Coolant Leak Question

[bmcnabb]

Just wanted to introduce myself with a first post and of course a question.

I have a 1995 Ram 1500 4X4 with the 5.9L and 212K miles. I just purchased the truck before Christmas and am going through everything to see what is going on with the truck.

The first thing i noticed is that i have the "running water" sound in the dash. No big deal i figured that was due to air in the cooling system and it needs to be burped (thanks to the board search i believe i am good on this). This then leads into my next question... How is the air getting in? Today i noticed coolant dripping from the bell housing of the transmission. Not much but enough to be noticeable. Does anyone have an idea where this could be coming from?

When i purchased the truck it had been sitting for some time (six months) and had not been driven so there was no spots on the ground from and fluids. I figure its a pretty good truck since i drove it home 220 miles.

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[iSlacker816]

for it to run down the top of the trans its gotta be a heater hose leaking or head gasket. there isn't much else to leak from the back of the engine.

 

[Okiespaniel]

Welcome to RF!

There's two water jacket freeze plugs on the back of the engine that could be leaking.

But before you get all paranoid do a careful check. I though mine might have been doing the same thing, but it turned out to be my block heater, saving a very expensive repair.

As long as you have that leak, your system will continue to get air in it and you'll hear water going through your heater core.

 

[bmcnabb]

Thanks for the ideas. i will take a look at the heater hose tomorrow. I doubt that it is a head gasket... but i will do some poking around the engine bay and below the truck.

 

[SmokedRam]

The freeze plugs on the back of my block started leaking in my 96 Ram 1500...I had them replaced when I had the trans rebuilt.