I'm looseing antifreeze?

Question

97 dodge dakota no thing in oil but steady drip from exaust pipe 3.9 v6 is it a head gaskit ? if so how do i find witch side or do i replace both?and how? can i do it or take it to shop . how much should it cost thanks

Answer 1

take it to a shop..they will do whats called a pressure test to see where the coolant is coming from..Is the engine overheating..Are you sure that it is coolant?The long life coolant and transmission fluid look the same..There are trans cooler lines that run in that area..It could be one of those that are leaking...

Answer 2

cylinder head developing a leak. from the cooling jacket into the exhaust port of a cylinder. if it was leaking into the combustion chamber, you would have coolant in your oil, and the plug would be fouled with scale

you could have a blown head gasket that would allow it to pass through the exhaust. do you have white smoke comming from exhaust?

You could do it yourself, but I would reccomend that if you never did work like that before than take it to a shop. Different shops have different rates. Lookin' at a couple hundred probably. If you do do it yourself though, get a chiltons manual that will tell you step by step what to do or check on AllData which is the best by my opinion to do any work.

Answer 3

A leak out of the exhaust pipe? That's not coolant, that's condensation that builds up in the exhaust from normal driving.

Otherwise, the #1 source of coolant leaks in Dakota's is the water pump. One of my mechancis has a Dakota. He's on his third water pump. It's easy to spot since the water pump is bolted to the front of the motor, just open the hood and look for the wet spot.

Answer 4

You have an internal coolant leak, i.e., cracked head/blown head gasket. Does the truck smoke white? Does it smell like antifreeze?

Answer 5

sounds like a whole in your radiator