Coolant leak...what to do

[kses123]

Most likely the water pump. Mine is just now starting to leak too. It is the silver part at the front of the engine. Right behind the cooling fan.

 

[Oleblack03]

I would check the hose at the bottom o the reservoir and the lower radiator hose, this are near that area

 

[DenaliAK]

Tracked it down a little further. It's coming from right behind the fan in the center between it and the engine. Can't see exact spot without taking off air intake.

It is now leaking at a pretty good clip. Gonna have to fix it one way or another soon.
Sent by my communicator

 

[Rivieraracing]

If you are talking about behind your belt driven fan, then it's gotta be the water pump since the fan is directly mounted to the water pump pulley!! Get underneath your truck just slightly in front of your fan and look up and back towards the engine block and with a flashlight you should be able to see the bottom of the water pump. Some water pumps have a weep hole and some don't but look closely and sounds like you will see where your water leak is coming from!! That's how I found mine when my pump all of a sudden started to fail and I was loosing quite a bit of coolant!

Good luck!

 

[DenaliAK]

That sounds like the right spot, Chris. So I need a whole new water pump, I can't just get a gasket or something?

soooooooo broke right now....lol

 

[Who's ur caddy]

I had the same problem, in my case it was the water pump. Pretty easy to change

 

[Oleblack03]

Yes sir you will need a water pump, they aren't too bad on price

 

[Rivieraracing]

That sounds like the right spot, Chris. So I need a whole new water pump, I can't just get a gasket or something?

soooooooo broke right now....lol

Scott, you just need to get under there and see where it's leaking at!! Hopefully the gasket did fail and that would be all you would have to replace, but without seeing exactly what's going on it's only a guess on what's going on!! If you've had your truck at long as I think you have and have never done a water pump before on it, I'd bet it needs to be replaced and if you do end up replacing it get a new thermostat as well since you will be right there!!
Just get a good flashlight and take a good look under there, if it's too hard to figure out where the coolant is coming from, try to clean the area all around the water pump as best as you can so that hopefully you can see better after the next drive you take with the truck! If you are loosing that much coolant you are bound to find the problem pretty easily!

 

[pwtr02ss]

I would put money on the water pump. like others said, get a new t-stat also. They are super easy to change if you have any mechanical experience what so ever.

 

[DenaliAK]

Well, it was the water pump leaking. Good call there, guys. That is an enormous water pump, BTW. But there was more (of course). The fan clutch or clutch fan or whatever it is was wobbling all around. Somehow that got stripped or something, so had to replace that, too. Got reman water pump, thermostat, and fan clutch replaced for about $450. I just got a job working way the hell up north on the oil fields, so I didn't have time to mess with it myself and I wanted it to be good to go for the wife, so I took the truck to my mechanic. Could have saved a bit on labor, but it got done in about 2 hours, so I'm happy.

The good news is the job. I could afford it. 2 weeks on/2 off, they fly me home for my off time, and starting pay of about $75k/year just turned this poverty stricken year around!