Disappearing Coolant

[Waterloo]

Welcome to Rawze.com! There are no stupid questions here, trust me I have asked my share, and have felt embarrassed for asking. These new emission trucks are a new animal to me, I have never worked on any of my trucks like I have my 2008 ProStar with the CM-871 emission nightmare. And nearly all of my problems have been emission related costing me thousands upon thousands in downtime and repairs. Start buying tools if you do not have any yet, and start asking questions, no matter how foolish you think it is... Because there are many of us out here that ain't got a clue and are to afraid to ask.... Now, onto your question!

The pressure test kit? Rawze has one he uses, I went through two different pressure test kits that both failed on first use. Get the kit that Rawze recommends. PM him if you have too, it used to be posted up here, but we lost allot of stuff not long ago and are still rebuilding the site with all of that lost info. If you get the correct kit, pressure test you EGR cooler to, you can do that right in your driveway, I think there is a video here somewhere... It is easy to do, just kind of a bitch getting to the back of the cooler to loosen the bolts. Let it sit under pressure overnight and check for coolant leakage the following morning.

How much coolant are you losing in say a week? I had an issue with my ProStar, and this can apply to your Volvo, I owned one of those too... Walk around your truck and tighten all of your hose clamps. All of them, and replace any worn clamps with new ones, not the worm gear type, use the T type, with the T bolt and the nut. Do this before you do anything, it is the least expensive thing you can do, because you don't want to be a knuckle head like me... My leaking hose story is below for your enjoyment, a very expensive affair when you consider time and lost revenue.

I was mysteriously losing coolant, about a gallon a week and getting worse. I took it to a shop, it was that cold winter three years ago, like -20 below in Kentucky... Having just purchased the truck and not having a clue about these motors... We pressure tested the coolant system, with no issues noted, it held pressure, no leaks. So, being a dummy on these EGR/DPF trucks with the CM-871, I was talked into a $2500 EGR Cooler by the dealer... I drove away happy, thinking the leak was fixed... Bullshit. She was still leaking coolant and I was broke! In desperation I pulled into another shop, told them my story... An old mechanic grabbed a ratchet, tightened all of my hose clamps and sent me on my way, no charge. He said I had a cold leak, never heard of that, but it worked, the leak stopped. Coolant was leaking out going down the road, simple physics, contraction and expansion, allowing coolant to escape while driving. The reason there was never any coolant puddled on the ground. I could have done this in the parking lot, -20 or not and saved a few grand. So start with your clamps, they may seem tight, but coolant can still leak. I wound up double clamping some of my hoses.

After you do that, and have the coolant system healthy, pressure test your EGR cooler too, do the EGR Tuneup, replace those sensors and clean out all of the soot in your motor. I used a case and half of carb cleaner on mine and bought a long handled baby bottle brush to scrub out the longer pieces of soot, and don't forget to replace the doser. Then I would look into the @m*m^2... The thing we do not discuss on the open forum.