Burns331

It seems that my engine is slowly consuming coolant. Every few months i have to add a slight amount to keep it in the range on the bottle.

Anybody else experiance this? I have no idea where it could be going. The truck runs and drives fine, doesnt act weird or anything, still gets great fuel economy.

2012 Ecoboost thats just turning 40k.

YoungDiesel

You've found no signs of leaks? O ask this because mine does it as well and a tad of brake fluid every once in a while. I've found no wet spots and if I do its a decent amount all at once which makes me think its water. I need help too! Lol

mcfarmall

Same problem here. Can't find any leaks.

Burns331

Nope, no leaks at all.

You will see a water spot under your truck from condensate from the A/C be sure thats not the wet spot your seeing.

brucesears

Adding small amounts of brake fluid is normal as the pads wear. Coolant is another story, probably a very tiny head gasket leak going into the cylinder. You can pull the plugs, shine a light down onto the top of the piston. If you have a bright shiny piston top and the rest are dark, the shiny one has a coolant leak. It may run like that for thousands of miles and may blow today.

Master of Faster

I've seen plenty of slow external coolant leaks that never resulted in a wet spot on the ground. Sometimes a slow leak in the front of an engine will get dispersed and dried up by the fan and engine heat before it ever turns into a drip. I'd make sure you check the easy things (water pump, hose connections) for any evidence of a leak very closely before you worry too much about a head gasket.

brucesears

Correct, sometimes a water pump will leak for months without seeing any water on the ground. It just evaporates before it gets to the ground.

YoungDiesel

Ive checked my hoses and all around but I think I'm gonna have somebody dye it and check it in a month. I had to do that with my '88 and found a tiny one in the bottom hose but I just added more water every time I had to get a heavy load moved.

packplantpath

And then one day all the coolant gushes out at once!

But this sounds like head gasket to me......

Ron AKA

I've had about 6 cases of lost coolant in cars I have driven, or at least that I can remember. Ford had a rad lead and it ended up on the windshield. Re-cored the rad. Nissan developed a head gasket leak. I could see a white cloud from the exhaust and you could smell glycol in the exhaust. F150 developed an intake manifold gasket leak. No white cloud, but you could smell it a bit in the exhaust. Ford Windstar was losing coolant, but went to the bone yard with a blown transmission, and coolant loss undiagnosed. Probably head or intake gasket. GM blew the core in the passenger compartment heater. Flooded the carpet with coolant. Have not had a water pump leak, but often they evaporate as fast as they leak, and I believe they leave a bit of a deposit in the area. Oh, and I had a Chev that puzzled me for a long time. Could never catch it leaking, but it was losing lots of fluid. Finally found a crack in the plastic overflow/reserve tank that was above the normal fluid level. Only leaked when it got hot and was over the crack!