This is a D6T S# LAY00704
This machine has been sitting the last 3 weeks waiting for me, and I just got to it today.
Their mechanics story.......The machine is going through 6 gallons of coolant a day. When you run it hard, coolant will spit from the overflow tube. I have cleaned the radiator core, removed and cleaned the belly pans. I have not been able to find an external leak anywhere.
The owners story (He showed up right after their mechanic left). I repeated what the mechanic told me and got "Well, I don't think that's right." He says he was told that the coolant loss was about 2 gallons over several days and that coolant wasn't added until the machine started to run hotter. He isn't aware of any leaks that have been seen.
The operators story.......He seems to think there has been coolant leaking from around the radiator neck because its been wet there. He also says that when working a machine horizontally on a slope, the water loss seems to be worse when the left side of the machine is downhill.....versus the right side being downhill. I'm like at this point.
First thing I do is check the coolant level and its perfect, right in the middle of the site glass before cold start up. I then pull the engine oil dipstick......
Its good, no signs of water that I can see. I then remove the radiator cap and it is still under pressure from the last time the machine was ran 3 weeks earlier. At this point nothing is making sense.
I start the machine to let it warm up and during the warm up I notice a small amount of what I thought was smoke from under the radiator........its the end of the crankcase breather hose. I then remove the hose from the breather housing so I can watch what is happening......
Yeah, its steam but not a crazy amount. I cleaned the inside of the housing where the hose hooks up and continued to run it at idle. No doubt it is steam, little water droplets formed.
Here is my question for you Cat guys. Is there anywhere inside this engine that would create steam........with no pressure loss in the cooling system at operating temp @ idle? Loss of coolant possibly at high idle only through the radiator overflow line? (unproven as of yet)? ...........but the cooling system remains under pressure for 3 weeks? With no signs of coolant in the engine oil and no external leaks??
Someone help me out here because I'm missing something.
This machine has been sitting the last 3 weeks waiting for me, and I just got to it today.
Their mechanics story.......The machine is going through 6 gallons of coolant a day. When you run it hard, coolant will spit from the overflow tube. I have cleaned the radiator core, removed and cleaned the belly pans. I have not been able to find an external leak anywhere.
The owners story (He showed up right after their mechanic left). I repeated what the mechanic told me and got "Well, I don't think that's right." He says he was told that the coolant loss was about 2 gallons over several days and that coolant wasn't added until the machine started to run hotter. He isn't aware of any leaks that have been seen.
The operators story.......He seems to think there has been coolant leaking from around the radiator neck because its been wet there. He also says that when working a machine horizontally on a slope, the water loss seems to be worse when the left side of the machine is downhill.....versus the right side being downhill. I'm like at this point.
First thing I do is check the coolant level and its perfect, right in the middle of the site glass before cold start up. I then pull the engine oil dipstick......
Its good, no signs of water that I can see. I then remove the radiator cap and it is still under pressure from the last time the machine was ran 3 weeks earlier. At this point nothing is making sense.
I start the machine to let it warm up and during the warm up I notice a small amount of what I thought was smoke from under the radiator........its the end of the crankcase breather hose. I then remove the hose from the breather housing so I can watch what is happening......
Yeah, its steam but not a crazy amount. I cleaned the inside of the housing where the hose hooks up and continued to run it at idle. No doubt it is steam, little water droplets formed.
Here is my question for you Cat guys. Is there anywhere inside this engine that would create steam........with no pressure loss in the cooling system at operating temp @ idle? Loss of coolant possibly at high idle only through the radiator overflow line? (unproven as of yet)? ...........but the cooling system remains under pressure for 3 weeks? With no signs of coolant in the engine oil and no external leaks??
Someone help me out here because I'm missing something.