oil and antifreeze disappearing!

[wellsupplyguy]

Ihave a 99 dodge ram with a 318 motor and it uses oil and anti-freeze,Isee no leaks or drips and it doesnt run hot.Does anybody have a clue on what is going on.

[wellsupplyguy]

Thanks airjer for all the great info, I probably will take the rig into a shop somewhere.Any suggestions or recommendations on where to best spend my hard earned dough?Im in the st.cloud area but really flexible if its worth the trip.If you want to hit the ice sometime let me know ,ILL DRIVE!

[Jeremy airjer W]

If you don't have a regular shop I would suggest finding one using the IATN HSOforum (international automobile technicians network). There are a couple of sponsoring members in your area. Give them a call and tell them your symptoms, and feel them out.

Ain't know way I'm heading to the lake in a Dodge. I prefer to drive a dependable, well enginered, tuff little Toyota. When was the last time you saw a Toyota pick-up on the hook?

[Macgyver55]

Coincidently I saw one yesterday. I was chuckling about the totally rusted out body as it rolled by.

[Valv]

I saw one too, and it made a really funny crunchy noise when I ran over it with my Dodge 3/4 ton....

[Jeremy airjer W]

Mac, That was a pre 96 body style I bet. To bad the pickups were shipped to the U.S. without the boxes to save wieght. once they got here they put an american made box on it and then sent it to the showroom floor. So the cabs always held up pretty good but the american made boxes would rust out bad!

Valv, I doubt if your dodge could keep up with a toyota. With the wheelbearings going bad, ball Joints breaking, Fuel pumps going belly up, Broken catalytic converters plugging the exhaust, Belly pans leaking and fouling out plugs, Water pumps leaking, timing chain rattlin', Pitman arms about ready to break, and with all them repairs, not to mention the fuel economy, you'd be to broke to keep gas in it!! YUP, YOU BEEN SERVED!

[Valv]

I drive by the spot every day and still see the oily mark it left on the asfalt, probably the wind blew the parts away....

Don't mention the Toyotas..I had my wife bury my old Dodge in a big bank of snow at my house, and the neighbor came to help us...guess with what...a Toyota.

We pulled the truck out, but I had to threaten him with death if he told anybody...

Rick is going to kill me but....LETS START A TRUCK BRAND WAR !!!!

[Jeremy airjer W]

Thats awsome valv, I'm still laughing

If it wasn't for the big three (chev, ford, dodge) I'd be out of a job!! Thank god there still building vehicles!!

[Jeremy airjer W]

wellsupplyguy,

did you ever bring the dodge in to figure out what was up? Just curious to see if we were on the right track. Hopefully the news wasn't to hard to swallow!

[wellsupplyguy]

Hey airjer,no I havent done a darn thing with it yet.But I have been shopping around for another vehicle,maybe make it some one elses problem.I have to see how the finances are after we pay the tax man!So I might end up just getting it fixed and living withit for another year.The problem it currently has right now, has been going on for over 50,000 miles,but it recently seeemed to start using more oil and thats why I was asking about it.Looked at some toyotas pretty spendy!

[Chev_trucks501]

Hey Wellsupplyguy,

Was this a recent truck pruchase or have you had it a while?

I might have some incite...

[wellsupplyguy]

I purchased the truck acouple of years ago from a dealer in st.cloud,Its a 99 with about 108,000 on it.

[Chev_trucks501]

Hey that's strange. I purchased a dodge ram a couple of years ago from a St. Cloud dealer also...guess what? It was a 318 V8 and I had the same problem....I finally got rid of it after spending lots of money on it because NO ONE could figure it out. The truck was great up to about 80,000 miles after that the thing just started to fall apart. So I went back to my chev! Anyways I'll try to remember what all I had done with it.

Good Luck

Chev

[wellsupplyguy]

This was the first non chevy Ihave ever owned,and it will be my last Unless airjer knows a heck of a deal on one of his toyotas.Iwas kind of looking at getting a colorado or a canyon, but I havent heard alot about them either.They put a 3.5 5cylinder in them,Isuppose they are trying to get away from the 4-cylinder.Also coming home from st.cloud yesterday the dang truck started to miss and cough not to mention the checkengine light went on and off, Its a freakin mystery!

[wellsupplyguy]

Hey air jer I just wanted to tell you that I traded in the dodge for a 2005 gmc canyon,Ilooked at the toyotas but they sure are spendy.With gas going up and up I needed a compromise, this has a 3.5 5cylinder motor so well see how this treats me.

[Jeremy airjer W]

It will be interesting to see how the midsize chevs hold up!

[CNY Tim]

I am starting to wonder if blown head gaskets are goig to be considered regular maintenance? I have been bitten by this same problem two years now by Dodge and GM. Never had a problem with GM's 2.8 V6, that motor was an animal and I had the same motor in each model 88 corsica and 89 celebrity wagon no major surgery on either of those vehicles. I blew a head gasket in my 95 3.0L caravan at 95K and on my wifes 2001 3.4L Olds Silhouette at only 63K. I just think they have cheapened up the engines so much they can't take the heat...

[wellsupplyguy]

Well for all the MONEY you pay for trucks now a guy cant go without a 100,000 mile warranty.Ithink the days of a truly dependable vehicle are long gone.I suppose they want you to buy a new vehicle every three years.

[Dan Thiem]

I respectfully disagree with you wellsupplyguy. Please don't think I'm starting something, but a lot of the newer full size GMC's are going trouble free (as far as big $ repairs) all the way up to 100k miles. I also think cars aren't breaking down as much as they used to. Back before computers and fuel injection it seemed like a vehicle with a hundred thousand miles on it was rare.

Just my couple a pennies.

[wellsupplyguy]

I can understand what your saying and im sure there are plenty of dependable vehicles out there.I myself have owned nothing but chevys or gmc until I tried the dodge.That will never happen again!Now here is were I get my little bit of info from,were I work the sales men get pickups to drive and more often than not they seem to have issues right out of the box and I know that if I had to pay those bills I wouldnt have to worry about carrying a wallet.

[Jeremy airjer W]

CNY,

Those 3.4 litres are well known for there head gasket failures especially in the minivans. The only reliable V-6 gm makes is the 3.8 litre and then you still have to worry about the plentum cracking and leaking coolant into the cylinders. I haven't seen any major engine damage from this other than a broken nose cone on the starter.

I also agree that the "American" made vehicles are seriously lacking in quality (except for Saturn). Yeah they last longer but look at how much it costs you to get there. Don't get me wrong the "Imports" have there share of problems but the frequency is alot less.

[Valv]

This will probably turn into a debate Import vs Domestic, but I had my share of pickup trucks, and cannot say which one is best, right now I am leaning toward Dodge, after my 4th one I can say nothing but good.

I had some imports and they fall apart underneath you, never go there again, besides they are too whimpy for my needs.

Yes Airjer you can praise them as much as you want, but at the rate they are selling there has been plenty of problems with all the brands, and they are less than 1% of total market, I speak for my own experience, not somebody else's.

So far I had 4 Chevy/GMC's, 2 Superdutys, 4 Dodges, 2 Toyotas, 1 Nissan (Pathfinder).

The # 1 overall.....Dodge Cummins.

In any case good luck with the Colorado, let us know here and there how it's running, I was interested in it for my wife's.

[bigswede]

Not to really get things going, but what about the class action lawsuit against GM on the DEX cool, in the radiators? I have talked w/my neighbor who has been a mechanic for 25+ yrs and he saod that as soon as this stuff came out, gaskets and seals and parts related to it are wearing out faster thatn ever before. It seems like the coolant technology is there before the other parts can catch up.. Just my $.02

[Dan Thiem]

Antifreeze has been pitting aluminum intakes long before dex-cool.

Here's a question....

Why do certian GM's fuel pressure regulators go bad but imports don't seem to have as much trouble? Airjer????

[Jeremy airjer W]

Dan,

I think the question should have been why do all GM pressure regulators leak.

In my opinion, based on the fact that they all are using the same gas and have relatively the same fuel pressures, Its lack of quality materials and poor engineering.

Same thing with fuel pumps gm/ford are always going bad. I have replaced 5 or 6 Import fuel pumps over the last 10 years. only one of those was a mechanical failure. the others were rotted connectors at the sending units (it happens after 150,000 + trouble free miles. I had one on a old Honda that was leaking through the can (external electric pump) after 275,000 it finally rusted through!

Let me guess Valv, those 2 toyotas were 4 runners? if they were you managed to have three of the best sales men in the world sell you three of your cars . Especially the nissan pathfinder, What a big steaming pile of turd those things are. I've never been a nissan / mazda guy. just toyota, honda, and hyundai (starting to grow on me).

We all make mistakes! In fact I let the wife talk me into buying a town and country. I cringe everytime I walk by it just thinking about replacing the transmission, evap core, rear a/c lines, rear heater lines, rack and pinion, and a/c compressor and thats just the stuff I know will go wrong!!

[Dan Thiem]

Ya, and the fuel pump has to be replaced with a "module", can't get just a $90.00 pump. You gotta buy a $400.00 tank unit.

I guess this thread is starting to get off topic a bit but it sure is fun.

Airjer, I've said it before... You know your stuff!