The list of what my truck is not leaking is shorter than what is seeping out of it’s various mechanisms, reservoirs and hoses so lets start with that:
- Diesel Fuel*
- Transmission oil
- Washer Fluid (I’m counting anything positive as a win at this point)
* Fuel is not leaking out of the truck, but I have not confirmed that it is not leaking into areas of the engine it doesn’t belong. The only way to do that before things turn catastrophic is to send in an engine oil sample for chemical analysis, which I’m in the process of doing. However, my mileage seems reasonable and a simple blot test, wherein you dab the dipstick on paper towel, both of which while not conclusive, suggest there is not a leak.
Diesel leaking past the cylinder heads means that fuel is not expended moving the truck and it essentially thins the oil lubricating various parts of the engine. My truck’s engine is a six cylinder, each with it’s own fuel injector, but it actually has a seventh fuel injector that is used to burn off excess soot when the diesel particulate filter gets full.
The leaks, their progression and my troubleshooting thus far:
- Engine Coolant
- Initially coolant was not leaking, at least that I could detect. Once the got the truck back to Michigan and parked in a garage I discovered a very small leak near the right-front of the engine. It was so small it wasn’t even accumulating until I had it parked on a painted surface. Even then, it’s only creating a puddle of about 1″ over the span of a day or two. I believe I’ve traced the leak to a fitting connecting a hose to the radiator.
- Engine Oil
- It may be weeping the tiniest amount of oil on one of the oil return lines at the bottom of the crankcase breather assembly. It’s not actually enough to create a droplet.
- Of much bigger concern is what appears to be a layer of oil settling to the top of the coolant reservoir. It’s not pure oil, but a much deeper red than the coolant, which I’m guessing is some kind of emulsification of oil and coolant. After 1600 miles this dark layer is roughly a 1/2″ thick so it doesn’t appear to be a major leak.
- Power Steering Fluid
- When I first got to the truck and was going through my inspection checklist I found the steering fluid reservoir was overfilled by roughly 8oz based on the COLD MIN/MAX lines. The tube at the bottom of the reservoir is moist at the elbow, which suggests it has a small weep. I did completely clean the reservoir and surrounding tubes before the trip north so I know this has occurred since then, though there is not enough to actually drip on anything.
- Brake Fluid
- Air System
- The air system has been a little erratic since day one with the truck. I’ll post a more detailed article about how it all works and my efforts to fix it. Essentially, the truck is very slow to build air when it’s first started, which is a condition that has definitely gotten worse in colder temperatures. If it can’t build at least 60 PSI, it won’t release the parking brake and thus you can’t move the truck. It also isn’t always holding air in the correct 110-120 PSI range. As noted on my trip north, it would occasionally drop dangerously close to 60 PSI, which is the point the truck is going to start complaining about it. At 40 PSI the parking brake will automatically set, whether you are moving or not. The air ride seats also started slowing losing air and then as the temps got even colder, they would lose air almost immediately upon being inflated.
- My tears