Radiator, and puke tank empty...

[97Dodge]

Well i just bought this dodge back a while ago, and noticed a problem about 2 weeks ago. Looked under the hood one time, to check up on it, do an inspection or whatever have ya. Anyway looked at the puke tank for the radiator and noticed it was empty. Well i took the radiator cap off as well and noticed it was pretty low too. Seeing as how much antifreeze cost i dont want to run it through it, then leak it out. I can NOT find any leaks anywhere. I replaced the pipe that goes into the motor off the radiator cause it looked to of had some water on it, well sure enough it didnt solve it. I cant tell if its burning it either, because it doesnt smell sweet or anything. This happens all the time. i can run to town (8 miles away) filled the puke tank, and radiator, get to town and its empty. Now other times i can run for a long time, and the puke tank is still full. What in the world could this be??

 

[Ocelot]

With no leak under the truck, could be head gasket. Check the oil for signs of water. any white smoke out of the tailpipe?

 

[streak379]

If its not leaking out onto the ground or into the cab of the truck, it would most likely be the head gasket unfortunately.

 

[idahododgeguy]

Yea check for water in the oil in the engine. But I had a similar issue with mine when i first bought it, I would fill it up and it would slowly disappear over like a month and a half or so. Finally on a snowy day a tiny drop of antifreeze showed up on the ground and I found just the littlest pin hole in the radiator, put in some stop leak and haven't had any issues since. So don't loose hope it could be something simple like that.

 

[97Dodge]

Well when i first bought the truck, it leaked oil assuming it was the valve cover gaskets i re-did them. White gunk all over the inside of the covers, cleaned em up all that and got new gaskets, and put some crap in the oil that helps the motor, foget what its called but it also looks like where the hoses that go into the cab (heater core hoses) have a line of old water that had previously dripped down. So maybe would that tie into it? Lol hate to sound like a nag but the check engine light came on and had 2 codes one of them saying "catalyst system efficiency below threshold (cylinder bank #1)" But if it was a head gasket goin out wouldnt it smell a bit sweet outta the exhaust?

 

[smiley]

One thing you can do to know if it is headgasket is take a shop rag one of those red ones. Put the reg over the exhaust pipe and see if it tries to push it out or suck it in. Apparently when the head gaskets get bad the reg will get sucked in some rather than pushing it out easily. I am not sure why this works but had a mechanic tell me it is a easy test to try.

 

[97Dodge]

Alrighty thanks smiley, ill give it a try. If nothing else im plannin on just buyin a head set its only $80 so just buy that and try it.

 

[PIPTHEREDRAM]

Could it be the elbow hose on the thermostat?

 

[Nick_rp]

To add to what everyone else said, a common oversight would be the Intake plenum gasket. If your not finding leaks, it's probably getting burnt off in the combustion chamber, and if it is the intake gasket, it would most likely be a slower leak leaving time for the evidence to get burned away. If nothing else its alot easier of a job then head gasket