Help! Massive coolant leak

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Here's the deal, i went to the beach for Memorial Day. i was coming out of the mall to head home and I have a huge puddle of antifreeze in front fo my 96' RT/10. The reservoir (which I checked earlier that day) was bone dry. I went across the street to a tire place and got a gallon of coolant. Came back to the car, topped over the reservoir and looked under the car, no leaks. I cranked the car up, no leaks. But when I put the car in reverse to drive it to Dodge, I didnt even get out the parking place before the car was running really hot and the reservoir was back on empty. I had it towed to Dodge and they said their viper tech wont be in until Wednesday and they didnt want anyone else even jacking the car up to see what they saw. So now my car is 3 hours away until atleast Wednesday! I was wondering what some opinions were on what went bad. Radiator? Waterpump? Maybe just a radiator hose? (which I did a visual inspection on and it looked ok). Assuming the water pump or radiator does need replacing, what brand is a good replacement? I dont take the car to the track, but i do like to give it hell every now and then. So I need a radiator that can stand up to daily driving situations and not just an all aluminum radiator built specifically for the track. If it matters, the car has 53,470 miles on it.

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

Which resevoir did you check? I am not very GEN I smart, but I know there is a huge issue with a body screw on the bottom of the fascia. If you bottom oout the front "just right" that screw can puncture the hidden resevoir in front of the right front tire. Any GEN I people confirm??

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

The reservoir I filed up is on the passenger side and very accessible to get too. Nothing hidden at all about the reservoir I was checking. But it definitly went bone dry VERY fast after I filled it up and started to back out the parking place when I was going to try to drive it to Dodge.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Sounds like your system is empty...need to find source of leak (as noted, hose, radiator, timing chain cover gasket, head gaskets, etc.)...repair, refill, and BURP.Please keep us posted...and I HOPE it is something "simple".

 

[Ulysses]

That is the surge tank (pressurized coolant bottle), the coolant recovery bottle (reserve tank) is in the facia. You most likely had lost quite a bit of coolant and it all got sucked out of the surge tank back into the coolant system.

 

[Jay Herbert]

Which resevoir did you check? I am not very GEN I smart, but I know there is a huge issue with a body screw on the bottom of the fascia. If you bottom oout the front "just right" that screw can puncture the hidden resevoir in front of the right front tire. Any GEN I people confirm??

Tony is 100% correct. If you are filling the little bottle you can see when you open the hood and all the fluid "goes away" it is likey you have a hole in the bottle that is tucked behind the headlight or the hose the connects to the bottle got disconnected or cracked (happened on mine). If the coolant is running out from under the front edge of the fascia, it l;ikely has to do witht he bottle tucked in the inner fender.

Turn your wheels to the left, pull out that big rubber plug in front of the passenger side front tire and you can see the bottle. There is a slit in inner fender in front of the tire to check the level in that bottle too. To fill it you'll need to disconmnect the hose that goes to it which is located at the front of the little bottle, and get a funnel, and pour the antifreeze 50/50 into the hose 'till the bottle is at the high line, reconnect the hose then follow the burping procedure at: www.viperclub.org/instructions/purging.html

I'd also bet you still have your original hoses on the car.... If so, it's a nine year old set of hoses! You may want to consider a set of silicone hoses fromn Roe Racing. Very nice.

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Since I didnt know about the coolant leak until we came out of the mall (we were there for about an hour), I'm not sure how long the coolant had been leaking. No warning lights ever came on during the drive to the mall and I checked the level in the surge tank at our hotel this morning and it was fine so the leak had to happen on the way to the mall (about a 20 min drive). All I want to know is, since the car started up fine and went in gear fine when i was going to drive it to Dodge, there's no chance I'll end up having to replace the engine, right?

 

[Ulysses]

They'll most likely pressure test it. Then you will know for sure.

 

[Randy]

I had a big problem with coolant leaks on my '95 RT/10 - the culprit is a common one; the thermostat housing-to-block gasket blew one time, and seeped for 30-40,000 miles before we finally just put in an aftermarket (read: very thick) gasket with a liberal application of permatex.

If this is your problem, its a pain to get to - bolted to the back of the block, just inside the V. An experience tech can get to it without pulling the intake (perhaps an inexperienced one, also), the bolts are inverse torx.

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Assuming the radiator does need replacing, what type does everyone recommend? Added performance would be nice, but I need one that can stand up to daily driving conditions as well. I dont want a radiator that gives me 10 more HP but busts if a pebble jumps up and hits it one day. I dont have deep pockets, so cost will play a role in what I choose. I was told the OEM radiator is around $650 (labor to install was about $200). Also, whats a good replacement water pump if that ends up being the culprit?

 

[99 R/T 10]

Check your pm's

 

[Kiaser]

If it's not the screw in the front fascia poking a hole in the bottle then it's one of two things: a leak, or a bad coolant cap.

I bought one of those diode coolant caps for my Gen I, and it was letting air into the system. End result, coolant was spewing out of the bottle in the fascia after just a bit of driving. Replaced the coolant cap with my stocker, and it all went away.

If you recently changed coolant caps then this is the problem for sure, if not you still may want to check it out (buy another one to test, they are cheap).

 

[Kiaser]

Oh, and a Fluidyne 3-Row Radiator is a good upgrade, you can get one at roe

 

[STL RT/10]

Obvious question...have you heard the fan run? Maybe the fan or relay have gone bad, boiled over just as you parked it, pushed all the fluid out and then as it cooled, pulled it back into the radiator and block. Then you saw the empty bottle. Another possibility, these cars run hot and the fan sees a lot of use.

 

[Jay Herbert]

Assuming the radiator does need replacing, what type does everyone recommend? Added performance would be nice, but I need one that can stand up to daily driving conditions as well. I dont want a radiator that gives me 10 more HP but busts if a pebble jumps up and hits it one day. I dont have deep pockets, so cost will play a role in what I choose. I was told the OEM radiator is around $650 (labor to install was about $200). Also, whats a good replacement water pump if that ends up being the culprit?

Dan Cragin has a nice radiator and waterpump, check it out at DC Performance: www.dcperformance.com

Here is Dan's Comments on radiator's:

"We have tried many of the high priced aluminum radiators over the years with very little success. These radiators only improve cooling marginally and would tend to be more proned to leaking from chassis flex. We can exchange your radiator for a recored high efficiency unit. This, in combination with our front fascia duct kit has eliminated overheating problems on our VRL race cars."