Hey Everyone.

Im having a cooling problem. Its in my '97 K1500 pickup, but the engine is the same and cooling is pretty damn similar.

Anywho,


I had an issue starting a couple weeks ago, suddenly my engine overheated (130+*c, 270ish*f i think). I figured it was a thermostat being stuck, replaced it. Realized when i was doing so my coolant was super low, so i topped it up.

Wellll, 3 days later, same problem, suddenly i no longer have heat, and my tempature sky rockets. Find low coolant, top it up. Everything is good.

Next day, same friggen thing happens. Im getting pissed, i top it up. this time i get 2 days + a 150mile trip, before it happens again.

Im pissed. And stumped. The only connection between all of these im finding is that i would hit some ice and the engine would rev up to about 3k+ and then all the coolant would be gone.

Id check the engine bay, nothing is wet, no signs of where its coming out.

Also noticing that at idle, 2k rpm+ it vibrates when i rev it up.

Im thinking the headgaskets are gone, but why does the coolant all of the suddent dissapear??????????????

Its driving normal, ill hit some ice and the rear wheels will spin, then all my coolant is gone and i loose heat and i start overheating.

Im soo sick of this truck. Anyone know what could be wrong?

 

You have a coolant leak. If you are just adding water you will probably never see the leak since the water will evaporate. Those truck are pretty much bad about leaking ...... well every where. Water pump, coolant nipple, radiator, lower intake gaskets. You need to get a pressure tester and test the cooling system. If it is leaking that bad you probably need to find it soon.

 

You could look under the hood and have someone rev it up for you while you watch for a coolant leak. If the coolant is that low, your heat probably doesn't work because there isn't any coolant flowing to the heater core. That would make sense that it would lose the coolant when you raise the RPM, when coolant pressure increases.

 

CHECK THE INTAKE GASKETS. ESPECIALLY ON THE PASSENGER SIDE TOWARDS THE BACK OF THE MOTOR. I HAD TWO TRUCKS DO THIS TO ME, A 96 AND A 98. HOPE THIS HELPS.

 

For non-ThirdGen related questions, try a different forum. Might I suggest Igor's Place ?