Coolant leak

[c1500deathtrap]

If you are loosing coolant and you can't find the leak, you are burning it. Could be a cracked head, head gasket, or leaking into your oil. Check the oil, then run a pressure test or a chemical type test to look for exhaust in the coolant. A compression or leakdown test may even reveal some clues.

 

[c1500deathtrap]

Check the weep hole on the bottom of the water pump, next time you drive it. Unless it's a lot of coolant, it'll dry from the engine heat before it ever has a chance to drip. I think the small block also has a connection towards that back of the engine too that can leak... I have no idea of that the TBI or Vortec engine, Though.

The only coolant passages with external connections at the back of the motor is the heater core hose which is in the back of the intake on some models. And vortecs don't have it.

 

[Donb]

Check the heater hose connection to the intake manifold, the nipple is pot metal junk from the factory. It will weep, stink and dry up. At the worst possible time it will snap and blow all your coolant all over the road in seconds. Ask me how I know.
Don

 

[alpinecrick]

I didn’t put sealant on the bolt threads. Would that cause the coolant to come from the water jacket down into the head?

If you bought new bolts then they already have sealant on them.

 

[Coveman]

I did this job about a month ago as well. Grab a pressure tester and start looking/listening for leaks. Look around the engine and hoses, check the engine oil for coolant, and finally start removing spark plugs to see if theyre wet/ if there is a smell of coolant.

Antifreeze has a distinctive smell, if you smell it in your exhaust, that will be a a sign that its into the combustion chamber through a gasket or crack.

good luck, let us know what you find out

 

[Mike Duckworth]

How old is the heater core ? It can leak right there, usually you can smell it.

 

[Austin Stephens]

I haven’t pressure tested yet but no coolant smell inside, oil looks perfectly fine, no leaks anywhere, no coolant smell from exhaust. This is weird af.

 

[aaronb]

I start looking at the radiator.
Pull the the shroud and look where the side tanks attach for leaks.
I had one where the plastic tank was seeping towards the bottom and coolant was sitting on the bottom of the core support and not hitting the ground

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

I was losing water and my 5.7 was running hot, didn't smell antifreeze or see any. Did a compression test and found #5 & #6 were 10 psi less than the others. After pulling the heads I found signs of by-pass between #5 & #7 as well as #6 & #8.

 

[Austin Stephens]

Just pressure tested and no leaks anywhere. Did a compression test as well and all 8 cylinders have about 165 psi