Jump to content

05 Gp 3800 Coolant On Black Elbow Under Pcv?

JackalAR

By JackalAR
in Ask A GM Technician

Recommended Posts

JackalAR Enthusiast

JackalAR

Posted
Posted

Hello, I have a 2005 Grand Prix GT1 with NA 3800 with 95k mi. A little background. I had the WP replaced @ 35k mi. under warranty. I did a thorough coolant flush, thermostat, and change over to the yellow'ish green universal coolant last summer. I have the aluminum upper intake manifold so I shouldn't have the intake / head gasket issues that the pre-05's did, and that just about killed my buddy's 03 Impala last month.

 

My wife and I have been very faintly smelling coolant here and there since it got warm enough to have the windows down. I noticed the reservoir was about a quart lower than usual. I topped it off and drove it today, and noticed the smell again several times. I went straight to the water pump thinking I'd find a slow weep or telltale signs on the underhood insulation, but there was none. I did however track the smell and moisture (also grime build-up of course) to all I can think to call it is the lower PCV housing. There is a black (plastic?) elbow that runs from the lower intake manifold over to the bracket that the tensioner pulley secures to. There is a thin "stream" of coolant on the highlighted area (corner) of the elbow as pictured below. Confirmed with smell and taste. If I wipe it dry, it returns in about a minute. It's not enough to collect a heavy drip, but will wet your finger.

 

Any idea what the issue here is? I can't tell where it might be migrating from. Click on the thumbs to full res pic. Thanks!!!

 

th_2.jpg

 

th_1.jpg

txab Senior Enthusiast

txab

Posted
Posted

Thermostat bypass upper and lower assemblies. There are 2 and yes, you will be replacing them

JackalAR Enthusiast

JackalAR

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Funtastic! Thanks man. Just a matter of popping the upper & lower intake manifolds and some R&R? Looks like the alternator might have to go too.

txab Senior Enthusiast

txab

Posted
Posted
Funtastic! Thanks man. Just a matter of popping the upper & lower intake manifolds and some R&R? Looks like the alternator might have to go too.

How much trouble would it be to just remove the drive belt tensioner? I think that is the way to go....

JackalAR Enthusiast

JackalAR

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just got a reply on 3800Pro. Looks like it's just an R&R of the $4 plastic elbows and alternator and pensioner are all that have to go. Thanks!

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Forum Statistics

    250.4k
    Total Topics
    2.7m
    Total Posts

  • Member Statistics

    342,759
    Total Members
    8,960
    Most Online
    DM22
    Newest Member
    DM22
    Joined

  • Who's Online   2 Members, 0 Anonymous, 2,734 Guests (See full list)

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • B14Sierra
      Cam chain tensioner question

      By B14Sierra · Posted

      So I'm in the middle of a DOD AFM delete on my 6.2 L86 Sierra. I had a pick holding the tensioner but after I got the Cam phaser gear off I was cleaning off all the rtv and apparently I didn't have the pick seated far enough in. I bumped it and the tensioner sprang forward.  I think everything is good but I want a second opinion. The top of the tensioner is just a looped piece of plastic that rides in that channel right? There is no spring or anything is there? I got the gear and chain back on and it seems tight and everything looks right. I'm hoping nothing fell out.
    • dna9656
      No low range 4 x 4

      By dna9656 · Posted

      My 2015 1500 LTZ Silverado suddenly won't go into 4 x 4 low. It will go into 4 x 4 high.
    • asilverblazer
      Transmission Woes :-(

      By asilverblazer · Posted

      Yep, just a quick reference point.    My main point being I’d do a thousand other things before I’d pay 10k for a transmission.    Speaking in ignorance cause I don’t look at these trucks, what is it worth? 20k?
    • asilverblazer
      Intermittent no-code issues on 2022.5+ V8 trucks — what did the shop fail to capture?

      By asilverblazer · Posted

      I think users are going to want to pick their monitored parameters, which parameters they want to see first.    It should probably start with baseline at a minimum and adjust to learned, but be able to overlay baseline for comparison.   A simple severity level would be able to determine what type of alerting is appropriate or user selectable.    Why not use the OBD port though?   I think a phone connection would be a good idea, push notifications type deal.   Number 1 issue is having data is useless if you don’t know what the data should be under normal conditions. 
    • Chuck FB
      summer road trips in the 2026 2500HD

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I thought I would use your thread and add to it as I just did my first longer drive with my truck in the last couple of days. I drove from the Grande Prairie area of Alberta down to Edmonton and most of where I drove in the city was the ring road so fairly free flowing but a bit of stop and go as well in the city. Stayed the night and returned home and not too many stops along the way each way but every restart and certainly every cold start sets it back for fuel mileage. Why I say that is I see some people will cherry pick a fuel mileage leg after the vehicle had been warmed up driveline wise before hand and its a forgiving ( easy rolling drive leg for example ) and call that their fuel mileage which can give a false perception of reality. I was not heavily loaded at all but never the less the flip bak cover, rubber bed mat, various tools etc and extra jerry cans of fuel all way up to a few hundred pounds of dead weight so its not an empty truck. The cold inflation tire pressures are set more near the freezing point so once they are warmed up driving I was showing 45 front and over 40 rear and realize high inflation pressures would help a little in fuel mileage but certainly not the ride on our crap sections of highway. The weather was good so was not raining as that can really drag mileage down, in fact I had a bit of a tail wind on average driving home. Most people on here would never have driven on that freeway to visualize it but its got a fair bit of rolling type of landscape with numerous river valleys. For the most part I had it on cruise set to 62 although kicking it off if I caught it in time before it started down shifting and self braking going down the grades. Most of the more substantial grades its shifting into 7th I believe as 8th just doesn't have it. Total distance round trip was 643 miles and my overall average and I did refuel three times in all, figured out to 17.65 miles per US gallon. My best fuel mileage section refuel within all of this figured out to 18.46 and these are all hand calculated figures. I find if anything that the trucks computer can be over optimistic, sometimes its pretty close but other times its stretching it. On paper persay in theory the truck would have just about made it on fumes for that whole drive without refueling once.    Which made me think of the topic thread of the wonder if these trucks could do 20 mpg and that is a good question, certainly would have to be on an easy going flat highway, no head wind, the right temperature, not packing around a bunch of dead weight and puttering along even slower than I was I would suspect and going steady and not stopping to smell the flowers or take a piss !. It probably is possible but not without effort to attain that with the wind resistance and weight of these trucks. Of course on my drive most people are passing me if they have the power as per loaded highway tractors, never mind a lot of speedy vehicles but the speed limit is 68 and most are at or well over that. 

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...