The official OPE daycare thread

[Bill G]

really really check around the water pump, the weep hole is hard to see, put a piece of cardboard under the truck at night and see where the leak is.

the 5.3 and 6.0 motors are the easiest v-8 head gaskets to get to, the intake doesnt have a water jacket, I have had a few ls motor apart and it only takes me about 2 hours to have the cylinder heads off.

sparkplug inspection should show which cylinder is getting coolant in it, better fix it before antifreeze gets into the oil and main bearings.

Yes could be a water pump weep hole but going off.....

............My Silverado’s coolant leak is getting worse… getting into the exhaust

Not yet. Still runs amazing. I’ve gone thru 1 1/4 gallons of coolant in the past 2 months. Sometimes it takes 1.5 weeks for the low coolant light to come on, or sometimes it’s close to when yesterday it only took one day! Oil is clean and remains same level or goes down. No leaks seen on ground or engine bay. Exhaust is almost alway clear except yesterday it was white idling on a warm evening after replacing fuel pump. My dad says run it until it pops head gasket unless I have the money to fix it before then. If I don’t have the money to fix it when it pops I’ll borrow his 95’ gmc Sierra until I get it fixed, gonna be a lot of time and money.

I am still thinking a head gasket but heck pray before you pay.
Fill her with silver seal and see.

 

[redneckhillbilly]

it very well could be a head gasket, its actually pretty easy to change them, LS motors are my favorite to work on, they are even easier than 350's

 

[Czed]

The fuel pump went out on my Silverado on the way home from the northern Wisconsin gtg which was a great time. My neighbor pulled me home with his F250. We are gonna probably fix it tomorrow.

If the fuel lines are rusted go ahead and at least replace them above the tank to where they are accessible
I've got to do all 3 of my Silverado's fuel lines.

 

[redline4]

Shipped out my Stihl 026 to be ported today thanks to @redline4 and Randy with Zoo City Saws.
My Silverado’s coolant leak is getting worse… getting into the exhaust

Good to hear you talked to Randy and the 026 is on its way.
He does great work and you'll have a little ripper on your hands.
No coolant visible anywhere, but showing up in the exhaust? No misfires? If so, chances are a cylinder head cracked inside the exhaust runner.
I've replaced a few over the years.

 

[FederalQ]

There were defective cylinder heads on some of the early 2000‘s GM V-8‘s. I had a 2001 Tahoe 5.3L that I ended up replacing the engine. I had Prestone in the oil though.

 

[LAWN BOY]

Good to hear you talked to Randy and the 026 is on its way.
He does great work and you'll have a little ripper on your hands.
No coolant visible anywhere, but showing up in the exhaust? No misfires? If so, chances are a cylinder head cracked inside the exhaust runner.
I've replaced a few over the years.

No misfires, correct. What kind of a job is it replacing those?

 

[LAWN BOY]

Picked up this lawn tractor for free this morning.

 

[redline4]

No misfires, correct. What kind of a job is it replacing those?

Cylinder heads aren't difficult on those.
There's a good chance you'll break the manifold bolts in the cylinder heads, so you'd have to contend with that.
A used cylinder head will cost way less than a engine if that's actually the problem.
In cases like that, I add a UV tracer dye to the coolant and run it a bit. Then after pulling the manifolds, can pressure test and check with a UV light.

 

[LAWN BOY]

Cylinder heads aren't difficult on those.
There's a good chance you'll break the manifold bolts in the cylinder heads, so you'd have to contend with that.
A used cylinder head will cost way less than a engine if that's actually the problem.
In cases like that, I add a UV tracer dye to the coolant and run it a bit. Then after pulling the manifolds, can pressure test and check with a UV light.

Good to know, thank you.