Loosing water ?

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rj100

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Have a 1999 Yukon 5.7 water in radiator drops about 4-5 inches. add water it drops t to 4-5 inches. Don't add water it drops to this level and stays there , engine doesn't get hot. where is my leak. thanks
 

wjburken

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Have a 1999 Yukon 5.7 water in radiator drops about 4-5 inches. add water it drops t to 4-5 inches. Don't add water it drops to this level and stays there , engine doesn't get hot. where is my leak. thanks
It could be a variety of places.

How long has this been goin on?

How fast do you lose water?

Are you getting any puddles under your vehicle?

What does your oil look like? Is it kind of milky?

Do you have white smoke coming out if your tailpipe?

If you can, do a pressure test on your coolant system and see where the water is coming out at. If you lose pressure and don’t see water coming out, it might be going into your oil or your cylinders.
 

OR VietVet

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What @wjburken said. Any water on ground? Have you pressure tested the cooling system? Any white smoke out of tailpipe? Water on the floor of the passenger side? What does the oil fill cap look like when you pull it and look? Have you looked for signs of corrosive stains on the block, anywhere? If there is a stain, does it look like a water trail?
 
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rj100

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It could be a variety of places.

How long has this been goin on?

How fast do you lose water?

Are you getting any puddles under your vehicle?

What does your oil look like? Is it kind of milky?

Do you have white smoke coming out if your tailpipe?

If you can, do a pressure test on your coolant system and see where the water is coming out at. If you lose pressure and don’t see water coming out, it might be going into your oil or your cylin
It could be a variety of places.

How long has this been goin on?

How fast do you lose water?

Are you getting any puddles under your vehicle?

What does your oil look like? Is it kind of milky?

Do you have white smoke coming out if your tailpipe?

If you can, do a pressure test on your coolant system and see where the water is coming out at. If you lose pressure and don’t see water coming out, it might be going into your oil or your cylinders.
No signs of water in the oil . Can fill up to the over flow on radiator and after driving 50 miles more or less water level in radiator will drop to about 4 inches below overflow. It will stay at this level until you fill it up again. Then drop to the 4 inch level again. It will never drop below the 4 inch level. No signs of water on hoses 0r radiator . Haven't removed fan shroud to check closer. Not over heating. Must only leak while driving. Replace radiator cap, no help. Can't understand why it will not drop below the four inch level.
 

Mr. Krispy

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I have a 1999 Yukon 5.7 engine with 267,000 miles on it without need of a rebuild. But mine loses water in a similar fashion after the shop replaced my water pump about 20,000 miles ago. The overflow bucket loses coolant over about 1,000 miles or so (I never checked the radiator itself). There aren't any signs of the water dripping out, leaking out, leaking into the oil, doesn't over heat, and it holds pressure over night. I think I'll replace the overflow bucket and return hose just for grins but there aren't any signs of either one leaking. Anyone have any other ideas?
 

willxfs

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My rig is a 1998 2door 4wd. Some time ago it was leaking coolant but I couldn't figure out where. No signs of external leak (or very little anyway) and no signs of coolant mixing with the oil. It ended up being the lower intake manifold gaskets. Mine were original with over 200k miles. I replaced them myself with the updated felpro set and no more leaks. I have since found out, if using Dexcool coolant, it turns acidic after long periods which is why they have a 3 or 5 year service interval (I cant remember now). I think I remember seeing some pitting on the aluminium on the base of the intake. Good luck!
 

Mr. Krispy

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A compression test is in order.
TY for your reply but I don't see how a compression test would help. There are no signs of coolant in the oil, and there isn't any moisture coming out of the tail pipe. A cooling system pressure test held for over 12 hours with no loss of pressure. I'm going to remove and inspect the coolant recovery bucket next.
 

OR VietVet

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I leave no stone unturned when looking for a problem. The temp f the engine at the time of the compression can have two different results. You do what you want. It's your rig. After running shops for a lot of years I learned that sometimes the answer is found by doing what you thought was not needed.
 

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