2005 chevy tahoe
- Thread starter 123WALLY
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Joseph Garcia
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Welcome to the Forum from NH.
Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.
I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.
Pics of the truck, please.
First place to look is around the sides and bottom of the radiator for any signs of wetness.
The second place to look is at the weep hole in the water pump, typically on the bottom side of the pump for any signs of wetness. You may need a telescoping mirror to get a good look.
Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.
I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.
Pics of the truck, please.
First place to look is around the sides and bottom of the radiator for any signs of wetness.
The second place to look is at the weep hole in the water pump, typically on the bottom side of the pump for any signs of wetness. You may need a telescoping mirror to get a good look.
MassHoe04
Full Access Member
What do you mean?
Inside the cabin, at the tail pipe, under the hood after warmup?
Any drips, puddles on driveway or anything looking wet inside the engine bay?
Any wetness on the carpet under the dash?
These are all questions that will help clarify what we might be looking at here...
Could be a lot of things. Could be water pump, heater core T fittings, head gaskets, hoses, radiator front or rear heater core, etc.
If you can tell us what you smell, where and when you smell it... That would be a good place to start.
My jeep had a faint smell of coolant after warmup. No drips, or puddles. Heater core had a light weep that would smell when the blower was turned on, but would dry up after heat ran for a bit.
My 04 Tahoe had the T fitting that attaches one of the heater hoses to the front heater core. Plastic fitting snapped where the hose clamp was. Didn't know it was going to happen until I had a white plume of steam coming out from the engine bay.
So, depending on where this is, it could still be a realtively cheap and easy fix.
Fingers crossed!
Inside the cabin, at the tail pipe, under the hood after warmup?
Any drips, puddles on driveway or anything looking wet inside the engine bay?
Any wetness on the carpet under the dash?
These are all questions that will help clarify what we might be looking at here...
Could be a lot of things. Could be water pump, heater core T fittings, head gaskets, hoses, radiator front or rear heater core, etc.
If you can tell us what you smell, where and when you smell it... That would be a good place to start.
My jeep had a faint smell of coolant after warmup. No drips, or puddles. Heater core had a light weep that would smell when the blower was turned on, but would dry up after heat ran for a bit.
My 04 Tahoe had the T fitting that attaches one of the heater hoses to the front heater core. Plastic fitting snapped where the hose clamp was. Didn't know it was going to happen until I had a white plume of steam coming out from the engine bay.
So, depending on where this is, it could still be a realtively cheap and easy fix.
Fingers crossed!
Logan5
Member
My cousin had a similar problem it was the heater hose T. Those things have o-rings in them that go bad and you leak coolant slow and it can get inside the cabin.
rockola1971
Full Access Member
Yup. Tees can weep just enough to stink the place up but not lower the overflow tank. But given time they will leak bad and you will find out the hard way while miles away from home and steam pouring out from under your hood. They are a total blast to replace too!
Welcome to the forum and what has been said so far should lead you to the culprit. Needs to be pressure tested.
no significant loss? that would indicate a slow leak, your going to have to go look for it, get under it with a flashlight, 05 should have electric fans so if you can't find anything obvious you might have to pull the fans and look behind there as well.
drive it and then put some cardboard under and it and check for a wet spot in the morning and look up from there.
a slow leak can be hard to find because the wind can blow it all away but coolant leaves a mark even if dried up
some usual suspects, again use a flashlight it's your friend like google.
cracked plastic tank on side's of radiator
water pump (take a flashlight and tilt mirror) and look up from the bottom
crack in reservoir tank
cracked or leaking heater hose "T"'s on the passenger side firewall area
crossover pipes (top front & rear of heads)
heater hose to water pump T
the giveaway is the smell, so if you can smell it you can see it you just have to find it.
MassHoe04
Full Access Member
With basic tools, it was not hard to do the repair on the road...
I replaced a heater hose T in the parking lot of my barbershop one town away from home.
Screwdriver, pliers, snips and hammer were all I needed besides the new T and coolant...
New T had the snap connector on it, so there was no need to make the snap connector release in one piece.
I just snipped the plastic on the T on either side of the connector tabs and broke it away to release it from the heater core tube (gently, as to not damage the heater core...).
I replaced a heater hose T in the parking lot of my barbershop one town away from home.
Screwdriver, pliers, snips and hammer were all I needed besides the new T and coolant...
New T had the snap connector on it, so there was no need to make the snap connector release in one piece.
I just snipped the plastic on the T on either side of the connector tabs and broke it away to release it from the heater core tube (gently, as to not damage the heater core...).
rockola1971
Full Access Member
My Denali gave me fits. I was lucky and already had the Denali down hard replacing the front end suspension. While messing with the Tees to come off the heater core the heater hose with the molded in plastic male fitting that goes into the tee just broke off under the slightest tension. Plastic was dried out and brittle. Then I spent hours screwing with getting those tees unlocked from the heater core nipples. It took less time to knock the bushing out of the control arms!
ScottyBoy
Full Access Member
I find it FAR easier to just destroy them when removing them. You aren't re-using them, so why fight to get the clips released to remove them? I just use side cutters and flush cutters to just snip them off in pieces.
