Quick help on a road trip - Updated: Coolant System & Belt

[jdwood1111]

Morning all. I have a ongoing thread but just took my 2011 Yukon xl Denali with 93k on it down from pa to fl and stopped by tire kingdom for wheel balance and alignment before leaving and they said I should do a serpentine belt and upper and lower radiator hoses with a flush before heading back. Oh and the total was $753!! Lol Upon my inspection the top hose is totally fine and the lower hose is definitely a little old and soft but looks ok(see below) to me. Stopped by a small local guy and he laughed and said they have quotas to meet and looked at it as well. Said the belt is definitely worn but shouldn’t break anytime soon and the hoses looked fine and wouldn’t touch it until I got home. My thoughts are to buy a lower hose and 6 gals of antifreeze to have with me if I really need it? Planning on leaving Saturday morning. Thoughts?

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Change out all of your hoses. Mine looked fine too, until one blew itself apart. This is something that you can do yourself.

 

[89Suburban]

Your fine don't sweat it.

 

[jdwood1111]

Yea I’ll change them out at some point when I get home but just looking to get a couple opinions on if I should do something before leaving. If it was only me there would zero sweat but I have wife, 4 kids and a dog! Thanks for the quick responses!

I have to go back to the darn place anyway, the steering wheel is not straight after the alignment!!

How much coolant would I loose if it blew so I know what but? One gal of dexcool concentrate and 2-3 bottles of distilled water for the road?

 

[Geotrash]

I wouldn't sweat it at all on this trip, but you're due for belts and hoses for sure, if they've never been changed. When you get home, and since you have to drain the cooling system to change the hoses, I would also change the heater hoses and the plastic tees they attach to at the firewall because they are known for failing. Also change the plastic tee in the heater hose that you can see in your photo by the water pump. Dorman makes one that uses an aluminum tee instead of the plastic one in that spot. For the firewall tees, order OEM only. Order before you leave and it will all be there when you get back

 

[89Suburban]

I have to go back to the darn place anyway, the steering wheel is not straight after the alignment!!

Raise some hell!!!!

 

[jdwood1111]

Raise some hell!!!!

Turns out when I called back they said I was the fourth person to state this and have a technician coming tomorrow morning to realign the machine! So hopefully they get it fixed otherwise I have to another location, come on!!

At all others, I’ll start working on a parts list based on the above recommendations and post up to make sure I have everything I need. I appreciate the reassurance all!

 

[jdwood1111]

Got the realignment today and all good now! Also bought the lower hose and 3 gals of coolant and a pair of angled pliers if I need them from advance to return all the above if I don’t need them!

Leaving early tomorrow hope all goes well! Thanks everyone!

 

[swathdiver]

Got the realignment today and all good now! Also bought the lower hose and 3 gals of coolant and a pair of angled pliers if I need them from advance to return all the above if I don’t need them!

Leaving early tomorrow hope all goes well! Thanks everyone!

Welcome to the Sunshine State! What part are you going to?

My belts and hoses at almost 13 years old and 176K are all original.

 

[jdwood1111]

Just spent the last week in Ormond Beach! We grew up coming down here since my grandparents had timeshare and it was a birthday gift for him since he turned 90 this year.

Thanks good to know too!! Thanks!

 

[swathdiver]

Just spent the last week in Ormond Beach! We grew up coming down here since my grandparents had timeshare and it was a birthday gift for him since he turned 90 this year.

Thanks good to know too!! Thanks!

That's awesome! My wife and I enjoy staying up there too. Have you been to Rose Villa on Granada or the European Cafe and Schnitzel House? Come to think of it, we're about due again!

 

[jdwood1111]

No we haven’t made our way there!

We’ll after the tire place said it still pulled to the left after the alignment and cross rotated the tires which road fine on the local roads now we have an awesome vibration/bounce above 45 mph that is worse than before and we have to live with it for the next 8 hours! Ugh….

 

[89Suburban]

No we haven’t made our way there!

We’ll after the tire place said it still pulled to the left after the alignment and cross rotated the tires which road fine on the local roads now we have an awesome vibration/bounce above 45 mph that is worse than before and we have to live with it for the next 8 hours! Ugh….

That blows man sorry!

 

[jdwood1111]

Made it home safe and sound late last night! Thanks to all those who responded and provided me some additional insight! I will return the stuff I bought and slowly heat up for the next series of repairs!

Side note from the long trip. The truck really does better on 91-93 gas. I put in a tank or two of 89 to spread the money out a bit and try it and the truck doesn’t run as well and it gets worse has mileage. I was getting 15 mpg with the 89 and 17 with the 91-93. Mostly the same driving conditions and holding speed around 78-82. It also just runs better, idles better and definitely passes better on the highway.

 

[89Suburban]

Made it home safe and sound late last night! Thanks to all those who responded and provided me some additional insight! I will return the stuff I bought and slowly heat up for the next series of repairs!

Side note from the long trip. The truck really does better on 91-93 gas. I put in a tank or two of 89 to spread the money out a bit and try it and the truck doesn’t run as well and it gets worse has mileage. I was getting 15 mpg with the 89 and 17 with the 91-93. Mostly the same driving conditions and holding speed around 78-82. It also just runs better, idles better and definitely passes better on the highway.

Keep us updated on getting the other issues solved.

 

[Fless]

This is one reason I do my best to stay up on regular maintenance. I make every attempt to avoid any kind of work on the truck for at least 3 or 4 weeks before a big trip. Need some time to make sure all is well. Knowing well, of course, that stuff happens.

 

[jdwood1111]

Still have to get the tires dealt with hopefully this weekend just been a busy week since returning home from the trip. But I am trying to finalize my upcoming expenditures so I wanted to confirm a list of items I should replace and here is what I have so far as set to order from Rock Auto as soon as I can confirm part numbers, money and time (may be a bit) and compare to the transmission service as well:

Heater tees at the forum suggestions, part #'s 15055343 & 15055342, correct?
Dorman Heater hose with alum. tee, # 626553
Heater hose #22885825
lower radiator hose #228277356 (does this have to be OEM or ACDelco? Looking to save some money somewhere if possible but not sacrifice quality)
Upper radiator hose #22827731 (same question above about OEM brand)
Serpentine belt kit with pully and tensioner #ACK060935HD
AC belt with install tool #19210691
3-4 gals of Valvline pre-mixed dex-cool (system looks clean and flushed so wasn't planning on flushing everything)

All that is sitting around $360 at Rock Auto.

Do or should I install a new thermostat while am doing this? Are they known to go bad? 94k miles. Do I need to replace the surge tank hose as well? Any other recommendations or anything I am missing?

 

[Geotrash]

Still have to get the tires dealt with hopefully this weekend just been a busy week since returning home from the trip. But I am trying to finalize my upcoming expenditures so I wanted to confirm a list of items I should replace and here is what I have so far as set to order from Rock Auto as soon as I can confirm part numbers, money and time (may be a bit) and compare to the transmission service as well:

Heater tees at the forum suggestions, part #'s 15055343 & 15055342, correct?

Yes, those are the correct tees for your truck

Dorman Heater hose with alum. tee, # 626553

Yes, that's the one

Heater hose #22885825

Yup.

lower radiator hose #228277356 (does this have to be OEM or ACDelco? Looking to save some money somewhere if possible but not sacrifice quality)

Lower should be 22827735. Gates radiator hoses are excellent substitutes.

Upper radiator hose #22827731 (same question above about OEM brand)

Yup.

Serpentine belt kit with pully and tensioner #ACK060935HD

You have both a tensioner with pulley and an idler pulley. Belt is 12626222, Tensioner is 12609719, Idler pulley is 19188226

AC belt with install tool #19210691

AC Belt is 19188362.

3-4 gals of Valvline pre-mixed dex-cool (system looks clean and flushed so wasn't planning on flushing everything)

All that is sitting around $360 at Rock Auto.

Do or should I install a new thermostat while am doing this? Are they known to go bad? 94k miles. Do I need to replace the surge tank hose as well? Any other recommendations or anything I am missing?

Yes, you should replace the thermostat at this time. 89018168.

 

[intheburbs]

Replacing the serpentine is part of my regular maintenance schedule.

I like that the A/C belt is separate. It's such a PITA to replace, I don't bother to PM it. I'll replace it when it breaks. Worst case, can live a few days without it.

 

[Geotrash]

Replacing the serpentine is part of my regular maintenance schedule.

I like that the A/C belt is separate. It's such a PITA to replace, I don't bother to PM it. I'll replace it when it breaks. Worst case, can live a few days without it.

I have the little Lisle tool that makes it a simple job, so I always replace the A/C belt when I replace the main belt. And I always replace the tensioner and all pulleys at the same time. My 2007 has a tensioner for the A/C belt, so I replaced that when I bought the truck, too.