[Sir Tows Alot]

Well I am in a pickle. Early wednesday morning at work I spotted an unfortunate puddle of coolant under my truck. Started it up and saw drips but couldn't see where from. When I left work I topped off the overflow with what 50/50 mix I had and drove home. During the drive I layed into the throttle a few times and saw what looked like steam in the exhaust, but not too sure since it was at night and can't really see what color it was, plus I had only driven a few miles and it might've still been cool. Well I got home after 32 miles and there was no more leak, but I crawled under it and saw the tell-tale sign of coolant leaking from between the head and the block on the passenger side in the rear. There is nothing out of the ordinary on the oil dipstick. And since topping it back off and adding some Bars Leak, it hasn't leaked since. So what did I do? How can I check externally without tearing into it since it's my only daily driver? Did somebody mention something about an upper radiator hose check while it's running? Well it wasn't impossible to squeeze while it was running, and there were no bubbles coming up into the overflow tank. PLEASE help!

 

[gmctd]

Check the heater hose connection on the t-stat crossover for leak

Anyway, what you're seeing more likely would be a headgasket leak

 

[teroma25]

Check the back of the head to make sure it isn't comin' from there. On each head there is a cap with 2 bolts. Mine leaked there once before, took me forever to find it. One of those bolts is also the home to all my grounds now.

 

[Sir Tows Alot]

Ok thanks, I'll have to check those. I've been watching the coolant overflow tank and it hasn't gone down any since I got it topped back off. Any other suggestions from anybody else would be great. Thanks, James

 

[irelandd]

From what I have read here the 95 engine blocks are not as prone to cracking and you would not see the crack anyway from the outside of the engine.
When my head gasket blew it was white smoke out the tailpipe. Even before that I lost heater function since the coolant system had so much air from the cylinders. I bled the therm. housing over and over but it still had air. Oil in the coolant and hydrolock was the final sign of doom.

It would not be normal to see the head gasket failure from the outside but certainly not impossible.

Keep checking the standard head gasket failure symptoms and look for other coolant leak sources. If you get the signs of head gasket failure early enough you have a good chance of just head gasket repair or new heads. Running with coolant in the oil or hydrolock could cause some more serious engine problems.

I ended up replacing my engine after not knowing how long I ran the engine with coolant in the oil. Probably overkill but oh well.

Good luck.

 

[DavidPhillips]

Look at the picture of the gasket and check where you see the water port along the back by the firewall. That's the likely place to have an external leak with no internal signs.

This one is blown internally, if the opposite side was blown it would be an external leak.

 

[chickenhunterbob]

A possible point of coolant leaking in the vicinity of the passenger side rear is the heater hose from the coolant crossover to the heater core (green perhaps, half aluminum, rubber beyond) which can experience a wear hole if allowed to rub on the turbo heat shield for a while.

Simple to check, just run your hand along the hose and feel for any irregularities, wetness, etc.

 

[teroma25]

Look at the picture of the gasket and check where you see the water port along the back by the firewall. That's the likely place to have an external leak with no internal signs.

This one is blown internally, if the opposite side was blown it would be an external leak.


(Image has been resized. Click it for full size.)

Both of my gaskets were gone in the exact same place as the one in your pic. I've seen other pics of gaskets gone in the same spot also. Is this the "weak spot" for the 6.5's?

 

[DavidPhillips]

I think those gaskets were junk.

Not sure myself but everyone seems to like Fel-Pro gaskets. Time will tell.

 

[teroma25]

My new gaskets were Fel-Pro.

 

[DavidPhillips]

Head gasket story...

I ordered my head gaskets and they came in and were the wrong ones. They were two sheets of metal with some inner core. I took them back.

As it turned out they cost around $250. Even though I only paid $40 for the Fel-Pro gaskets they said they had to refund the $250.

What a deal.

 

[instarx]

You can buy some flourescent stuff to add to your coolant at most auto parts stores. Then you just need a UV light to spot any exterior leaks. I used a cheap UV flashlight I got at the local party store.

 

[mp4037]

How hard is it to replace the headgaskets on a suburban? Should this be a maintence item on a high milage truck?