Coolant Loss maybe Mystery

[LawnMM]

Some of you know I just had my trans replaced. Was out tinkering last week and noticed this;

Now you might be thinking, that looks low! It was! By a good bit. This truck has NEVER been low and never even budged. Somehow now it's low, okay ??‍

Maybe it burped an air bubble when they were swapping the trans, who knows. Picked up a bottle of premixed, topped it off, good to go, right?

Nope. Was down to minimum again after barely any running around today. We're leaking... somewhere...

Nothing on the floor. Nothing at first glance on the skid plates. Nothing obvious in the engine bay. Ruh roh right?

Made an appointment for Wednesday with the service guy who's been super helpful in the past. Then started looking through the service manual at the process for isolating a leak, things to check.

Dipstick looked fine, oil was clean, smelled fine, nothing I can see in the bottle. No signs of a leak on the thermostat or water pump.

Then I see this one on of the branches coming off the bottle...

Pressurized line with what looks like a bad weld, I found it because of what I saw around it first. Peep this:

Looks like dry saltwater specs on the side of the turbo heat shield, top of the catalytic converter, and if you look waaaaaaay down circled in red what looks like maybe a little on top of the frame beneath this weld.

? at least there's no snot in the oil that I can see so far ?‍? hopefully this business over here on the passenger side is the culprit. I can't figure out where the line goes and doesn't seem to have a part name in the manual.

The line drops down under the EGR cooler and and can't tell if it runs around behind the engine or maybe it's feeding the transmission oil cooler control valve or whatever it's called, but I think that's driver side ??‍

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[TubbyZ28]

good luck. my case the sudden disappearing coolant act was headgasket/block defect. the waterspots i see on your pics just look like water spots, not antifreeze burning off.

also i think the wet spot youre shining the light at is from the ac. mine drips there im pretty sure.

 

[Jason B]

Get you some of this UV Dye, add to the coolant, then find your leak.

 

[airline tech]

I think this is what you are looking at

I would pressure test the system to ensure it is indeed leaking at that point, as from the pic it does not appear wet (just your wet spot) below - Is it Coolant?

With a recent transmission replace, they MAY have disconnected the coolant lines for the Trans Oil Cooler for access, and there MAY be some air bubbles still in the system to work out.
This could be the coolant tank level variation.
I would be more worried if it dropped below minimum, as the level can fluctuate depending on coolant temp.

It routes around the rear of the engine

 

[carnut122]

I think you can borrow a coolant system pressure test kit from O'Reilly's or AZ?

 

[LawnMM]

I think this is what you are looking at

I would pressure test the system to ensure it is indeed leaking at that point, as from the pic it does not appear wet (just your wet spot) below - Is it Coolant?

With a recent transmission replace, they MAY have disconnected the coolant lines for the Trans Oil Cooler for access, and there MAY be some air bubbles still in the system to work out.
This could be the coolant tank level variation.
I would be more worried if it dropped below minimum, as the level can fluctuate depending on coolant temp.

It routes around the rear of the engine

That's it, in your last photo. As well as the ones above routed around behind the motor. What's it feeding?

It was below minimum when I first found it, I topped it off, and it was down to minimize AGAIN shortly thereafter ?

The coolant has to be going somewhere. I'm putting my fitzstick back on today, and getting ready to drop it off tomorrow again, so hopefully this isn't a head gasket, bad cylinder, etc. That's really going to kick me in the balls right now.

 

[shovelhd]

Look at the bright side, it could be a VW. They've been spewing water pumps and thermostat housings for decades, and VW has done nothing for the millions of vehicles that had these failures. There is no aftermarket solution, either.

Best of luck.

 

[LawnMM]

Look at the bright side, it could be a VW. They've been spewing water pumps and thermostat housings for decades, and VW has done nothing for the millions of vehicles that had these failures. There is no aftermarket solution, either.

Best of luck.

Thanks

 

[Rinn69]

Had the same type of issue on my 19. I found the leak by cleaning anywhere it could/would drip from, including the reservoir itself, to eliminate old drips. Ended up replacing the cap as a possible fix, but then found it was leaking from the bottom fitting, with the reservoir being cracked. Replaced it with a new one, ran it through the "burping sequence" and all was good afterwards.
I tried, but couldn't find the thread that explained how to purge the system of air :-(

 

[LawnMM]

These stupid nickel and dime problems are depressing

Gonna share some personal crap. Used to look at truck pamphlets with my father as a kid, he never bought one till just recently (a Ridgeline ?) but it was a fun memory looking at the pamphlet, the options, imagining as a kid what I'd do with a truck.

Fast forward to adult life I get around to the Ranger, loving it, just what I wanted, right? Really enjoying tinkering with it, little upgrades and modifications.

Then the trans pooped the bed. Now there's a mystery coolant leak. Keeps me from going places with it, or making plans to go places with the wife because the travel vehicle is down for repairs.

Now the part you don't know ? received a pretty bad cancer diagnosis this year. My second of my life, got lucky first time around. This time, less so. Stage 4 lung cancer.

Got a really good treatment I'm able to utilize, targeted therapy, no chemo, it's basically the best you could hope for but it's still been kinda rough and the truck has kinda been a hobby and outlet for some of the bad energy.

Driving me a little bonkers that she keeps going down for dumb shit, especially in the first year and initial 6000mi

?‍? Sorry for the rant peeps, rough day, top it off saw some asshole pull a gun on the car next to him on the way to dinner with my wife ?

 

[Chris M]

Holy cow.
I think you can expect many of us here to remember you in prayer and to certainly be empathetic to your plight.
Hang tough as best you can.

 

[shovelhd]

LawnMM, heal up quick.

 

[IdahoRanger]

@LawnMM , Rich sending healing prayers your way.

 

[LawnMM]

Sorry for the tangent, guys, what can I say? Been a rough few days, not so much health just spirit ya know?

Crossing my fingers this is something dumb ?

@LawnMM , Rich sending healing prayers your way.

Thanks buddy

 

[airline tech]

1st off Sorry to hear the bad news, just hang tough


Using this pic as a ref
The Tube with the black marks is the tube you are referencing

The upper branch out - Routes here, back into the Block

The Horizontal Branch - Out (Black Rubber Hose (with White Marks)- Routes here, note this is the tubing in your pic, pulled away from the engine and the upper branch out disconnected

It is a solid tube that branches out into rubber hoses.

One routes to the (Water Pump Housing) next to the Thermostat
2 Routes to the Engine Oil Cooler (The X3 Note Arrow) in the Pic

It looks like it is a complete assembly
Note: One of the Black hoses has a nipple on it for the 3rd hose connection to the Water Pump Housing

Reservoir Hose - Ford (KB3Z-8075-E)

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