leak

[chevyguy3766]

I have a 97 4x4 4dr tahoe with the 5.7 engine. for the past couple of days i noticed there was some kind of fluid leaking underneath the engine. i thought it was just water from the a/c but i put a paper towel on it and it looks like water with a pinkish tint to it. i checked my engine coolant and it is bone dry. is it anti-freeze thats leaking and where is it comming from? if it is, what kind do i get and how much to put in?

 

[Sepiroth]

You mention the leak was underneath, but you dont mention where underneath.

Either way your best bet is to have the coolant system pressure tested. This should be done on a cold as well as hot engine. More than likely this will determine where your leak is.

 

[DJTricky]

slight issue, you said its pinkish in color, the only auto maker that i can think of that uses pink coolant is toyota, i have an feeling that its tranny fluid, might wanna check that before you leak to much out and start messin stuff up

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

dexcool.

if you've lost that much check you hoses, and the radiator for leaks. could also be intake gasket.

fill it up to the top of the radiator and fill the bottle up to the cool mark.

 

[DJTricky]

true, never mind, i drained all my dexcool about 5 years ago lol, i have had green from then on

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

still been debating that green or yellow swap. trucks got 174K on it with the dex... no ill effects with the green swap?

 

[99COOP]

still been debating that green or yellow swap. trucks got 174K on it with the dex... no ill effects with the green swap?

As long as you get the majority out/flushed its ok. Dexcool is nothing but problems, i changed over to green long ago and im pushing 216,000 strong on the clock.

 

[blueflamed03]

if it's slick, it could be tranny or radiator. Radiator has a distinct smell....tranny fluid will smell more like motor oil.

 

[chevyguy3766]

in the "engine coolant" box near the windsheild, thats where the anti-freeze should be right? i unscrewed the top and looked inside and its dry as it can be, but my thermostate is saying the engine temp is fine. also, if i am leaking transmission fluid, shouldnt it be leaking under the transmission. the leak is like directly under the engine and it feels just like water but has a slight pink tint to it.

 

[blueflamed03]

could even be PS fluid...

your probably seeing the overflow tank...if the truck is cold, pop radiator cap and see if your low, and then start truck, check tranny fluid.

 

[DJTricky]

i had nothing go wrong with the swap lol i just shoved a garden hose in the radiator, and unhooked the uper radiator hose and ran the engine till nothing but water came out, ghetto i know but what the hell, it worked really well.

 

[99COOP]

yea check the radiator fluid levels when cold, if your resevoir is empty fill it to the cold line and see if it leaks out, it might just be that the hose to the resevoir tank is leaking. If not check the fittings on the radiator itself, which is where mine started leaking from. Also check the lower and upper radiator hoses. If your leaking from any of those points you will be able to tell pretty easily. If its none of those move onto the other option, might be a leaking tranny line. PS fluid will prob. have a yellower/transparant tint to it.

 

[qlc1964]

it could be the heater control valve leaking like mine did.

 

[hapyspaz]

If you can, give us a better idea of where the fluid is pooling under your tahoe. Front or rear of engine? driver or passenger side? Try to help us out a little more.

Nothing wrong with DexCool, so long as you change it out. The original "formula" was flawed and would "gelatinize" under certain circumstances. So long as you have flushed it out since around 2000, you are fine.
As 99COOP stated though, you NEED to bet all the dexcool out if you are going to swap to green.

 

[sc00bz]

look beside your alternator in the front of the engine. If you see where the gasket is bubbling you probably have an IMG leak. That's how I found my IMG leak. If not, you're probably good as far as coolant and have a slight hose leak somewhere. Get some coolant dye. It says on the bottle you need a black light to trace the leak but I just looked under the hood @ night with a 27 LED flashlight and I saw a glow coming from the IMG.

Also, check your oil and make sure it's not milky looking. IMG and head gaskets can leak internally as well as externally and normally do.

I don't know about pink shit other than toyotas as mentioned before. You sure you're not color blind and it looks pink to you but it's actually green? I know my buddy is color blind and everything that's green looks red/pink to him and visa versa. lol

 

[chevyguy3766]

saturday i put radiator fluid in the the radiator,one side of the bottle is to stop the leak,the other side of the the bottle is green die. also put the correct antifreeze which is a red/pink color in the engine coolant compartment.well tonight i looked on the ground and there is still a leak. the engine coolant compartment is almost empty when i just filled it up friday. the fluid on the ground is still that pinkish color, so it cant be comming from the raidiator because of the green die i put in it. so could it be one of the hoses? does this sound exspensive to fix?

 

[Sepiroth]

You mention the leak was underneath, but you dont mention where underneath.

Either way your best bet is to have the coolant system pressure tested. This should be done on a cold as well as hot engine. More than likely this will determine where your leak is.

Um, READ MY POST!!!!

And quit this dicking around. Seriously, you're going to get 100 different answer from 100 different people. You do the pressure test or take the truck somewhere to have it done and then, you'll most likely know.

 

[chevyguy3766]

just took it to the shop. its the waterpump. shop wants $165 to replace it. im taking it tommorrow morning.

 

[Sepiroth]

Finally problem detected.