[Papa Rick]

Today, I went back over to my Truck to do my weekly check and adjustment if needed. I raised the hood, and on the passenger side of the block it looked like there were some water leak in two spots along the side of the gasket up on top of the motor.

I have owned this truck for 2 months now, and it has never done this before, and never ever used any water at all.

I was wondering if it could be because I drove it hard Thursday and parked it, turned it off and the temp dropped real quick Thursday Night/Friday Morning?

I checked the oil and there were no trace of water in the oil, and the water level was fine.

This is a 1985 FLC with a 350 BC Cummings engine.

This really has me puzzled and concerned, any suggestions and or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Papa Rick]

I went back over to my Truck at 9 p.m. tonight to check it again, and the water spots are there again. When I went to it today to check everything out, it was there as noted on my previous post.

I cranked the Truck up and let it idle for 1 hour and kept checking for a water leak and it never leaked one drop, and drove it around for 45 minutes, and it never leaked any.

I turned it off and watched for 30 minutes and it never leaked, but now 7 hours later I went back to check it out, and there are two different spots where it looks like 10 to 12 drops of water are on the passenger side of the block.

I am not very knowledgeable about Truck engines but will try to explain where it looked to be coming from.

The exhaust manifold that comes out of the block and goes into the turbo. It looks to be leaking around one of them in one spot, and the other spot is where the top part of the engine bolts onto the engine right below where the exhaust manifold bolts on.

I checked the oil and water again, and no signs of either in one that does not belong.

This has really got me concerned!!!!

[special k]

Old Cummins are bad for water seepage at the block and head as long as it's not coming out under pressure and not getting in your oil I wouldn't get too excited about it. Just keeep an eye on your levels to see if it gets any worse.

[stranger]

NTC Cummins engines are notorious for cold engine head gasket leaks, and for cold water leaks at any hose connection.

You will even see many leaking when hot. If you are not losing over a gallon a week or building pressure in the radiator, them you should be OK.

If you are concerned too much, then go to a Freightliner dealer and get a can of DIKE. It is a stop leak in a green can, and is guaranteed to not stop up the water system, while eliminating the leak.

I had an NTC 300 that was going through 2-4 gallons a week. I put in some Dike and cut that down to less than 1 gallon a week. I ran it like that for a year until I sold it. I tole the new owner what I was doing, and as far as I know he did the same.

This stuff is not like the junk you get in the truck stop. This works, and will not hurt the truck.

[Papa Rick]

Is the freightliner dealership the only place to get DIKE? I live 50 miles from a dealership and didn't know if you could get DIKE at a parts store or not.

If not, then I will go to the dealership. I feel much better about the leak now. I have never owned a Cummings before, and thought maybe I was in for an expensive repair job.

[vavega]

home page for DIKE stop leak

there's a dealer locator option in there, (the tiny link in the red box at the bottom of the page) i didn't know the zip code for "northern alabama" and was too lazy to look it up :P so you're on your own. :wink:

[Mackman]

I would maybe save that money on the rebuild torwards a newer truck. You might be dumping more money into this thing then what it is worth. Just my 2cents. :wink: