Uh oh! Fluid leaks appearing after the "polar vortex"

[christw]

Well, after this last cold snap my truck has decided to expunge fluids in ways that it should not.

When I went out this morning I saw a couple spots of this, which appears to have leaked from the back of the engine and/or oil drain plug these past few days.

Other things I saw at a glance: oil was 1 qt low, coolant was low... this isn't looking good, is it?

Oh well, if she's done for it's time for a V8.

 

[Ranger Nick]

That kinda looks like coolant. Did the oil look milky or did the coolant have brown spots in it? Also, pressure test the cooling system and it will tell you whether or not you have a problem. How cold did it get in Ohio? It got pretty cold here in southern Indiana. I think we hit -8 with wind chills around -25 or so.

 

[Mark_88]

Also kinda looks like foam from condensation in the oil...and if your oil is low could indicate blow-by...

Are you putting additives in your oil like Lucas? That stuff is notorious for foaming up and spewing out of the engine...where it will eventually dribble down onto your driveway...

Coolant could be a sign of improper mix or air bubble...improper mix would mean it got too cold for the mix and may have frozen...this is not good as it tends to break the weaker parts of the cooling system...air bubbles can lead to coolant being ejected from the overflow after the engine cools off or as it sits idling...

Air bubbles are easy to fix...usually...just burp the system properly...

 

[jhammel85]

I found the same thing under mine. In the same area, I reached under the truck and noticed this snotty oil under it. I got up under it and looked at the oil pan where I saw quite a bit of oil that had a lot of green in it ( I have a 2.9 so you know oil is every where!)

I also noticed some dust inside the engine bay, mainly on some hoses, that also had the same color. Then I remembered how before I parked it, I drove on a highway that was heavily brined the day before. So I basically chalked it up to that.

Today it's been raining and the truck has been driven the last few days. I'll have to take another look under there to see if it washed away. My oil and coolant was completely clean by the way.

 

[christw]

Well, I've got Castrol GTX High Mileage in the truck right now. No other junk. The coolant was always mildly dirty from a cracked drivers side head that I replaced when I bought the truck. It looks grimy at the bottom of the (empty) coolant overflow tank but I can't really judge. The rad was nearly full but I couldn't get a good look in there unfortunately. I checked the oil, it was at the bottom of the dipstick, just past the add 1 QT line. It has been dripping at the back of the oil pan a tiny bit off the back of the trans. It looks like it's blowing back down the underbody.

jhammel, I too noticed some messy junk in my engine bay on the drivers side. I wanted to make the same conclusion but the junk has been dropping little 6-8 inch diameter puddles for 2-3 days at least. I had not taken serious note of it until it was bright and dry this morning. Neither the junk in the bay or on the truck was there before this last snow.

As for temps, it was -5 for at least two days. I tried to let it sit but did have to drive the truck under some protest. I didn't notice this particular problem until our last post-vortex snow though. I worked it hard towing people from ditches for about 2 hours.

All of this is making me think head/gasket problems... again.

 

[jhammel85]

I'd clean off what you can on the pan or whatever and see if it comes back. My truck looks completely clean now.....clean with fresh black oil on the pan as usual. I consider that normal. Guess I should do those valve covers again.

I hope I'm right. For both of us! The snotty stuff doesn't smell like coolant right? Mine doesn't really have a scent and like i said, both oil and antifreeze is clean.

 

[jhammel85]

and one more thing, If you want to check to see if theres compression in the cooling system, remove the rad cap, put a rubber glove on it, remove the coil wire and turn the engine over. If it blows up or flutters, you've got a cracked head / failed head gasket.

 

[christw]

Well, the truck was on the backburner until a guide pulley on my Accord locked up. Just added two quarts of oil and looked in the coolant overflow... yeah. Head gasket. Pretty sure this has been an issue since I bought the truck. I didn't catch it sooner because of the cracked drivers side head I had replaced 800 miles ago. I'd assumed it explained some of the symptoms. I've only flushed it once since. And it's always blown more white smoke than it should. Guess I should've put 2 and 2 together.

Still runs for now!

 

[Mark_88]

Someone suggested pepper in the coolant as a temporary fix...I've used that "liquid aluminum" and it worked pretty good to stop minor leaks...but they say it can stop up your heater core...didn't have a problem with that in either truck when I used it and I still have the same heater core that I had 10 years ago and two rads ago...

Might help keep the white smoke down til you can fix it properly...

 

[christw]

Pepper? Never heard of that one. I tried stop leak a little while back for a minor radiator leak and it cost me my admittedly crappy upper and lower hoses. Heater still blows a solid 175 F though!

Fixing it properly would consist of a whole new driveline. I think I'll just wait until it gives up the ghost and reassess then.