A few weeks ago I came to a stop in my driveway and noticed a 'hot' smell. I popped the hood and saw a little bit of steam coming up from the pass. side of the engine bay. I inspected further to see a drip of what looked like water drop onto the cat.... thus the steam. I inspected further to see where the water if thats what is was came from. I couldnt find a single sign of leakage anywhere.... it didnt do it again for almost a thousand miles when I came to a stop in my drive way and once again and... steam. I watched ONE drip fall onto the cat again and STILL cant find the source. Could it possibly be a freeze plug I'm not seeing? or warning signs of a head gasket failure?

 

Are you sure it is not coming from the heater hoses into the firewall directly over the Cat?

Possibly a hose cracking, check for a swollen connection at the firewall etc...

That's all I can think of...

 

Check your hoses. The heater hoses are on the passenger side. I would also make sure it isn't coming out of your a/c drain. A slight leak in your heater core could drip out of the drains, falling on your cats.

From there, I would wash the engine and add some dye to your coolant. Pay attention to the back of the block. Get a mirror to inspect back there. Could be several things, you just need to look. That said, head gaskets like to leak on the ends..

 

usuanny its condensation from the a/c lines

 

Keep an eye on your coolant level.

 

Thanks guys. I checked the heater hoses and na da... Coolant level is good to but I'm going to keep a close eye on it. Hasn't done it again. I just worry about head gaskets or freeze plugs. I'll keep you all posted on what it turns out being. I may add die to the coolant as mentioned to see if I can source out a leak if it is indeed coolant.

 

It is water dripping form the a/c drains.
Crawl under the truck and look up onto either side of the bell housing, you will see a nipple with a "X" in it, squeeze it.
If you need to take a pipe cleaner and ream it out.
Wear safety goggles because you are going to get wet.
They are hard to reach if you have short arms, best to do it with the engine cold as you will be touching the exhaust with your forearm.

 

thank you sir... gonna tackle that this eve.