vozaday

It’s definitely not easy and requires a lot of patience. He just wants to use the tools. He’s getting there though. He helped me tear the front diff out of the sxs this winter and he did one side himself. Then we tore down an engine I got for a case of beer. The biggest hurdle is allowing him to help me with my 71 Mustang. It’s in restored condition and kids can be careless, so it’s on me that he doesn’t help much there.

You were correct. Smell is all but gone at this point. Must have been residual.

Hopefully the final update on this issue. Coolant level appears to be staying fairly consistent for the past 1,500km. I did end up sending an oil sample to blackstone for analysis. No coolant found in the oil and for the most part everything came back normal other than silicon (I did use a tube to pull the sample out of the dipstick when it was hot) and a couple compounds used as additives. They also noticed the pinkish colour to the oil but they commented that it didn’t seem to be indicating of anything. So my plan is to start running conventional changed every 5k km rather than pushing synthetic to 8-10k km.

Ok, so I found out my drastic pressure drop is due to a faulty pressure tester. BUT, I still do have an extremely minor leak. I can smell it and I did manage to catch a couple drops on a paper towel under the rad. So I’m guessing I must have damaged it or had a defect from factory. Looks like I will be starting over again. Ironically it is on the same side as the original rad leak, but must be the backside this time.

Looks like I need to dig further. I think I may have damaged a hose upon teardown or installation. When I installed the radiator I pressure tested the system and it held. I added coolant and ran the engine up to temp. Pressure checked it and it did drop very slowly, about .5 psi in 10 min. Chalked it up to it cooling down. Drove around and let it sit overnight. Pressure checked it this morning and it dropped 1 psi per minute.

Spectra

Got the radiator changed out. Will keep a close eye on coolant levels over the next couple days.

In the picture you can see the stain on the radiator, so that’s the leak. It’s a picture of the front side of the rad.

Has a pulley so looks external

I hadn’t looked into that. I hate the internal designs. Thanks.

Ok, so game plan is we will assume head gaskets are fine. Since no temp issues. Replace radiator, and since I’m draining the system anyways I’m going to replace water pump, thermostat and oil cooler. I had read that one thread about the tstat causing the radiator to pop or something like that. Ended up having warped heads. So that was the bulk of my concern with the radiator.

Thank you for the responses. Only reason I’m concerned about oil is that at 100k km I changed the oil myself after warranty was up. I was also taking the opportunity to teach my son. The oil seemed to have a dark purple tinge to it as it drained. Enough my son even mentioned it. The engine was warm from being just run and no milkyness whatsoever. And no milkyness right now. It was always changed at the dealership before so I don’t know what type of oil they used or if it was always like that. And now the radiator does this. I just did a pressure test, pressure is dropping. But likely from the rad leak. The coolant level is down 1/4” from where I last checked it, but the engine was warm and is now cold. Still half way on the tank level range.

Greetings, I appear to have a coolant leak on my 15 Journey 3.6. I noticed a whiff of steam coming from the front grille pulling into the garage yesterday. I could smell coolant. So I popped the hood and found a little coolant on the radiator. Also checking the oil it looks slightly orange. Could be just paranoid me but I thought that at the last oil change too. I’m out of warranty. Any advise? Just replace the radiator or is there something else I should be looking at too. Never noticed any overheating or loss of coolant in the reservoir.

Thanks for the responses. We had a minivan previous to the Dodge Journey. I’m actually quite impressed with how well every one fits now that the 4th is here. We currently have the 2 older kids in the very back. We used to do all 3 in the middle row, so they are absolutely loving the extra room. Yes a stroller in and out of the cargo box may become a pain, time will tell. But for shopping trips or sport trips we can just take the Super Duty. I’m still hesitating in taking out the console to put in the folding seat in the truck. Lol I am hoping to get 2 years out of the Journey before we go to something bigger for the family.

I managed to get all mine replaced under warranty, they started groaning again. Guess its just something common for these vehicles. Their first attempted fix was lubricant and it worked for a couple weeks.