latest saga with the suburban

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moparmat2000

moparmat2000

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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.
 
Quick tip. Do not buy a front wheel drive car/van! Get another rear wheel drive car/van/truck so if by chance something goes wrong, you have room to work on the vehicle. Again just a tip.
 
I wouldn't hesitate one bit on buying a Caravan.We bought one new in 1996 and put over 100,000 on it and it never once failed us.One of our Daughters and her Husband are now driving it and finally had to replace the water pump.
 
If you keep up on maintinence its hard to beat a 3.8 powered Caravan for reliability.
 
Ken_B said:
If you keep up on maintinence its hard to beat a 3.8 powered Caravan for reliability.
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3.6 in the newer one with a 6 speed auto are the ones to get/have. more hp and tq over the 3.8 plus better mpg. the navi and bluetooth are nice add ons
 
1970Duster said:
3.6 in the newer one with a 6 speed auto are the ones to get/have. more hp and tq over the 3.8 plus better mpg. the navi and bluetooth are nice add ons
Click to expand...

We like the new ones, and plan on getting a 1 year old van with dvd player in it for the kids. My work has 2 caravans. The older one has about 200k on the odometer . Still runs good. I plan on buying extended warranty so i can just have if fixed instead of me having to fix it. Gonna drive the Shitburban one more year till we have enough saved to put a good down payment on new van this way our payments wont be so much.
 
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.
Click to expand...


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
 
PST said:
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
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Hi james

Its not an LS engine. It is indeed a 99 model truck, but it is a vortec V8. Has one coil, and a mechanical drive distributer in the back of the engine. I believe the LS engines all had coil on plug crank fire ignition systems. This truck is not this way. Also the truck was finally dripping antifreeze like mad front center right where the water pump is. The pickups may have changed bodystyle in 99, and were the first recipients of the new at the time LS V8, but the suburban and tahoe kept the 98, and older bodystyle a little longer, and the older vortec V8 as well. This engine is the vortec 350, in my wifes 99 suburban. Hope this clears up any confusion you may have over this.

Thanks for the tech tip on the fan setup. I already have the tool so i am going to use it. But will remember this if i have to ever do another one of these.

Matt
 
A permanent fix would be put a new 360 crate motor in it..then you would have a nice tow car(even if it is a chevy) shoooo I can't believe I said that:banghead:.but they are nice to tow with..and that's where it stops...........Artie
 
godfatherofchry said:
A permanent fix would be put a new 360 crate motor in it..then you would have a nice tow car(even if it is a chevy) shoooo I can't believe I said that:banghead:.but they are nice to tow with..and that's where it stops...........Artie
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Nice idea but its a K1500 suburban. So its 4wd. It eats gas badly, the rest of it is starting to fall apart or is shot. A water pump is a cheap fix, to get us thru the next year. Not interested in reinventing the wheel so to speak on this POS. Plus she cant be without transportation she works as well and needs the truck. A mopar V8 swap as cool as that may be is too much effort. I will be done with a water pump swap in about 3 hours on this one.

Matt
 
For at least 4 years I could detect a faint smell of coolant in my 98 Tahoe and between services the expansion tank would go down. I searched for a leak and never found it.

Until I decided to replace the engine then I found a stain on the right head after pulling the exhaust manifold. See for yourself in the pic's below.

Lifting the body is way easier then working on it with the body in place. Didn't even have to break open the A/C or brake system.

The chassis made a great engine stand and parts bench.
 

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GGs66GT said:
For at least 4 years I could detect a faint smell of coolant in my 98 Tahoe and between services the expansion tank would go down. I searched for a leak and never found it.

Until I decided to replace the engine then I found a stain on the right head after pulling the exhaust manifold. See for yourself in the pic's below.

Lifting the body is way easier then working on it with the body in place. Didn't even have to break open the A/C or brake system.

The chassis made a great engine stand and parts bench.
Click to expand...

Wow pretty cool. Wish i had a 4 post lift like yours. Tell you what, i'll sell ya my shitburban K1500 next year when im done with it. Has new 31" tires, new radiator, good glass and sheetmetal, new brakes, new fuel pump, and now new water pump.

Matt
 
What do you expect? It's a POS chebbie.
 
Sounds like the cooling systems, were not maintained. How many miles?
 
Your leak is probably the heater quick connect hose on the right head. What happens is the acid in the dexcool will corrode the pot metal the quick connect is made out of. Check it and if you can see the caked antifreeze you've found your leak. They're like 5ish dollars at any auto parts store, located in there help section. Just replaced mine on my 99 Tahoe. same setup as yours
 
Do the leakdown.... And sell it. Is a Magnum wagon,a possibilty?.....
 
72dust said:
Your leak is probably the heater quick connect hose on the right head. What happens is the acid in the dexcool will corrode the pot metal the quick connect is made out of. Check it and if you can see the caked antifreeze you've found your leak. They're like 5ish dollars at any auto parts store, located in there help section. Just replaced mine on my 99 Tahoe. same setup as yours
Click to expand...

Nope, replaced that quik connect pos a year ago. Bought a threaded pipe fitting w hose nipple on it, installed a restrictor in it same diameter that crappy factory coupling had, used a length of regular heater hose and clamps for the rest , from there it was the cheap plastic 3/4" plastic hose tees for the rear heat after that it was the radiator itself that let go, now its def the pump. You could see antifreeze coming right out of the weep hole
 
Abodybomber said:
Do the leakdown.... And sell it. Is a Magnum wagon,a possibilty?.....
Click to expand...

Magnum would be a good idea except for 2 things, 1 i Got 4 kids, one of which is 13 months old, so we have a stroller and all that crap. 2 they dont make magnums anymore so im not gonna find a low mileage 1 to 2 year old one, and my wife hates the way they look. A dodge caravan crew, with dvd player is what we need, and since my wife likes these and its going to be her car, it has to be something she will be hapoy with.

Changed the pump out last night. No leaks, will keep an eye on the overflow bottle. It leaks oil outta the rear main seal. Not too bad 1 quart every month. I spin a new filter on it twice a year and keep topping it off. I am not splitting an engine and a tranny with transfer case on my back on the concrete floor of my shop. Screw it, i'll just top it off and change the filter once in a while.

So we'll see. I chased coolent leaks all around this friggin thing for roughly the last 2 years. Mebbe this is the last of it. Saving our cash for the next year till we can buy a 1 to 2 year old dodge caravan. This will fit our needs without breaking the bank on gas mileage, plus it will have a warranty. this is something i dont have on a 14 year old car.
 
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.
Click to expand...

Is it the old Vortec 5700 (350)? If so, easy one: almost certainly a bad intake gasket. Was
 
ALL these problems are a result of GMs "dex cool" coolant... It destroys gaskets like crazy. The vortec 350s also have a stupid intake design, where there is a long span in the middle of the intake that has no bolts....poor design.....
 
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