Installed new front prop shaft today. Yay.
Switched to Rotella 15w-40 today and extra capacity Wix 51515 filter today. Yay.
Installed new reservoir coolant cap, the old one looked damaged inside. Yay.
Took a 5 mile test drive, no issues.

Drove 30 minutes to dinner, parked, an hour later leaving, saw a small puddle on the ground. Drove home, found coolant drip under front of engine. Could only trace it to the area beside the oil filter. No traces up the engine, hoses, overflow or reservoir. Head gaskets done 6 months ago.

My guess- maybe new cap pressurized system and found a weak spot somewhere? It is sporadic. Took a short drive, came back and no drip.

Before this I would add about an inch of fluid per week in the reservoir. Could smell coolant after driving home but never see a drip.

Thoughts? I'll put the other cap back on tomorrow and see if I can duplicate and drip goes away.

 

You have had a leak and as said just topping off fluid weekly. Similar small leaks have caused many of the potential engine problems you may have read about. Using a bright light, maybe a mirror and on your back beneath vehicle source of leak may be found. If fluid catching underbelly pan still installed you should remove for better access and leave off for the duration of ownership.
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Right now I can't trace any higher than here. going to start looking.

 

Could be water pump shaft seal, have you replaced pump since becoming a mechanic? Much easier to inspect around that area of engine when fan cowl/shroud, fan/clutch and belt removed. Good lock.
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No I have not. Going to dig through receipts to see what was done. I'll check for loose bolts down below then have a look up top. My fan comes off easily so that should not be a problem. Will check this morning

 

Pulled the fan and shroud. No real evidence except wet on the bottom 1/3rd driver side of what I think is the timing chain cover

 

Don't know if pump shaft seal leaks favor one side or another. Appears to need a good cleaning before it will be easy to spot a minor leak that may come and go. If unable to get good look at bottom of pump it's easy to loosen pump pulley bolts, remove belt and finish pulley removal to see. Another area to check is fwd end of head/block and can be viewed from below. Hopefully something simple like the pump.
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Cruising temp in town 212-215f. Going to add some purple ice. Came home, no drip. When I shut off engine, started to drip from what looks like behind bottom pulley.

I cracked reservoir cap to release pressure. Unscrewed a little more and that cap popped off like a champagne bottle. Nice hot splash of coolant. Won't do that again.

 

Digging through service records now to look for timing chain, water pump work.
Didn't find any receipt for timing chain or water pump. Is that a scheduled replacement? I'm at 165k miles. Will double check with the wife about it.

 

Location indicates time better spent pulling pump pulley and checking weep hole below shaft than going through mx records. Pump life varies widely, some go for ever and not usually scheduled mx.
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