Radiator Fluid disappearing

[mrdj5150]

Hello.

I am having to fill my radiator every couple of days now. Everytime I open the cap I cant see any fluid in there so I add more. Its also pretty low in the resevour tank.

Any ideas? I parked it for three days and didnt find any leaks on the road. Maybe its just leaking when im driving? I checked the oil and it is not milky white or anything.

I topped off the radiator with water before i went to the gym and when i got to the gym (12miles away) my buddy and I opened the radiator cap and it needed more water. we poured about 16-20oz of water. I checked the hoses and cant seem to find any signs of a leak.

If you got any ideas on what i should do or check please post!

Thanks

Ron

[steelhorserider0891]

is it runnin a lil rough? if so you could have a bad head gasket (s). if your puttin in water only, it could be evaporating out. thats one of the reasons why your supposed to mix it with antifreeze..check your passenger side floor board, if its wet then it could be leaking from the heater core. if you live where its been cold and your puttin only water in it. you might have cracked the radiator or the heater core..maybe take the truck to a radiator shop and have them pressure test the system..

[67Truckin]

Also check the back of the engine for dampness. The leak could be small enough at the back of the intake gasket that the engine is burning off the moisture before it gets to puddles on the ground. Another thing is to start pulling spark plugs and see if one is very clean which would indicate a leak into that cylinder.

[woody6725]

a couple years ago i had that happening with my 93. the endcap on the radiator had a crack in it. the hot water from the engine would come in and hit against the endcap, and over time the plastic right there would get brittle and crack. the crack happens on the front side of the radiator, so you can't really see it unless you take the upper fan shroud off and lean the radiator back. theres a rad repair shop right down the road from me, and when i told him what the radiator was out of, he said that's a common issue.

[bonecrushins10]

you gotta take it to a shop to have it pressure tested , ill bet 20 $ is your weep hole in your water pump ,

pretty common not very expensive to fix ,


see if your autozone or rental shops have a pressure tester and a fan removal tool , ( basiclly huge wrenchs with a little more handle )

the pressure tester is basiclly a moded raditor cap that has a port on it so you can pump air in to the system , forceing the water out ,


you have a fast leak ,

once they pressure test it youll know , you can buy a kit off ebay for 30-140 $ and do it your self

[bonecrushins10]

is it runnin a lil rough? if so you could have a bad head gasket (s). if your puttin in water only, it could be evaporating out. thats one of the reasons why your supposed to mix it with antifreeze..check your passenger side floor board, if its wet then it could be leaking from the heater core. if you live where its been cold and your puttin only water in it. you might have cracked the radiator or the heater core..maybe take the truck to a radiator shop and have them pressure test the system..


your right on one thing , if he had to much antifreeze it would cook and then boil down to sludge , water is the coolant , antifreeze just keeps it from freezeing and has oils in it to protect against to much rust build up or from starting ,

the only gasket issues or way of it leaking that is real common is the intake gasket , water pump seal ( weep hole leaking ) or water pump block gaskets ,

buy a new pump if bad ( i know the 20 $ remo's can be tempting )

either that youll find a hose that is rotted ,

if you dont find any of the above you need to change the oil to make sure theres not any milk ,

[Tazmool]

I had the same problem with 01 V6 S10.
My coolant kept on disappearing, no leaks, and it only did it when I would drive the vehicle. Slow for a long time, but got quite bad at the end. So bad in fact, that there was not enough coolant to run through the heater core and my heat would periodically stop working!

It turned out to be my intake manifold gasket was leaking internally in two spots.
One was going straight into the cylinder and getting burned, but not enough to smell coolant on my exhaust (plus it was winter time, white water, and the other was seeping slightly into my valve train, not enough to turn my oil milky. I did a lot of hwy driving so any coolant in the oil would have evaporated out.

The leaks were undetected by me until my valves started to stick and I brought my truck in for service. The dealer knew right away what the problem was and fixed it.
My valves would tick for a while afterwards, but then it quieted down.

The leak was unusual that the reservoir was always full, but the rad was low.

Its a known problem with the v6 S10s.

Tazmool

[mrdj5150]

I looked around the engine block and found orange liquid (dexcool) seeping around the head gasket.

It looks like i've found my leak but I will also double check the water pump.

How much should i expect to get a new head gasket replaced?

Also, is a head gasket and water pump replacement a DIY or should i leave it to the pros?


Thanks

Ron

[mrdj5150]

Called GM today $1600 for both head gaskets....I'm going to have to pressure tested tomorrow for $40 and go from there. I HOPE its just the water pump weep hole.

Thanks everyone

Ron

[steelhorserider0891]

is that with GM changing the head gaskets or what..i jus called autozone, they said $9.99 / head gasket..if your gettin coolant outside of your block then your probably losin alot through your exhaust.


the only gasket issues or way of it leaking that is real common is the intake gasket , water pump seal ( weep hole leaking ) or water pump block gaskets


thats not the only way to lose water..like i said head gaskets do go bad overtime. ive have had to change them on newer vehicles more than once..there is not much material between the water port and the cylinders, when that little bit of material is gone then the water goes to the cylinder and out with the exhaust..
and as he said, he did found coolant under his heads..so more than likely the gaskets are bad.

[mrdj5150]

I made a mistake.....Its not leaking from the head gasket....its leaking from the intake gasket!

I hope that means a cheaper fix! Anyone here change an intake gasket?


Thanks again for all your help!

Ron

[bonecrushins10]

take it to another shop ,

4-5 hrs shop hours at 90 plus 190 for a felpro kit , change the oil now !!!!!!!! dont drive it any more till you get it fixed ,

or its gonna lock up something deadly

[bonecrushins10]

honestly bro since its a intake gasket if you have access to a decent tool set you could do this your self ,

for one you want to take the air cleaner and intake tube off the truck ,

unscrew the dist* cap off ,

mark the rotor position with a peice of tape ,

remove the dist *

find the correct wrench to un-do the fuel lines in the back ,

a few bolts in the intake ,

set it aside , prep the heads for new gaskets ,

felpro kit shouldnt cost much

[mrdj5150]

Sounds simple enough.. Thanks!! I will change the oil first thing in the morning and then go see if i can find the gasket kit. I'll try to take some pics so in the future if someone needs help they can refer back to the pics.

You guys are great! Thanks again!

Ron

[Hicks84s10]

Intake gaskets are a very common GM gasket to go. They arn't hard to change at all. Just remember every connector you take off double, triple check you put in back on.

[Tazmool]

Aha!

I knew it!
EEvil intake gasket leak.
If she's leaking a bit outside, and you're losing more coolant, she's probably leaking inside quite a bit.

I had mine done at a dealer, quite costly, $900 for the whole job (gasket change, oil flush, coolant flush, had a tuneup done at the same time too etc)

I was not in the position to do it myself :(

Hope you can install your own and save big $$.

Tazmool

[axcel409]

i just gave head to a 2.2 a couple months ago. took about 3 days bc of skool. it's easyer to break the bolt loose then the undo the hole stud leaving the bolt on the stud
and when puting it all back together put Never-seize on the studs so u can take them back out when it blows again.

[mrdj5150]

Went to Autozone today and rented a pressure tester. At about 10PSI you can hear the leak.....It was coming out from behind the AC compressor.....Looks like its leaking from the intake gasket.

Went back to Autozone and got the Fel Pro Gasket Kit for 79bucks. I'm headed over to my dads friends house to get it fixed.


Thanks to everyone who has helped with their comments and suggestions!

Ron

[bonecrushins10]

aww yes , 2 heads work better then one , i suggest deep sockets and wrenchs , and leave the main wireing harness plug alone , did you get the recommend rtv silocone for the front and back ?

[mrdj5150]

I didnt pick up any extra rtv....my dads friend is a mechanic so im sure he has some....but i think i will pick some up just incase before i go over there tomorrow.. I had to leave my truck over there because we both had places to go.... Hopefully we will finish it up tomorrow...until then i'm driving the trusty ol Corolla.... I gotta tell you...when you go from a 4.3 V6 down to a 1.8 4 banger it just aint fun driving anymore. lol. ;)


Thanks for the tips. I'm sure it will help when we slap everything back together.... while we have everything apart, do you think its worth changing out anything else on the truck? not sure when the water pump is gonna go...i has 78k on it.... or should i stick with "if it aint broke dont fix it"

Thanks
Ron

[bonecrushins10]

it will add another 2 hours on and another 60-90 $ pump ehh dont replace it just yet ,

i havent had problems with eitheir of my 4.3 pump till about 120 +

[bonecrushins10]

but i do recommend change the thermo stat if already not included with the kit

[Hicks84s10]

Thanks for the tips. I'm sure it will help when we slap everything back together.... while we have everything apart, do you think its worth changing out anything else on the truck? not sure when the water pump is gonna go...i has 78k on it.... or should i stick with "if it aint broke dont fix it"


One of the guys I work with(Kevin) puts this best. He was at the dentist a few years back and doc says to him oh man you still have your wisdom teeth you should really get those pulled. Kevin looks at him and says you see doc I'm a mechanic for a profession and If it aint broke I dont fix it. If you come in I'm not gonna sell you an enginewhen all you need is a tune-up