burning coolant problem

[Rhino]

my motor is eating antifreeze...is there a way to diagnose this problem with out tearing apart the motor? cracked head? blown head gasket? etc????

[cdowns]

if its a blown head gasket or cracked head you'll usually find antifreeze in the oil, i'd check first for a leak hose connections,radiator,thermo housing ,weter pump seal, heater core etc place a piece of cardboard under the truck after use to see if theres a drip also in trucks of this age it's not unheard of for the freeze plugs to need replacement

[Piston]

If you dont see any signs of a coolant leak, I would take it in to your local shop and have a "block test" done. This is a chemical test of the cooling system gases to see if they contain Hydrocarbons (exhaust gases). The best way to test for this is find someone with a 5 gas analyser (any emissions test shop will have this) and have them check the coolant resevoir for HC.

Is your oil level going up? Is the inside of the oil cap milky?

[JimKshortstep4x4]

Another test that works most of the time is to pull the spark plugs and examine them. Usually the plugs will be a different color when they are burning antifreeze.

While the plugs are out, using a radiator tester, pump the pressure up to 10 psi and let the pressure stay on the engine for a couple of hours. With the plugs still out, crank the engine over,
(you may want diconnect the coil, first). If the antifreeze is getting into the cylinders as you suspect, then cranking it over will blow the fluid out of the cylinder(s) where the leak is. Head gaskets would be my first thought.

Jim

[Blazer1970]

If you are sure it is burning the coolant (white smoke) and not dumping it on the ground, I would suspect an intake manifold gasket before any of the doomsday theories (cracked blocks or head gaskets etc.) above. Do a compression test. If it checks out OK, pull the intake and replace the gaskets. There is only about a quarter inch of gasket between the coolant ports in the ends of the heads and the intake ports. This is a very common and easy place to get a leak. Of course all of this is assuming that you have a small block - if it is an I6, ignore what I just said.

[ChevLoRay]

Obviously, you've checked for the "easy" stuff.

If you have access to a Cooling System Pressure tester, you can use it to see if you are losing coolant to the water jackets, or not. At any rate, you can pump up the pressure in the system to the rated pressure, and watch the needle on the guage to see how much it drops within a given time frame. I always pumped to target, and waited a minute. If it dropped rapidly, it was obvious. A slower drop rate, should be accompanied by the sound/sight of the leak, unless it is internal to the block, or from a freeze plug that may be hidden.

Hopefully, you'll find it this way and it won't be anything major.

[Capitol68]

any signs around the weep hole on water pump ? top and bottom ?

[Rhino]

Thanks for the responses.. yes it is blowing a lot of white smoke at start up especially and only on the drivers side....i haven't ever seen any on the ground and I am having to add about 1 liter of water every couple of days...that is with driving it only about 10 miles a day to work and back.....will try to get out there and check out your suggestions and let ya now what I found

[Piston]

When you see this smoke from the exhaust, take a walk through the smoke (dont stand there lol) and see if it smells sweet, bitter, or smells like oil burning. If it smells sweet thats antifreeze burning.

[69 XCamper]

Rhino, You're describing my truck! I've had the exact same symptoms for 3 months, same thing as you...losing coolant, sweet smelling smoke on start-up drivers side only, no milky oil on dipstick. I was about do a head gasket replacement, but the weather here turned cold. So, I 'm waiting...Maybe I'll try the intake manifold gasket first, sounds easier. Let us know what you end up finding out.

[72CustomCamper]

WAIT! Before you pull anything off, re-torque your intake manifold bolts. I have seen this problem resolved on a 350 doing just that...

AND IT'S FREE!

[69 XCamper]

Thanks 72CustomCamper for the suggestion last week on retorquing the intake manifold bolts. Sure enough, they were a bit loose. While I was checking them, I noticed the fan blade and the water pump was wobbling. So, I replaced the water pump, retorqued the manifold and added new anti-freeze. It's been a week and it's using less coolant, and seems to be smoking alot less on warm-up. I'll keep a close eye on the coolant level. Thanks again.

[PanelDeland]

Keep in mind that you will lose some coolant if you don't have an overflow tank.I'm assuming you don't since you say you were losing coolant.The coolant expands during operation because of heat but is overflowed onto the ground unless you have the tank.So...coolant loss may be "normal".

[71 BIG RED]

Careful boys, coolant left unchecked in the crank case well attack the bearings and cause them to debond (seperate bearing material from the steel backing) one check is to crack your pan plug after engine has set over night and see if antifreeze is present. it will settle to bottom.