Andy_C
New Member
Hi Everyone,
I am considering buying a 2003 SVT Lightning. I had my mechanic go through it and everything checks out except that it mysteriously looses coolant.
He put almost a gallon in the reservoir tank right when he first started going over the truck. There was a tiny bit of coolant pooled up in a little recess area on where the tank is bolted to the body. He determined this could either be from where someone at the dealership spilled a bit when topping it off or from the radiator cap leaking a bit and loosing pressure.
He wiped up everything from outside the tank and the little pool of coolant in the recess. He drove it aggressively for about 30 minutes. When he got back to the shop the coolant level in the tank had gone down by 1/2". There wasn't any evidence of the radiator cap leaking and there wasn't any coolant in the little recess area like there was before. The drop in level could be just from settling the air bubbles out of the system after refilling it.
He told me to drive it home and "have fun with it" and to make sure the engine saw plenty of load (yea right, like he really had to tell me that). He said to then check the level when I got home. He made a little mark where the level was with a sharpie. When I got home (about an hour drive, split evenly between interstate and surface streets) I checked the level. It had gone down by about 1/4" and the little pool in the recess area on the outside of the tank was back. It was also kind of sticky on the outside of the tank under the cap.
There is zero evidence of any leaks. No pooling under the truck, checked the valley under the lower intake manifold, checked the heater core and looked for wet carpet inside the cab (none). There is ZERO trace of the sickly sweet smell you get from coolant in the exhaust or anywhere else for that matter. Still, the coolant is going somewhere.
This truck has 55,000 miles and some good mods. It pegs the factory boost gauge easily. No aftermarket gauge so there is no easy way to know how much boost it is running right now. It runs AMAZINGLY well and is STRONG. I am wondering if there is any way that the high boost pressure could be blowing back into the cooling system and over-pressurizing it.
I am going to try replacing the radiator cap and driving it some more to see if that fixes it.
Do you guys have any other ideas? My primary concern is that there is some small problem right now, maybe a tiny little leak in a head somewhere that is allowing engine pressures to reach the cooling system. Or very early indications of a blown head gasket (is that even possible?).
Naturally, the dealer is pressuring me. They have "someone else" that is interested in the truck who is willing to pay more (big surprise there) and they don't want to "loose out on a sale".
Thanks for any ideas and suggestions. I'm really hoping that you guys will have some insight for possible internal engine problems, the big money repair kind of things. I have tried searching Google and I see that there is a crossover pipe problem. I think that is on the older models though and there would be ponding on top of the block. So enough rambling, thanks for the help.
I am considering buying a 2003 SVT Lightning. I had my mechanic go through it and everything checks out except that it mysteriously looses coolant.
He put almost a gallon in the reservoir tank right when he first started going over the truck. There was a tiny bit of coolant pooled up in a little recess area on where the tank is bolted to the body. He determined this could either be from where someone at the dealership spilled a bit when topping it off or from the radiator cap leaking a bit and loosing pressure.
He wiped up everything from outside the tank and the little pool of coolant in the recess. He drove it aggressively for about 30 minutes. When he got back to the shop the coolant level in the tank had gone down by 1/2". There wasn't any evidence of the radiator cap leaking and there wasn't any coolant in the little recess area like there was before. The drop in level could be just from settling the air bubbles out of the system after refilling it.
He told me to drive it home and "have fun with it" and to make sure the engine saw plenty of load (yea right, like he really had to tell me that). He said to then check the level when I got home. He made a little mark where the level was with a sharpie. When I got home (about an hour drive, split evenly between interstate and surface streets) I checked the level. It had gone down by about 1/4" and the little pool in the recess area on the outside of the tank was back. It was also kind of sticky on the outside of the tank under the cap.
There is zero evidence of any leaks. No pooling under the truck, checked the valley under the lower intake manifold, checked the heater core and looked for wet carpet inside the cab (none). There is ZERO trace of the sickly sweet smell you get from coolant in the exhaust or anywhere else for that matter. Still, the coolant is going somewhere.
This truck has 55,000 miles and some good mods. It pegs the factory boost gauge easily. No aftermarket gauge so there is no easy way to know how much boost it is running right now. It runs AMAZINGLY well and is STRONG. I am wondering if there is any way that the high boost pressure could be blowing back into the cooling system and over-pressurizing it.
I am going to try replacing the radiator cap and driving it some more to see if that fixes it.
Do you guys have any other ideas? My primary concern is that there is some small problem right now, maybe a tiny little leak in a head somewhere that is allowing engine pressures to reach the cooling system. Or very early indications of a blown head gasket (is that even possible?).
Naturally, the dealer is pressuring me. They have "someone else" that is interested in the truck who is willing to pay more (big surprise there) and they don't want to "loose out on a sale".
Thanks for any ideas and suggestions. I'm really hoping that you guys will have some insight for possible internal engine problems, the big money repair kind of things. I have tried searching Google and I see that there is a crossover pipe problem. I think that is on the older models though and there would be ponding on top of the block. So enough rambling, thanks for the help.
