

Give me a coolant puddle any day, deep breath, day away and some zen something or another.

 

Wow, sorry to hear about that! Like you say, I'd take coolant under the truck any day over having it burn up! That's scary to thing about cause it could happen to anyone at anytime!  

[drillmastertommy]

Gee willikers !  What'd he use for a fuse....a 16 penny nail ?

Might as well have, was supposed to be 4 or 5 amps but inside the pile of melted charger we found a 40!

Wow, sorry to hear about that! Like you say, I'd take coolant under the truck any day over having it burn up! That's scary to thing about cause it could happen to anyone at anytime!  

Luckily old car owners and blacksmiths own a lot of fire extinguishers! That was over a year and a half ago and now I'm on the road trucking whenever I can but it did take a good couple of months to build up the enthusiasm to even start cleaning up the mess and carrying on with the build!

[Merle Coggins]

Gee willikers !  What'd he use for a fuse....a 16 penny nail ?

 

Should he have used a .22 bullet in stead?

[Desotodav]

Should he have used a .22 bullet in stead?

A really funny story that one - but reported to be a hoax... http://www.darwinawards.com/legends/legends1998-04.html .

[BulldogTom]

Thanks for all of your input.  After I forgot about it for a day, I went and started looking for the leak.  No tools, just peeking around.  Looks like something is wrong at the upper hose where it attaches to the housing holding the thermostat.  Curious, because almost all of the coolant leaked out.

 

Here is a little history.  No issues or leaks after the round trip to the BBQ.

 

I took the truck to work (20 miles each way) for two days to let my kid have the other car for school purposes because he is still learning to drive the truck.  I noticed that on my way home on the second day that when I got on the freeway after about 4 miles, the temp moved off 160.  That had never happened before.  By the time I got home, it was running about 175.  Not a critical temp.  But I thought I would take a look at doing a flush and fill on the radiator.  Sunday, I took my wife out to drive it so she could try it out in case she needed to use it in an emergency.  Drove about 5 miles on back roads and brought it home.  Temp was about 165 when we parked it.  Monday night, I took my son out for a drive to let him practice.  2 miles to the gas station, pizza parlor, and home.  When we opened the garage to pull the truck in, that is when I saw the puddle.  And it was a big puddle.  In fact, it nearly filled up the oil catch pan I had under the truck for the little oil leak I have. 

 

Last night I finally opened up the engine to look around and I can see coolant at the housing where the upper hose connects to the block.

 

I am real busy at work so not able to get in and take a closer look until this weekend.

 

Thanks for your encouragement.  Was just a little despondent when I saw that big puddle on the floor and realized that I was driving the truck with no coolant in it.  I should have seen it when I was pulling out of the garage, but I was concentrating on not hitting anything when backing out.  It is a tight squeeze to get out of my garage.

 

Will update again after I get a chance to look at it this weekend.

 

Tom

Hollister, CA

[Frank Elder]

It looked to me like an attempt to lighten the mood.  B1B Keven, your post wasn't necessary or called for.  If we can't joke about our problems then something is wrong.  Just my 2 cents.  Mike

He's doing his new job on here...moderator...if he gets too uptight GTK will handle it.

[B1B Keven]

It's been handled.