Hello everyone,
First time on this forum and I am looking for some help. My F250 has been leaking coolant for several years now and I have become accustomed to adding coolant every several days or just distilled water to the motor. Sadly its become routine because every time I go looking for the leak I cannot find it anywhere. I just recently flushed the system and added new coolant and water after replacing the Degas bottle and the hose from the bottle to the front of the motor. Still leaking after that. I do notice that if the truck is parked on an incline I have very little coolant in the motor. When the truck is facing down hill it doesn't seem to leak at all. All the hoses besides the one I replaced look fine. The heater switch coming from the heater core looks fine and no white crusty crap on it like some of the forums say. I am at a loss at this point. I would hate to start replacing all the hoses if I don't have to. Ideas?

 

What you might consider,
We will usually pump up the pressure in the cooling system to the amount shown on the ear of the radiator cap, usually around 7-13 lbs. and watch the gauge on the pressure tester . If there is a leak you will see the pressure drop and can more easily locate leak. If no external leaks are found , then we can only suspect an internal leak. There are some components that did lose coolant and those will need to be checked.

 

I would wash down the engine to aid in finding an external leak. Since you state it leaks worse on an incline, you could then try jacking up the front end, pressurize, monitor pressure in the system and look for any external leaks. Water pump weep hole and freeze plug leaks can act like this.An internal engine leak as bad as yours should be easily seen in the engine oil.An analysis can be done on the oil as well.

 

You still have an active EGR system?

04.5 and up all have the failure prone EGR cooler. Another leak prone spot is the EGR cooler hose. Then the "Y" under the degas bottle is prone to leakage when the engines get as old as yours is, but I "THINK" that is what you already replaced when you described the hose from the bottom of the degas bottle to the front cover.

All that said, as recommended above, you really do need to pressure up the system and look ALL OVER for an external leak. No external leak, then I would pull the EGR valve and look for coolant under it (assuming your EGR system is still active).

You should be able to hold 14-16 psi in an 05 cooling system.

 

Yeah it sounds like I do need to do that pressure test. I did notice it leaking from the passenger side but there was no water showing anywhere near the heater core, or the heater valve. It seems like behind the engine on the passenger side. I am starting to think might be the engine block heater that is leaking.

 

Could be. Sometimes the EGR hose leaks and is hard to see.