try some stop leak?

 

ive heard stop leak is bad for diesels, not sure though. They were saying to basically trash it and buy a new one but it still runs great and doesnt leak a noticeable amount so i figure i might as well drive it till it gets worse before i replace the whole thing. Im thinking ill drain the coolant and flush it then put some stop leak in the new coolant.

 

If you have a leak I would not flush it. Crud may be all thats keeping the coolant in.

Where is this spot / leak?

 

First off, stop leak is crap. It'll work, but stop leak isn't smart enough to just run to the leak and leave everything else alone. It'll clog up your cooling system. Radiator, heater core, etc will all be plugged up by "stop leak"

It doesn't stop the leak, it stops up vital parts in the cooling system and can make the engine overheat, especially when talking about an IDI diesel, that needs every bit of it's cooling system to stay cool.

Second off.....

Now let me get this straight...they said you have a pinhole.....in the block?

How in the world are you going to get a pinhole in a cast iron block that leaks coolant? That block would have to rot a crazy amount before it would start to leak coolant.

Blocks don't just develop pinholes in the cooling system jackets. It's not thin like the aluminum in a radiator.

I highly doubt your engine block has rotted both inside the cooling passages and on the outside to the point where you've got a physical pinhole and coolant leak.

Also a pinhole would spray out all over the place under pressure, not drip.

Look over the freeze plugs. They can rot sometimes and cause coolant leaks.

I've got almost 200,000 miles on my 96 in my signature, and all of that is up north in the salt laden roads of New England, and my block doesn't have any pinhole coolant leaks in the block.

I've worked on dozens of 6.5s and 6.2s, including one K3500 that was a commercial plow truck. The exhaust manifolds rotted from all the salt to the point where there was a 1/4" gap between the manifold and the cylinder head on one port, and the block never developed a pinhole coolant leak.

The only time i've seen a pinhole in a cast iron block was on a 2.0L Neon 4-cyl when a connecting rod exploded and the crank tried to shove a piece of the rod through the crankcase.

Perhaps they meant a crack? But even then a crack would pour coolant out not drip it. Going by your username i'm guessing your from AZ? If so i don't think you'd get cold enough weather to crack the block from a poor coolant/water mixture freezing up.



I think you need to take it away from the idiots at that shop before they cost you serious money with their stupidity.

My advice?

Get in your truck, RUN from that shop and never return.


But that's just me.

 

I have used some leak stopper over here that is MADE in the USA. It was designed for marine diesels. For the life of me I can't remember what it is called. I can see the bottle in my head. It's a while bottle with blue writing.

Anyway, I am with dave on this one. I have seen plenty of aluminium heads get pinholes, but not blocks. I haven't seen any cast iron blocks or heads pinhole. Normally water leaks around the engine is either a weak hose, a pinholed steel water pipe or a pinholed core plug.

Can you hire a coolant system pressuriser from a autoparts store and test yourself???

If your going to use a water leak stopper, You want a liquid based version, not a tablet or turd looking thing.

 

i used the stop leak before i cant remember what it was called the name started with a R and it said head gasket fix on it it had copper in it that would block the leak worked well been 3 years still no leaks

 

That was the thing i agree with dave i couldnt see how a pin hole would develope in the block especially because it doesnt actively leak, it doesnt spray, it doesnt drip from what i can see. All he saw was a little spot of surface rust. He said since it didnt look like it was coming from the head gasket he thought there was a pinhole in the block. Im glad to see im not the only one who though that sounded kind of crazy. I figured if it was eaten though to the outside and a pinhole it would have to be completely chewed up on the inside. They were telling me to sell the truck or replace the engine and i wasnt going to do that when it runs great just has a "pinhole" Ill see if i can pressure test the coolant system or have it done. Also he specifically said pinhole not crack, i even went out and looked at it and there is nothing visable just a small patch or rust. Ill see if i can get a pic and post it.

 

Boy if a spot of rust is a hole in the block I better sell all my stuff quick.

Glad to here that that seemed strange to you too.

 

heres a picture, i can see where it would look like a hole just from where it looks like water was comming from but im not sure. The freeze plug is also leaking it looks like. What do u guys think?

 

Looks like something from above is leaking. Take filter out of the way and post up new pic.

 

the leak starts where the white is, everything is clear past what u can see in the picture.

 

If it was me personally, you can buy some UV dye over here. you add it to the cooling system, run the truck up to temp and then shine a UV light around. They use it for oil leaks too.

Autozone sell it

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Quest-8-oz-cooling-system-UV-dye-with-measure-and-pour/_/N-265k?itemIdentifier=835773_0_0_

and the light

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Quest-Dual-purpose-UV-light/_/N-265k?itemIdentifier=898335_0_0_

don't drive the truck if you can help it, just run it to temp on the drive

 

thats a good idea so i could see where its coming from exactly.

 

Bingo

 

Looks to be above the freeze plugs, so it wouldn't be them.

Could've been from a hose failure before you bought it, or a leaking radiator.

Remember the fan will blow coolant all over the engine bay.

I'd say your fine.

And i'd also say that shop is BEYOND crazy.

Never go back there, ever.

 

Yea im not going to go back there, i thought they sounded crazy when they were talking to me and telling me that i need a new engine and that an engine would be 15k atleast lol. The upper radiator hose was replace recently but im not sure if it was just leaking down there. Either way im probably just going to scrape at it and see if i can see anything, im probably just going to keep driving like normal and keep an eye on my coolant and for leaks and see if i notice anything.

 

Spray some brake cleaner or equivalent on there and wipe it off. Observe the area and also see if you smell coolant. if the leak is very small then you may smell it "boiling" off before you ever spot it. Check over the bypass hose from the water pump to the water crossover as well. Those hoses tend to get overlooked and can begin to leak over time like other hoses.

Also check the "quick disconnect" for the heater core that comes out of the water crossover. Be gentle, as they tend to snap with little to no force. They can leak from where the aluminum line clips into the fitting. A leak from there would drip down and run down the engine block.

I know when my water crossover on my K-5 was weeping from the gaskets i had little yellow trails of dry coolant.

That looks almost orange, so it's certainly a dexcool trail of coolant.

Do yourself a favor. Flush the entire cooling system and get rid of the dexcool. Run plain ol' green anti-freeze.

I run that in my trucks and it's fine.

In fact, i'm due for a flush out on my pickup. Last time was when i did the water pump back in 2008.

 

Thanks for the advise ill try those things in a few days and see how it goes. I can tell its dexcool and im not a fan of that stuff either ive had it chew up a coolant system on another vehicle i had.

 

Dexcool took out the thermostats in my 96. They would open, and get stuck open. i'd loose cab heat and the temp gauge would plummet and stay just above 160.

Fuel mileage was awful too.

New t-stats and dumping the dex cured it.

 

is there a common way to flush the system on these trucks i didnt see a port that i can flush though. What has worked best for people on here? Im going to pull the radiator and clean it out best as i can also. Im thinking ill get one of the coolant flushes and run it through till operating temp, then pull the radiator and drain it and then flush with the hose till clear.

 

I would drop some of that dye in the system prior to flushing. No point throwing new coolant at it until you know you don't have a leak

 

yea ill do that first

That should work fairly well.

After flushing the system with water drain the radiator at the least. That way you can get the proper 50/50 coolant/water mix.

If you flush the block, it'll end up with well over 90% water, and i've seen first hand what water freezing in a 6.5 block does. The block had a huge crack all the way up the side by the starter.

Not good.

How should i flush the block then so i dont end up with just a ton of water in there? I could flush everything then just add straight antifreeze to the radiator and hopefully that will mix with whats left in the block and make a decent mix. Do u just have to fill from the overflow tank with these engines?

 

Provided you start the vehicle up after the flush and put in antifreeze, I don't see any problem. I never had a problem following a flush and refill

 

when i did my headgasket month or so ago i installed one of those T flush things on the line going to the heater core i removed the hose coming from the resivior pulled it under the inner fender and most of the water came back out i than filled the system with 4 gallons of pure dexcool so I'm sure i have enough antifreeze some day i will test it and see what mix i am at

 

ive seen a couple people added the T, it makes sense so i can do it again in a few years.
like this guy

 

havent flushed the coolant yet but i got under it and scraped at it with a screwdriver and a heavy duty gasket scraper since i figured if there was a hole the space behind it would have th be completely rusted out and it was fine. Also cleaned it up and added some uv dye to see if it leaked and nothing and ive been driving it for 2 days. I didnt buy much of what the shop said but now im not even going to worry about it anymore, also they said a bunch of stuff was wrong with my brakes like i needed 2 new rotors and a new caliper on the right side and new lines. I checked it and their fine, the rotors still had room to be turned and can probably be turned another time also, the caliper was fine and lines were fine. Just had to replace the pads and turn rotors like any other brake job. So basically that shop was a complete joke lol