Think I have a coolant leak

Hard to tell as its night time. Pulled in driveway and walking to the garage I hear a weird hissing sound comming from the front of the truck. Grabbed a flashlight and hard to tell the color but I think it was coolant. Popped the hood and there was a little smoke, almost like light steam as if water was sprayed on something hot. Some liquid on the ground but can't tell if its green or not. From what I could tell with the light hoses etc looked fine and nothing is sprayed on the engine bay. Right below the bumper, like right under the fan, theres a rectangle section that I saw what looked like green liquid dripping. 5.0 if that matters

Any ideas what to look for tomorrow, when its day time lol?
*UPDATED - Vid and more pics in post #9
*UPDATED AGAIN - post #11

PICS


heres where it seems to be dripping from


another angle, hard to tell but the circled spots were the drips


and what in the heck happened to my coolant reservoir??? Empty and looks clogged? I'm busy and have pther vehicles but always check stuff, last I checked coolant was fine been awhile though, but the truck is running fine, temp etc are perfect.

Get some sleep so you can get on it first thing in the AM. Waiting for foolish answers will rob you of the needed sleep.

the leak could be from several places. Best to look in the daylight.

Got pics to show just gotta host them and link, and damn, I always check things but somehow my collant tank was empty and looked clogged, wtf?!?! Haven't checked anything in a few weeks but the truck was running perfect.

Pics yet?

jtsmith said:

Pics yet?

Click to expand...

doing now, just put on photobucket

Uploaded, appreciate teh help. I searched on here, but everyones symptons seems to be stuff on top of the engine, my engine bay is clean, or in the rear of which is fine on mine to. Mine seems to be coming from the front. I did notice some spots spray on the passenger side wheel and some parts, but I don't notice any spray coming from anywhere, seemed moreso it got there from driving.

Need better pics.

Warm the engine so it will build pressure. Look for the "highest" wet spot and take good pics in that area. Look real well around the water pump, feel underneath it. Fell underneath all hose connections. Feel under the oil filter cooler housing
You need to remove the lower shroud-it is in the way.

jtsmith said:

Need better pics.

Warm the engine so it will build pressure. Look for the "highest" wet spot and take good pics in that area. Look real well around the water pump, feel underneath it. Fell underneath all hose connections. Feel under the oil filter cooler housing
You need to remove the lower shroud-it is in the way.

Click to expand...

Actually got video of me pulling the shroud and coolant coming out. I kept checking from the top but can't see where any leaks are starting from. But that hissing sound was there again today and could smell the coolant. Uploading the vid and extra pics to pbucket right now.

Vid pulling the shroud down and coolant pouring out


some extra pics, this one is from the top

closer, you can see it

right behind the shroud passenger side

Took the shroud off, got some towels to dry up. Try to figure out where its coming from, will get more pics lol. It looks like somewhere around the two small hoses posted above, but could be wrong.

Vid, either smoke or steam, can't tell. This is a 5.0 so this is the passenger side, driver side seems fine.

vid, some dripping, I thought it was leaking from this point but it's coming down to it from somewhere

Not familiar with the 5.0 but i would think that your best bet is to pull the rad. Its not a huge job on a 4.0 prob more on the v8 but cant be that difficult. Then ide inspest the side tanks for cracks. Find a good rad shop in town that will tell you if its worth fixing or replacing should be a free inspection. I would not leave it with them for inspection but stick around and see for yourself the problems. With winter coming i would want my heater working

Yup,
The radiator is plastic. I think yours is cracked.

Don't be a Hercules on the hose clamp--or you'll crack the new one.

jtsmith said:

Yup,
The radiator is plastic. I think yours is cracked.

Don't be a Hercules on the hose clamp--or you'll crack the new one.

Click to expand...

So I need a new radiator? If so guess that makes sense since hoses look fine and nothing is spraying anywhere, thats what confused the heck out of me b/c searching threads on here seems others had some serious leak issues from hoses, or gaskets, or heater core in the rear. I thought it seemed to be coming from the passenger side of that plastic so there must be a small crack I can't see as smoke came from that side and thats where that whistle sound was coming from.

What about the coolant reservoir? Honestly I've been so busy I thought I checked it but was pry awhile ago as I've never let that happen before. It looks like its clogged/dried up. Will a flush take care of that? How hard is it to replace the radiator on the 5.0, thats the one thing I hate about these trucks is the engine bay is so cramped with the V8, just like where the stupid pcv is located lol?

In most of the pictures the leak seems pretty obvious, follow the rust colored stains up the side of the radiator plastic side tank, you know the one thats got the 2 inch rubber hose attached to it. I think its leaking from there, either cracked tank or split hose. looks like it needed flushed anyways.

Good luck

Hmm well removed the intake to check the radiator hose, damn that clip is a pain. But now it doesn't appear to be leaking when warmed up. But still has that hissing sound and steam/smoke. Going to see if a flush and refill works, maybe it was a fluke and the hose needs replacement and not the radiator b/c it seems to be coming right from that area?

Those rads love to leak at the seam between the plastic tank and the aluminum section. It flows in the seam and its very hard to detect exactly where it comes from. I had to replace mine for an issue like that.

A coolant pressure tester (15 psi) would probably give you a big clue. Usually they leak when very cold though, but when I replaced mine it started to drip in warm weather.

Replace the radiator, clean the overflow tank, add new coolant and be done with it.

You coolant looks like sludge... poor maintenance killed your radiator.

You should change your t stat as well... I'm sure it's corroded and barely working.

May want to chech the return line hose running from the rad to the overflow tank.

That pesky (no pressure overflow) line was plugged on my 5.0... causing the upper hose to collapse (when cooling down). Replaced upper/lower/return lines and flushed rad and return tank.