Serious temp guage fluctuation

[bottomline2000]

No sorry you no win nothing, I mentioned low fluid in post #4.

Dammit man, thought I had one bro cred or something lol. Cool your problem is fixed. I'm leaking coolant from somewhere too and can't find it. May have to do a dye test or something. Oil is clear and I suspect my resevoir is giving up the goods since the radiator is new.

as far as burping I take the radiator cap off and run the engine till up to operating temperature. The air will circulate once the thermostat opens and make its way to where the cap is and will literally burp and water level will drop. I keep adding fluid till the level stabilizes and then turn off the engine, replace radiator cap and top off reservoir. Worked in my car, but the NBS trucks don't have radiator caps so I just trust it does it on its own through the reservoir.

 

[SunlitComet]

Actually your reservoir would be call a surge tank. Basically a pressurized reservoir so to speak but it is designed to be the highest point in cooling system.

 

[raptorforme93]

My day just went to shit. Last night I noticed my temp gauge messing up again. This morning, tons of antifreeze gone, nothing on the ground, and milky looking oil. So it's definitely being dumped into the engine at a pretty goddamn fast rate. You can see wayyyy down into the radiator. My only option really is to take it in since I have zero tools up here. What is the most likely thing that is happening? Any idea how much I can expect (my parents) to pay? I feel bad that this happened, especially around Christmas time, but it has to be fixed before I drive it home over christmas break. Other than the loss of fluid and the temp gauge fluctuation, there are absolutely no signs that anything else is wrong. I didn't hear feel or see anything happen out of the ordinary. Thank you!!

 

[07Burb]

Sounds like you have a blown head gasket sir

 

[sumo]

My day just went to shit. Last night I noticed my temp gauge messing up again. This morning, tons of antifreeze gone, nothing on the ground, and milky looking oil. So it's definitely being dumped into the engine at a pretty goddamn fast rate. You can see wayyyy down into the radiator. My only option really is to take it in since I have zero tools up here. What is the most likely thing that is happening? Any idea how much I can expect (my parents) to pay? I feel bad that this happened, especially around Christmas time, but it has to be fixed before I drive it home over christmas break. Other than the loss of fluid and the temp gauge fluctuation, there are absolutely no signs that anything else is wrong. I didn't hear feel or see anything happen out of the ordinary. Thank you!!

theres your problem. Jacob is right. Milky coolant is a sign of Oil mixing with the coolant. this indicates headgaskets. It can get expensive to fix as its a big job,

 

[raptorforme93]

Yea I knew you guys would say headgasket I was just trying to convince myself it could be something else. Haha. I guess into the shop she goes. Damn

 

[SunlitComet]

Keep in mind that a new complete block from gm is about $1800 from jegs. For all the cost of tear-down, any machine work, and hoping your heads don't have any cracks in combustion chambers or broken exhaust bolts in heads it may or may not be cheaper in cost to replace the whole assembly. Make a pros and cons chart that included cost and long term operating costs and discuss it with the parents.

 

[psfr311]

@raptor

i live in tally and have a good amount of tools. let me know if you need anything

---------- Post added at 05:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 PM ----------

and sorry to jump the thread but how bad is it to be running a 180 thermostat without a tune?

ive been running one for 6 months now without issues but im worried about the gas mileage lol

 

[JenneK]

I won't bank on a head gasket just yet. The lower intake manifold gasket is prone to failure more so than the head gaskets on these engines. I would bet your problem is there, ESPECIALLY since you are not having any driveability issues. That lower gasket seals the crossover for the coolant. Since the coolant flows through the intake manifold, when the seal fails it dumps coolant into the valley of the engine and into the sump.

If you are handy you can fix it yourself in about 6 hours and you only really need a good metric socket set, an adjustable wrench and a flat blade screwdriver...hell you can get those at ACE for less than $40. The seal set retails for less than $35.

 

[raptorforme93]

Ok so basically it comes down to two options. 1) My tahoe sits up here in Tallahassee in the public parking garage over the Christmas break until I come back in January and then we try to get it fixed. 2) I trailer the hoe home and I work on it over the break and fix the problem myself. I am obviously heavily leaning toward trailering it home, but I want your guys opinions. I know this is not an easy job, but to be honest I really dont know everything that it entails. Im not very familiar with the engine because I have never needed to learn it all, but I am definitely willing to do all the work and take the time to learn it. I am very mechanically inclined and I learn fast. With your guys help and other online resources, I dont see why I can't do this myself. To give you an idea of what I can do though, I have done two full race engine builds on our race four-wheelers that I learned how to do with the manual and a little online help. So what do you guys think? Would this be doable? This will definitely be getting fixed either way, as we bought the truck with the intention of never selling it. I literally plan on keeping it until I'm so old I cant drive anymore