2022 Tahoe 5.3 - overheating dead on road

[2022_z71]

Hey guys. In a bad bind and need some help.

Currently I have been towed but am stranded in Yellowstone national park

Here is what happened...

Got a warning the engine was overheating and pulled over. The coolant reservoir was steaming and was empty. I checked this before our trip and it was fine.

I added 32 oz of water and started the car, I watched the fluid drain and assume I had a leak.

Then 1 mile down the road I open the hood again and watched the entire reservoir refill from the bottom up bubbling like hell.

I have no interior heat either.

I don't know what to think between water pump or thermostat.


Any advice here would be greatly appreciated as we are currently stranded on vacation '(

 

[wjburken]

Hey guys. In a bad bind and need some help.

Currently I have been towed but am stranded in Yellowstone national park

Here is what happened...

Got a warning the engine was overheating and pulled over. The coolant reservoir was steaming and was empty. I checked this before our trip and it was fine.

I added 32 oz of water and started the car, I watched the fluid drain and assume I had a leak.

Then 1 mile down the road I open the hood again and watched the entire reservoir refill from the bottom up bubbling like hell.

I have no interior heat either.

I don't know what to think between water pump or thermostat.


Any advice here would be greatly appreciated as we are currently stranded on vacation '(

If the motor is running, are you getting white smoke out the exhaust? If the reservoir is full, are you getting bubbles while it’s running? If you take the oil cap off does it smell like coolant?

Did you notice if the temp went up all of a sudden or was it gradual?

Any signs of a leak under the vehicle after you put more water in the reservoir?

 

[wjburken]

@OR VietVet …. Any thoughts?

 

[2022_z71]

If the motor is running, are you getting white smoke out the exhaust? If the reservoir is full, are you getting bubbles while it’s running? If you take the oil cap off does it smell like coolant?

Did you notice if the temp went up all of a sudden or was it gradual?

Any signs of a leak under the vehicle after you put more water in the reservoir?

When I started it up again I noticed white smoke from the exhaust.

When running after a while it was bubbling like hell inside the coolant reservoir.

I can go out to the parking lot now and check the oil cap

The temp rapidly spiked up was definitely not gradual

No signs of obvious leakage I do not think there is a leak, it's also pouring rain so hard to say 100%

 

[2022_z71]

I also just went out and felt the water pump and it's not lose or anything like that

 

[wjburken]

When I started it up again I noticed white smoke from the exhaust.

When running after a while it was bubbling like hell inside the coolant reservoir.

I can go out to the parking lot now and check the oil cap

The temp rapidly spiked up was definitely not gradual

No signs of obvious leakage I do not think there is a leak, it's also pouring rain so hard to say 100%

I don’t mean to cause panic, my gut, sitting 1500 miles away, thinks it sounds more like a head gasket and not a water pump or thermostat, but again, I’m 1500 miles away. The white smoke is indicative of burning coolant. The bubbling in the tank can be the piston pushing air into the coolant line or just the coolant boiling.

I’m hoping others will chime in with their thoughts as I could be off target here.

 

[OR VietVet]

I don’t mean to cause panic, my gut, sitting 1500 miles away, thinks it sounds more like a head gasket and not a water pump or thermostat, but again, I’m 1500 miles away. The white smoke is indicative of burning coolant. The bubbling in the tank can be the piston pushing air into the coolant line or just the coolant boiling.

I’m hoping others will chime in with their thoughts as I could be off target here.

I just got back from buying a couple of flex head 1/2" drive ratchets and saw this. I have a thread in the garage section about the ratchets. Anyway:

Sure sounds like head gaskets for sure and the bubbling back in the reservoir and refilling sure sounds like compression pushing it back thru any weak spot it can. How did it run when you had it running and watched the reservoir? Be very very careful. If you are getting that fluid in the cylinder you could hydro-lock while cranking engine and bust the nose out of the starter. Also, it is very very rare for head gaskets to just go by themselves. Most of the time, something else caused an overheat and the engine gets hot enough that it damages the head gaskets. What I am saying is, if you are doing head gaskets, be very very aware that in all likelihood you have something else to fix that caused the head gasket problem and if you disregard the warning, you may damage the new head gaskets. When you got "the warning" where was the gauge at? If was buried, it was heating up before then and the damage was happening then and not all of a sudden. It is very rare that I don't check my gauges at least every 5 minutes and my mirrors even quicker. When you stop and think about it, 5 minutes is a long time. 12 times an hour. When you do get the diagnosis done, plan on head gaskets, surface heads......hell, I just noticed that this is a 2022.

It is under warranty, right? Get a very detailed diagnosis that is very detailed in the documentation. You want to document WHY it overheated. Get a nice free rental on the General.

 

[2022_z71]

Really appreciate you guys.

Right now just trying to figure out next steps. Vacation is basically shot. I am 2k miles from home and all 3 Chevy dealers I called, 2 in Bozeman and 1 in jackson all said they had no availability at all until mid July or August.

I guess I have to call GM proper and beg??

 

[OR VietVet]

Really appreciate you guys.

Right now just trying to figure out next steps. Vacation is basically shot. I am 2k miles from home and all 3 Chevy dealers I called, 2 in Bozeman and 1 in jackson all said they had no availability at all until mid July or August.

I guess I have to call GM proper and beg??

Yes, first-beg, next-appeal to someone's common sense. Talk to a general manager. That is their job. You want a loaned vehicle for the rest of your vacation and they can pay to fly you back to pick up the vehicle when done. There availability of vehicles is not your problem. They can get you a vehicle at Enterprise or something.

I can absolutely guarantee you that if it was me, they would get me a vehicle to get me out of their shop. I am old, I don't care. I would make their life a living hell.

Think, Michael Douglas in "Falling Down".

 

[Geotrash]

Really appreciate you guys.

Right now just trying to figure out next steps. Vacation is basically shot. I am 2k miles from home and all 3 Chevy dealers I called, 2 in Bozeman and 1 in jackson all said they had no availability at all until mid July or August.

I guess I have to call GM proper and beg??

Thinking about you. What's the latest? Were you able to get replacement transportation and a place to have your rig fixed?

Bummer about your Yellowstone trip. It's my favorite place on earth. Hopefully it won't mean you need to scrap the whole trip. If it helps, there is an Avis and I believe also a Hertz at the West Yellowstone airport. I'd be tempted to catch one of the buses out to West Yellowstone and leave the truck on the side of the road for Chevy to come and get. If you have to pick a dealer and might get stuck somewhere for a little while, Cody has a lot to see and do.

 

[2022_z71]

Finally back in Ohio and catching up on all this.

The end result here was frustrating in that the Chevy dealership in Saint Anthony could not I.D the issue. They ended up replacing the 2 coolant res caps, the service manager drove it for 120 miles and could not get the issue to replicate again.

I ended up with a rental suburban from west yellowstone for 2 days while they diagnosed it.

In the remaining 2300 miles of the month long trip, the vehicle gave me no issues other than a flat tire in Glacier. It has not overheated again or made the same symptoms since then.

At a bit of a loss as to what happened but it does without saying that I have lost serious confidence in the truck. This is my first ever new vehicle, I have owned every German brand there is, most US brands, and this is the first vehicle in my 18 years of driving that has left me on the side of the road and dead in the water.

 

[CMoore711]

What a ****** situation @2022_z71 and to sprinkle a flat tire on top of that $hit cake. I feel for ya.

It’s odd that replacing 2 reservoir caps solved the issue? The symptoms you experienced I feel would warrant a lot more than that. I too would not be confident and trusting of the road trip ability.

Though it sucked it could always be worse right? Good or bad you and your family will NEVER forget this vacation!

 

[2022_z71]

Looking back on the entire thing, My only possible thought here is that somehow air made its way into the coolant system and an airlock took place which at some point along the process was resolved. I was on no sleep and it was 38 degrees and raining when this all happened and there were things I wish I would have thought to check.

After the first towing to the hotel, the engine was still warm, I had zero hot air coming from any of the vents inside the car, which is how I logically went down the bad water pump rabbit hole.

At this point my next step is a warpath with GM, when I broke down I had no cell service to call roadside assistance. NEVER breakdown inside Yellowstone, the park service has sub contracted and monopolized the towing to single company inside the park. The idiot kid who came to tow me damn near ruined the trans trying to 2 wheel tow it with the diff/drive shaft still connected...

My (two) tows inside the park came out to a total of.... (sit down for this one)... $1300. I am going after GM for all of that money here shortly.

Overall I am really not sure what else to do, I am tempted to haul it down to my Chevy dealer and have them tear into it but not sure what good that will do..

 

[OR VietVet]

I have repeatedly seen the posts on here about all kinds of problems with new Tahoes, Yukons and Suburbans. Plus there are alll the ones with problems that I don't see here on this forum. That is a bunch and completely unacceptable, IMO. I am so glad to have my GMT800 2005 Tahoe Z71 that has no problems and IMO, is also the best platform that GM built with these rigs. If I won a new GM 2021+ SUV, I would ask for the money instead. There is another thread pitting a Toyota brand against a GM brand and problems like this are driving GM owners right in to the welcoming arms of Toyota. Right now, GM is Toyota's best salesman.

 

[Silverado4x4]

Finally back in Ohio and catching up on all this.

The end result here was frustrating in that the Chevy dealership in Saint Anthony could not I.D the issue. They ended up replacing the 2 coolant res caps, the service manager drove it for 120 miles and could not get the issue to replicate again.

I ended up with a rental suburban from west yellowstone for 2 days while they diagnosed it.

In the remaining 2300 miles of the month long trip, the vehicle gave me no issues other than a flat tire in Glacier. It has not overheated again or made the same symptoms since then.

At a bit of a loss as to what happened but it does without saying that I have lost serious confidence in the truck. This is my first ever new vehicle, I have owned every German brand there is, most US brands, and this is the first vehicle in my 18 years of driving that has left me on the side of the road and dead in the water

When you have air in your coolant system, it causes steam pockets in the line which act almost like plugs preventing the coolant from continuing to flow. Once the engine cools down it will flow again but will return when engine gets hot again. Thats why they replaced 2 coolant caps. The coolant tank was empty cause it needed more coolant when running so it started pulling air cause the tank was empty therefore introducing more air in the system.

 

[2022_z71]

When you have air in your coolant system, it causes steam pockets in the line which act almost like plugs preventing the coolant from continuing to flow. Once the engine cools down it will flow again but will return when engine gets hot again. Thats why they replaced 2 coolant caps. The coolant tank was empty cause it needed more coolant when running so it started pulling air cause the tank was empty therefore introducing more air in the system.

Thanks this makes sense.

The part my mechanical knowledge still does not understand is after I had added coolant (water) back into the tank, I tried to drive it like 2 miles and I saw temps climbing, I pulled over to the side of the road and opened the hood and res tank was *empty*, and then about 5 seconds later the tank filled from the bottom up, bubbling like a volcano.

 

[UsualSuspect]

I have repeatedly seen the posts on here about all kinds of problems with new Tahoes, Yukons and Suburbans. Plus there are alll the ones with problems that I don't see here on this forum. That is a bunch and completely unacceptable, IMO. I am so glad to have my GMT800 2005 Tahoe Z71 that has no problems and IMO, is also the best platform that GM built with these rigs. If I won a new GM 2021+ SUV, I would ask for the money instead. There is another thread pitting a Toyota brand against a GM brand and problems like this are driving GM owners right in to the welcoming arms of Toyota. Right now, GM is Toyota's best salesman.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my neighbors 22 Sequoia has been in the shop waiting for a new engine. Seems they have their fair share of problems. Ask him and he will tell you he is in the process of Lemon Lawing it and can't wait to say goodbye to it and Toyota. His started out with electrical issues, followed by a new tranny, now an engine.

 

[OR VietVet]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my neighbors 22 Sequoia has been in the shop waiting for a new engine. Seems they have their fair share of problems. Ask him and he will tell you he is in the process of Lemon Lawing it and can't wait to say goodbye to it and Toyota. His started out with electrical issues, followed by a new tranny, now an engine.

That is one Toyota Sequoia compared to bunches on this forum alone.

 

[K2 Kaiju]

That is one Toyota Sequoia compared to bunches on this forum alone.

Actually, the new toy engine platform - which started with the '22 Tundra - is also having A LOT of low mileage engine failures. There is a 3.4 I-Force engine failure thread on their forum with at least as many as here - and you know they haven't sold NEAR as many as GM because you just can't find em. I think there is too much tech in every new vehicle, and these new chips aint what they used to be...

 

[pa31p]

Biggest ugly issue I see here is the towing situation in Yellowstone that along with no cell service to call.

Looks like GM support network came through as good as possible though.

I Doubt if Toyota or any other manufacturer would have faired better in helping you out.