Confusing coolant leak

[petethepug]

Won’t touch that description but, yea, drain, vent, weep, tomato, tomatoes, there’s an area made to leak. He’s correct and wins.

The water pump bearing needs that area to let the coolant out when the seal deteriorates. If it wasn’t there the pressure would build up until it just blew the hub into the radiator. The safety feature is also the heads up feature your water pump is due. If is the gasket, change it anyway.




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[willinnashville]

I had a coolant leak with similar symptoms (drip/puddle on the ground after cooling down, inconsistent amount of coolant lost) about a year and a half ago. Turned out to be the plastic Y on the water pump hose had a crack that never seemed to show up while I was just looking at it. I went after water pump and thermostat first since they're basically maintenance items.

The way I ended up finding it was pressure testing the system with a cheapo pressure tester kit off amazon, but the ones you can rent from parts stores would have worked too.

 

[Mooseman93]

Hi all!

I'm hoping to find out if anyone has had issues with coolant leaking from around the water pump and thermostat housing.

I've looked it up and it's not seemingly a common issue but from what I've seen in regards to the thermostat housing using only an o-ring for sealing where the two faces meet, i imagine it could possibly be a common issue.

I have a 2004 Yukon and have experience in diagnosis and repair (took some courses years back and ran a freelance shop out of the garage in my previous house)

I have a coolant leak which isn't consistent and seems to only appear when the engine cools down (which makes me suspect it's an issue with some component shrinking when it cools and opening up a spot for the coolant to leak).

I just ordered one of those "cameras on a stick" because I couldn't see much with my mirror on a stick (side note, they're on sale right now and I'll link below; I get no commission for this, just want to share) and will be using it later today to try to find the leak.

I was hoping for some input on where i might focus my search. I do not believe it is a cracked block (would be a crazy crack to leak as much as a liter or two in one sitting) but I'm unsure of how to proceed as I've even added UV dye to try and find the source but all i get is the splatter from the belts flinging the coolant (from what little does actually leak while the engine is still hot).

Sorry for the huge post, lol. I hope I don't bore you all to death!

Best wishes!

p.s. here is the link to the camera on sale:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07PBW52SF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_VEECYXRY208D7SKEFGE1

My 2001 Yukon XL started tripping the Low Coolant warning last year. I didn't see any obvious leaks or puddles so my fear was that it was a head gasket. Long story short, I pulled the water pump and found the gaskets between it and the block had deteriorated. Replaced the water pump and gaskets and have not lost a drop since.