latest saga with the suburban

moparmat2000 said
Well my wifes 1999 Shitburban has been mysteriously losing coolant from the cooling system. Could never find a puddle under it ever. Then the radiator blew 6 months ago. I buy a new one off evilbay. This fixes this leak. The side tank seal was bad. Plastic tanks cant fix, gotta replace. Well its still losing coolant, just slower but its going somewhere, still no puddles under it, no white smoke in the exhaust either, or oil and water milkshake.

So i meet my wife and kids after work for dinner tonite. We r coming out of restaurant , and the suburban is leaking a huge puddle of antifreeze right under where the water pump is. So i top off the rad, put the cap on loose, and send her and the kids home.

I go get a new water pump for it, and have to rent a special tool to remove a big freakin nut that holds the fan assembly, and pulley for the pump on. So what was wrong with 4 small bolts to hold on the pulley and fan. Car companies did this for years.

I bought the cheapo pump with a 1 year warranty because i plan on kicking this piece o crap to the curb by next september. Wife and i have been saving our money for a dodge caravan.

It must be said i have been chasing various water leaks around this thing for the last 2 years. I hope this is the end of it for awhile.

Not to alarm you, but in the 99-01 GM trucks with the LS Platform ( Meaning 4.8 and 5.3Litre) These engines have an issue with porous heads. There was a casting defect on the aluminum heads that over time allow finite amount of coolant to leak in to the cylinders. If you do a quick Google search you will find TSB's on the issue. In the TSB will be the serial numbers of the affected heads. The issue will normally become apparent over the 100k mark. I to have a truck that suffers from it. I normally have to top the expansion tank off every few months. It really doesn't affect the performance if anything it is irritating. My truck suffers from the issue ( I verified the casting #) but the runs strong and the odometer now is reading 268K.

As for the water pump you can get away without renting the tool to remove the fan. All you need is an air chisel with a blunt tip. I know this sound cave man like but if you place the blunt tip at the edge of the large nut and give is a quick rap the nut will loosen rite up and just spin it the rest of the way off by hand. Keep in mind it is easier to do this when the serpentine belt is still on the tension help.

Hope this helps, just my 2 cents.

Thanks
James