Just curious what you guys think of this coolant level. Has dropped from full since feb 2023 when I got it.

[iboughtatahoe23]

Have not don’t anything to radiator system was planning on getting a flush at valvoline. No over heating drives fine. I do smell a toasty smell under the hood sometimes and when close to engine bay. No leaking under car. Truck also has to deal with the harsh cold winter as well

 

[blackelky]

Your local dealer with a coupon might be the same price or less

 

[OR VietVet]

If you don't know for sure where it started, then how can you be concerned? It's guesswork at this point.

 

[petethepug]

Congrats on the truck. You’re right about the cold. There’s a slight chance using the heater on max for both the front and rear a/c may have burped some air out of the system and made room for more.

More that likely it’s…

* The T’s and fittings on the heater core lines.

* A crack in the coolant reservoir or plastic radiator end tank.

If it’s the second what if you’ll be hard pressed to ever find it leaking or steaming unless you’re inside the engine bay with the truck floored from a stop light. Look for tell tale leaking like powdery residue on stuff from the steam going off.

Oh those heater tees. GM has a game running on those parts. When mine went only the dealership had the parts in stock. Every local parts house was out. My Indi tech got hosed and had to pass along a $4h bill using OEM heater hoses and parts.

Grab a drink, have a sit this weekend looking online at Gruven & R/A website for heater hose part. Hopefully you’ll find something in stock during this cold snap.

BTW if you lose a heater hose it’ll drain the coolant in less than a minute. It takes 10-15 seconds of that minute to have the bells and whistles go off in the dash. Before you know it the engine is in overheat and have to shut it down, hopefully not while still moving. There’s practically no steering or brakes with no motor. Weeeee!

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Keep in mind the coolant level will vary hot vs cold

 

[donjetman]

Have not don’t anything to radiator system was planning on getting a flush at valvoline. No over heating drives fine. I do smell a toasty smell under the hood sometimes and when close to engine bay. No leaking under car. Truck also has to deal with the harsh cold winter as well View attachment 419846

No, none of my vehicles ever drop that much.

 

[Geotrash]

I notice some daily fluctuation in the coolant level on mine depending on where it's parked, etc. I would watch it for a while longer to establish the trend. I agree with the others that if it becomes a trend, it's time to do the coolant tees if you haven't already, check below the water pump pulley with an inspection mirror to look for any evidence of leakage, and thoroughly inspect the radiator end tanks as best you can. Those are the usual suspects if there's a slow leak.

 

[Doubeleive]

mine will sit like that, I don't have any leaks and it's not going in the engine verified with a blackstone labs test, I think it has to do with the way I drive I might be forcing it to overflow to that level somehow until it won't do it anymore. Even if I top it off a while later it will be back to that level and stay there. Goes along with my back tires leaving marks on the splash liner.
The Silverado does the same thing
And sometimes if I happen to be parked on a level surface, pop the hood to look at it while hot the level will be at the full line

 

[Geotrash]

mine will sit like that, I don't have any leaks and it's not going in the engine verified with a blackstone labs test, I think it has to do with the way I drive I might be forcing it to overflow to that level somehow until it won't do it anymore. Even if I top it off a while later it will be back to that level and stay there. Goes along with my back tires leaving marks on the splash liner.
The Silverado does the same thing
And sometimes if I happen to be parked on a level surface, pop the hood to look at it while hot the level will be at the full line

Yes, I should have mentioned that that's also where both of mine sit most often.

 

[mikez71]

That's about the level mine drops to.. I cannot find a leak. Replaced all cooling system.
Believed it to be headgasket, because coolant smell was strong out the exhaust at times, but cooling system C02 check showed nothing.
(Can coolant get into combustion chamber but no combustion gas in coolant? Maybe a crack/leak around intake ports?)

I could swear mine started smelling/dropping after I started using E85. Haven't used it lately, haven't smelled coolant, coolant level seems stabilized about where you show it.
Unless the catalytic converter is somehow tweaking the E85 exhaust to smell like coolant..

 

[Doubeleive]

This is mine this morning after a 1 mile drive to drop the kids off at school almost to normal operating temp, parked level

 

[Joseph Garcia]

If you smell antifreeze around the engine bay, you have a small leak somewhere. It could be from many sources, but the main sources are generally the weeping from the hole on the underside of the water pump or a minute crack on one of the plastic sides of the radiator.

 

[Fless]

If it concerns you set the level when cold to the cold mark, then stick a piece of tape on the side of the surge tank. Mark the level and the date, and check it when cold. The level will vary a little, like the rest of the guys are saying, but should stay relatively the same when the cooling system is at the same temp.

 

[irwires]

Looks to be a little overfilled which is why you smell it due to expanding over into the overflow line. Check it when cold and find the cold mark on the bottle. If over then remove enough to get to the cold line

 

[petethepug]

No change in the coolant level in the reservoir level for over a week. It was likely the rear heater lines and core that was mpt since the truck was last drained.

Congrats on the truck. You’re right about the cold. There’s a slight chance using the heater on max for both the front and rear a/c may have burped some air out of the system and made room for more.

 

[Fless]

Looks to be a little overfilled which is why you smell it due to expanding over into the overflow line. Check it when cold and find the cold mark on the bottle. If over then remove enough to get to the cold line

Neither of the two pics in this thread showed the coolant being overfilled. Both were below the Full Cold mark. Just curious, where are you seeing one that's overfilled?