Coolant leak

[ToddS1971]

I think I know the answer, but is it time for a water pump? See pic below. There is an ever so slight intermittent rattle at idle.

 

[Sean J Blackburn]

your water pump is right above where that is dripping. Might be coming out the weep hole which would mean a new water pump. Usually they will dribble before they catastrophically fail

 

[ToddS1971]

I grabbed the fan and wiggled, and yep, shes a little loose. I think i caught it on the front end, just noticed the slight rattle this morning. Round trip for work is right about 18-19 miles. If i drive for work only, think I'm okay til next weekend or should I not press my luck and park it til the parts arrive and fix immediately. Talking roughly 100 miles til next weekend.

 

[BenchTest]

I grabbed the fan and wiggled, and yep, shes a little loose. I think i caught it on the front end, just noticed the slight rattle this morning. Round trip for work is right about 18-19 miles. If i drive for work only, think I'm okay til next weekend or should I not press my luck and park it til the parts arrive and fix immediately. Talking roughly 100 miles til next weekend.

You can probably get away with it. No guarantees, but probably so. Low RPMs would be a good suggestion if you decide to roll the dice.

 

[aszumilo]

I grabbed the fan and wiggled, and yep, shes a little loose. I think i caught it on the front end, just noticed the slight rattle this morning. Round trip for work is right about 18-19 miles. If i drive for work only, think I'm okay til next weekend or should I not press my luck and park it til the parts arrive and fix immediately. Talking roughly 100 miles til next weekend.

I tried that on mine. I ended up taking a day off of work. Luckily my water pump grenaded about a mile from home, so, I was able to limp it home.

 

[mikeru]

I grabbed the fan and wiggled, and yep, shes a little loose. I think i caught it on the front end, just noticed the slight rattle this morning. Round trip for work is right about 18-19 miles. If i drive for work only, think I'm okay til next weekend or should I not press my luck and park it til the parts arrive and fix immediately. Talking roughly 100 miles til next weekend.

I guess my question is whether you’re willing to deal with breaking down half way to or from work. I probably wouldn’t chance it if it was me.

 

[jws123]

Whatever you do dont let it overheat you will/warp heads/blow the engine if ya go to far.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Risky. I personally wouldn't chance it. My luck isn't that good...when I've tried to push things like that, it resulted in greater (more expensive) repairs or a tow. But maybe you have better luck. You could try loosening your truck's radiator cap to the first notch ..so it doesn't build up as much pressure. That the old trick.

Love to know if you make it

 

[GTyankee]

when your engine is COLD
reach under the water pump, bottom center, there is a Weep hole, all water pumps should have it.

If the hole is Wet, the water pump is about done.

With the Rams, at 60,000 miles, they seem to begin to fail

Good Luck

 

[ToddS1971]

Day 1 of to work and back, and no issues. Checked after getting home to see if the leak has gotten worse since Saturday, and it’s not leaking. Absolute bone dry on the crank pulley and frame below. Insert scratching head emoji…shouldn’t the leak be getting worse? Looseness feels about he same as Saturday. Not complaining here, but wondering why the leak stopped.

 

[aszumilo]

Day 1 of to work and back, and no issues. Checked after getting home to see if the leak has gotten worse since Saturday, and it’s not leaking. Absolute bone dry on the crank pulley and frame below. Insert scratching head emoji…shouldn’t the leak be getting worse? Looseness feels about he same as Saturday. Not complaining here, but wondering why the leak stopped.

Modern miracles. Things happen sometimes that you have no clue how..

On my 04, dealer told me I needed a new water pump (at around 140,000miles), they said it was weeping. Got home and checked it, no movement, no wetness anywhere. Put another 60k miles on it. Still the original pump when I totaled the truck.

 

[mikeru]

Day 1 of to work and back, and no issues. Checked after getting home to see if the leak has gotten worse since Saturday, and it’s not leaking. Absolute bone dry on the crank pulley and frame below. Insert scratching head emoji…shouldn’t the leak be getting worse? Looseness feels about he same as Saturday. Not complaining here, but wondering why the leak stopped.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume you checked your coolant level when you got home. The fact that there was nothing leaking out is troubling. If you have play in the water pump shaft you definitely need to replace it. But I have never seen a water pump that was leaking coolant stop leaking unless there wasn't enough coolant left to leak out.

 

[ToddS1971]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume you checked your coolant level when you got home. The fact that there was nothing leaking out is troubling. If you have play in the water pump shaft you definitely need to replace it. But I have never seen a water pump that was leaking coolant stop leaking unless there wasn't enough coolant left to leak out.

Yep…it was about halfway between the low and full mark in the overflow tank and just below the neck in the radiator….where it always is. I was stumped too by it not leaking. The slight rattle is still there, just didn’t leak today. Definitely still changing it when parts arrive.

 

[ToddS1971]

Made it through day 3 driving to work and back and no issues. It has started leaking again, but not much. Only does it after shutting off for about a minute, then stops. No drips at all when it’s running. All parts have arrived but that magic purple mopar coolant. Yes I know there’s other coolants I could use, but no I don’t want to. Purple is in it now and whatever is lost when I pull the pump is getting replaced with purple. I just did a complete flush last fall, so I’ll simply reuse what drains from the radiator and replace whatever hits the ground. Looseness of the pump feels about the same as last Saturday when I discovered it leaking.

 

[BenchTest]

Made it through day 3 driving to work and back and no issues. It has started leaking again, but not much. Only does it after shutting off for about a minute, then stops. No drips at all when it’s running. All parts have arrived but that magic purple mopar coolant. Yes I know there’s other coolants I could use, but no I don’t want to. Purple is in it now and whatever is lost when I pull the pump is getting replaced with purple. I just did a complete flush last fall, so I’ll simply reuse what drains from the radiator and replace whatever hits the ground. Looseness of the pump feels about the same as last Saturday when I discovered it leaking.

Makes sense on the leak rate. Internal seal is starting to go and during normal operation, the cooling system has relatively low pressure. When you shut it off, that pressure spikes, therefore you're getting that pressure releasing through the failing seal.

 

[Jeepwalker]

But OTOH, hot coolant washes bearing grease out...

Love to hear how this works out. Hope you don't see a fan blade mysteriously jump through your hood...


Edit: Usually in the old days that was one of those pretty blue parts store flex fans that liked to leap through

 

[rzr6-4]

If i drive for work only, think I'm okay til next weekend or should I not press my luck and park it til the parts arrive and fix immediately. Talking roughly 100 miles til next weekend.

I dealt with a small coolant leak for 6 months before realizing it had been a bad water pump the whole time. Definitely wouldn't do that on purpose, but I don't think its defcon 1 to get it replaced either.

I tried that on mine. I ended up taking a day off of work. Luckily my water pump grenaded about a mile from home, so, I was able to limp it home.

My ram is on its 4th pump in 4-ish years, but never had any catastrophic failure. Maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[BenchTest]

My ram is on its 4th pump in 4-ish years, but never had any catastrophic failure. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Those are awful numbers. I wouldn't say "lucky" fits 4 pumps in 4-ish years, lol.

 

[rzr6-4]

Those are awful numbers. I wouldn't say "lucky" fits 4 pumps in 4-ish years, lol.

Lol, definitely not lucky that I'm on my fourth, almost sold it at one point because of it, but just lucky that it never blew up and left me stranded. I always carry a gallon of water in the toolbox and I was always able to limp home on that.

 

[mdc1990zr1]

Made it through day 3 driving to work and back and no issues. It has started leaking again, but not much. Only does it after shutting off for about a minute, then stops. No drips at all when it’s running. All parts have arrived but that magic purple mopar coolant. Yes I know there’s other coolants I could use, but no I don’t want to. Purple is in it now and whatever is lost when I pull the pump is getting replaced with purple. I just did a complete flush last fall, so I’ll simply reuse what drains from the radiator and replace whatever hits the ground. Looseness of the pump feels about the same as last Saturday when I discovered it leaking.

My 5.7L Chevy motor did that. I could drive all day and not leak or smell anything while driving. If I stopped and went into a store, I would come out to a puddle beneath the water pump. One day, I stopped and waiting a few minutes, and was able to see the leak push thru the weep hole. When you stop, the heat soak of the engine was probably enough to push the coolant past the old seal and out the weep hole. Changed that water pump and solved that problem. OEM water pump, all the way!