I was running I65 North heading home to Canada and just entered Springfield Missouri when my low coolant light came on. I stopped and looked and there was coolant all over the underside. Let it sit for a bit and added some water to bring up the level in the resovoir and moved the truck to a dry area and had a look underneath. Seems to be from the rad hose coupling on the driver site just below the pully. Don't know enough about the subject to tell what the problem is or isn;t. This being Fri night, I will have to wait til morning and get it towed to a stealer. Can anyone give me some advise on what to do or where in Springfield I could find someone tomorrow that could diagnose my situation?

Sounds like a water pump to me. :(

http://www.reliablechevy.com/

That's the chevy dealer around that area. :)

Thanks so much tomrex. Now-i filled it with water and drove to a motel and the level in the resevir dropped some but was still just below or at the hot level. If I fill it again in the AM can/should I drive it to the dealer which is 8 miles from the motel? I checked the website you gave me and they are open from 8-6 tomorrow.

I would take some bottles of water with you. If that light comes on, stop and top it off again. It's not going to hurt anything until the temp starts heading north on the gauge. Good luck!

Just bring some water with you. I would drive it. A tow bill will be very expensive.

loosen the radiator cap so your cooling system wont pressurrize. this'll keep the leak from puking too much fluid and it wont hurt your truck.......

Thanks for the replies .Yer good people. Next question? Anybody got any idea of what expense I'm looking at?? If it's a rad hose ?? $$ If it's a water pump??$$. How much time is involved for the stealer to suck my wallet dry and get me back on the homeward bound trip?

Stealer water pump about 400 not including labor around 400 to 500 more so around 800 on up .but i bought a new pump from parts house for 100.. and not auto zones the dealer only sells the hole assembly thats why its so hi. and bottom house is around 135 and hope they have one. top hose around 35 . what iv learned is no one keeps stuff in stock for these things lol not good . hope you get lucky

what he said.... pump is ~400 with all rings. 4-6 hours to replace it yourself if you got the tools. dealer out the door cost seems to be ~7-800. dealer in cali was gonna charge me 1400, thats why i did my own.

swappin the hoses aint fun, but its fairly quick and easy to do. not sure on hose costs though.... have to go with what he said for now.

Well guys your diagnosis were correct. Water pump is blown and it is being done at the stealer now.They got ya by the short and curlys when you are 1000 miles from home. $1011 and they will have me on the road in 6 hours. Water pump and 2 thermostats?OUCH. Reliable Chev in Springfield. The service manager was good to me and gave me a rental for the day

Thanks again for your help.
Cheers

Glad to hear you're going to be on the move again. Good luck with the rest of the trip!! :)

why did they replace both t-stats?? were those bad as well??

i did mine and only replaced the pump. did they give the broken parts back to you?? any way you can check the t-stats, make sure they actually aren't working???

You can, but I always do t-stats when I do a pump. You're in there, piece of mind, and they're cheap.

Well guys your diagnosis were correct. Water pump is blown and it is being done at the stealer now.They got ya by the short and curlys when you are 1000 miles from home. $1011 and they will have me on the road in 6 hours. Water pump and 2 thermostats?OUCH. Reliable Chev in Springfield. The service manager was good to me and gave me a rental for the day

Thanks again for your help.
Cheers
While you wait, you might as well head over to Bass Pro Shop if you haven't been there before or lately.:)

Bass pro! Go!

man! just saw this thread now. i was gonna go to springfield for the weekend but i didnt. wish i coulda been some help

Thanks again for all your replies. I'm back home safe and sound. Truck is running great and NO LEAKS.

Whitetrash the thermostat replacement was a suggestion from the service tech and his reasoning was " 311000 KM on the old ones and we are in there anyway so why not do it-preventive maintenance". That sounded reasonable to me.

Anyway--I would recommend this dealer.Sure it was expensive but what could I do. Final bill was $893.53 US including tax. Service manager gave me a 'discount' and billed me under a FLEET PLAN??. He then suggested I visit Bass Pro, just like you fellas did, and gave me a complimentary RENTAL for the day. All in all I feel I was treated very well by Reliable Chevrolet in Springfield. The tech was efficient and the service manager Mr Craig Youngblood went that EXTRA MILE for the customer.

Great to hear, glad everything is back in order and you made it home!

Thanks again for all your replies. I'm back home safe and sound. Truck is running great and NO LEAKS.

Whitetrash the thermostat replacement was a suggestion from the service tech and his reasoning was " 311000 KM on the old ones and we are in there anyway so why not do it-preventive maintenance". That sounded reasonable to me.

Anyway--I would recommend this dealer.Sure it was expensive but what could I do. Final bill was $893.53 US including tax. Service manager gave me a 'discount' and billed me under a FLEET PLAN??. He then suggested I visit Bass Pro, just like you fellas did, and gave me a complimentary RENTAL for the day. All in all I feel I was treated very well by Reliable Chevrolet in Springfield. The tech was efficient and the service manager Mr Craig Youngblood went that EXTRA MILE for the customer.


preventive maint... that works.

glad you up and running. nice to hear of dealers that still treazt customers like customers.