:confused: I have an 01 1/2 ton Suburban with the 5.3. Been leaking antifreeze from somewhere for a little while. Only enough to have to add some about once a week and then only a couple ounces. Came home tonight in the truck and saw a puddle under the Sub. Crawled under and started it up but cannot see where it is coming from. Could it be the water pump? does it have a weep hole? My neighbor, a mechanic, says that the DexCool eats the manifold gasket and causes it to leak. Is this true? If so shouldn't GM have a recall or something? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like the water pump to me...If I remember right, the 5.3 doesn't have any coolant running through the intake like the older 5.7 does....As a matter of fact, I have never heard of a 4.8,5.3.or 6.0 having a leaking intake.....

I agree, water pump would be my first stop. Also, I have not heard that Dex-cool eats gaskets, but it sure as hell turns to slush if left in too long (beyond it's lifespan). :)

We see a bunch of these with water pump gaskts..every third one of them actually has a bad pump. As partsguy said, no coolant in the intake on these Gen III's

Thanks for the fast replies. How can I tell if the pump is bad? It isn't making any noise nor is it overheating. Do you think I can get by with just the gasket? Thanks again.

Just last week had the same problem with the wife's '01 Yukon 5.3 engine. I was able to lay under it with a flashlight under the front passenger corner and look up towards the water pump. You'll see the weep hole. Mine was obviously wet. If it's leaking, bearing failure is on the way.

I had a hard time finding the pump locally. Rebuilts were about $85. New was $151 ($196 at the dealer :(). I decided to have a local guy change it (too cold for me to do it :)). He bought the waterpump wholesale, installed it and I gave him $285. Dealer wanted $490 installed:(

Thanks for the reply. I couldn't see the weep hole last night, of course I wasn't quite sure where to look either. I'll definitely check it out. I figure that is where it is coming from.

Just had the wifey's Yukon Xl in the shop yesterday.... the darn thing burped Dex-Cool all over the driveway.....

Water pump replaced (at 39,000 miles) now and all is good:D

I ordered the pump yesterday, just waiting on it to come in. I pulled the old one off and saw that it was leaking from the backplate. I'm gonna go ahead and replace the whole pump because with my luck, I would replace the seal on the backplate today and have to replace the pump next week.

i have an 04 avalanche with an 8.1 and at 10,000 miles had a new waterpump installed last week. so there has to be some kind of problem here. see ya