Coolant Leak update...coming from head

BillK01 · February 22, 2019

So took my truck back to dealer - currently has 3411 miles and they confirmed the coolant leak is coming from the freaking HEAD. Not terribly happy about that diagnosis or needing to pull the head to fix it. They say they won't know if it's a cracked head or broken bolt until it's been removed and possibly sent back to GMC to test. I'm so disappointed with multiple things with this truck - and now with this head issue I'm wishing I'd have never traded in my F150.

edit - sorry should have put this in the Troubleshooting section - mods feel free to move.

Edited February 22, 2019 by BillK01

midwestdenaliguy · February 22, 2019

I'm guessing yours is an external leak coming from a bolt on the head? I had a coolant leak from the head, but it was internal. Mine had a rough start due to burning off coolant that slowly leaked into a couple cylinders as it sat for a while (always worse in the morning after sitting all night). Look up PIP5498 for details on the issue. The heads come from either a plant in Mexico or Canada. What they told me was the Mexico plant is where they are seeing intermittent casting issues - the heads can pit and form holes over time. Some way earlier than others, like in your case. Anyway, I have an awesome dealer near me that got GM to replace the entire top end of my engine (both heads, etc.) with parts from the Canadian plant - didn't cost me a dime and I'm just outside of my warranty mileage. If you're out of warranty, ask them to make a case to GM for you. Replacing a head sounds bad, and shouldn't be needed that early on (if ever), but it's not all bad. I have 78k miles on the odometer, but practically a brand new engine now. I never had a catch can installed so there was a decent amount of oil build up in the intake, now it's brand new and I have a catch can installed.

Curious, what are the other things you're not happy with on the truck?

lordathey · February 22, 2019

Mine had a crack in the casting, so I got a new cylinder head.

Sierra Dan · February 22, 2019

Sorry for your misfortunes Bill.

Like all mechanical objects in life, nothing is perfect.

What other "multiple" things have gone on with your new '18 ?

mookdoc6 · February 22, 2019

1 hour ago, BillK01 said:

So took my truck back to dealer - currently has 3411 miles and they confirmed the coolant leak is coming from the freaking HEAD. Not terribly happy about that diagnosis or needing to pull the head to fix it. They say they won't know if it's a cracked head or broken bolt until it's been removed and possibly sent back to GMC to test. I'm so disappointed with multiple things with this truck - and now with this head issue I'm wishing I'd have never traded in my F150.

edit - sorry should have put this in the Troubleshooting section - mods feel free to move.

How much coolant were you loosing or noticing to bring to attention to service dept? Thanks

BillK01 · February 22, 2019

Well my passenger headlight LED surround burned out at about 500 miles. That's the only other "service" issue I've had with the truck since I bought it in December (which incidentally I had zero issues with my F150 until approximately 45k miles when the AC vents stopped circulating correctly). I'm now at 3400 miles and I'm looking at a head replacement.

The other issues I have with the truck are related to my purchasing it too quickly and not really taking enough time to look at other options and features and really doing a better comparison - completely my own stupid fault. That being said some (but not all)of my personal beefs with my 2018 Sierra Denali are:

Cab room - what's up with it? Where is it? The rear seat area is pathetic compared to my old F150 - especially when you look at it from the outside. It looks like it should be huge but it's not. And why's there a huge hump down the middle of the rear floor? Certainly not for a driveshaft. Having a big flat area there (like my F150) is really nice.
The infotainment system stinks on ice. The screen resolution is lousy and why no artist/song art and station art like my wife's 2016 Highlander has? The Bose sound system is respectable enough I guess - but not really in a $65k vehicle - it should be much better.
The rear view camera sucks - no zoom - really? Even my 2011 F150 had zoom for hooking up my trailer - and the camera resolution in the stinking rearview mirror on my F150 was much better.
The Sonar is flakey - sometimes it's fine - sometimes it doesn't seem to be detecting what it should.
The front crash avoidance is bizarre and I am not convinced it will work when it is needed. I may try to do the big cardboard box trick out on my street one day to make sure.
The Lane Departure / Lane Keep assist suck. Compared to my wife's Highlander the Lane Departure works maybe 50% of the time.
The blind spot monitor sucks - wait - there isn't any blind spot monitor - again on a $65k vehicle.
The laser cruise control sucks - wait....there isn't any.
The push button start is …. wait - there isn't one.
Why is there no rear a/c vents in the back of the center console?
Why are there no cup holders on the back of the center console?

Again - all of my above gripes are just that - gripes. But given the sticker price most of that should be on a truck of this level. I take complete responsibility for not realizing all this prior to my purchase and got caught up in the excitement of a new vehicle. This is the first time I've ever bought a new vehicle so quickly and I truly do wish I'd have waited and went out and driven a new F150 (and maybe even a Ram or Tundra) before taking the plunge. But it's water over the dam now and I'm stuck with it. I've considered seeing if there's a chance I could trade for a new F150 but since I got 20K in trade for my old F150 and like 13k off sticker on the Denali - I just don't think I'd be able to pull it off this quickly.

All that said - I will say it's the quietest and nicest riding truck I've ever owned - and that 6.2 (when it's not leaking coolant) is AWESOME.

Bill

BillK01 · February 22, 2019

20 minutes ago, mookdoc6 said:

How much coolant were you loosing or noticing to bring to attention to service dept? Thanks

Just a few drips on my garage floor - mainly after the truck sat unused for a day or so.

Sierra Dan · February 22, 2019

Ford has had it's fair share of recalls very recently. So has RAM

Ford 6 speed transmissions can unexpectedly shift into first gear, causing the truck to abruptly come to a stop.

I will take a leaky head and burned out LED unit over flying through the windshield any day.

Ford recently had recalls due to the seat belt retract mechanism catching fire.

GM sent out a bulletin for Electric Power Steering reprogramming back in the fall.

So not to say GM is perfect but Ford has their fair share of problems. Less than RAM though but not as many as GM.

Of course safety recalls are far more serious in nature than mechanical defects.

BillK01 · February 22, 2019

Yea Dan I agree about recalls.

My main gripes are simply about features that I feel are missing and poor design decisions - and again - it's my own fault for jumping into a new vehicle so quickly. I just cannot believe what's missing from a $65k+ vehicle. And now this head issue is just another thing to disappoint me with my decision. First world problems I know.

newdude · February 22, 2019

23 minutes ago, BillK01 said:

Well my passenger headlight LED surround burned out at about 500 miles. That's the only other "service" issue I've had with the truck since I bought it in December (which incidentally I had zero issues with my F150 until approximately 45k miles when the AC vents stopped circulating correctly).   I'm now at 3400 miles and I'm looking at a head replacement.

The other issues I have with the truck are related to my purchasing it too quickly and not really taking enough time to look at other options and features and really doing a better comparison - completely my own stupid fault. That being said some (but not all)of my personal beefs with my 2018 Sierra Denali are:

Cab room - what's up with it? Where is it? The rear seat area is pathetic compared to my old F150 - especially when you look at it from the outside. It looks like it should be huge but it's not. And why's there a huge hump down the middle of the rear floor? Certainly not for a driveshaft.   Having a big flat area there (like my F150) is really nice.

The infotainment system stinks on ice. The screen resolution is lousy and why no artist/song art and station art like my wife's 2016 Highlander has?   The Bose sound system is respectable enough I guess - but not really in a $65k vehicle - it should be much better.

The rear view camera sucks - no zoom - really? Even my 2011 F150 had zoom for hooking up my trailer - and the camera resolution in the stinking rearview mirror on my F150 was much better.

The Sonar is flakey - sometimes it's fine - sometimes it doesn't seem to be detecting what it should.

The front crash avoidance is bizarre and I am not convinced it will work when it is needed. I may try to do the big cardboard box trick out on my street one day to make sure.

The Lane Departure / Lane Keep assist suck. Compared to my wife's Highlander the Lane Departure works maybe 50% of the time.

The blind spot monitor sucks - wait - there isn't any blind spot monitor - again on a $65k vehicle.

The laser cruise control sucks - wait....there isn't any.

The push button start is …. wait - there isn't one.

Why is there no rear a/c vents in the back of the center console?

Why are there no cup holders on the back of the center console?

Again - all of my above gripes are just that - gripes. But given the sticker price most of that should be on a truck of this level. I take complete responsibility for not realizing all this prior to my purchase and got caught up in the excitement of a new vehicle. This is the first time I've ever bought a new vehicle so quickly and I truly do wish I'd have waited and went out and driven a new F150 (and maybe even a Ram or Tundra) before taking the plunge. But it's water over the dam now and I'm stuck with it. I've considered seeing if there's a chance I could trade for a new F150 but since I got 20K in trade for my old F150 and like 13k off sticker on the Denali - I just don't think I'd be able to pull it off this quickly.

All that said - I will say it's the quietest and nicest riding truck I've ever owned - and that 6.2 (when it's not leaking coolant) is AWESOME.

Bill

Lots of the features unfortunately that should be there in your 2018 are present in the 2019, save for radar cruise control. Bigger cab, the 6.2/A10, MUCH better backup camera, hell 360 cameras, rear vents, push button start, etc.

Sure, the price difference would have been a bit as there aren't a whole lot of discounts on 2019, but the 19 would have been a better compare to the F150 and Ram, both of whom's 2019 models crap on GM's leftover 2018 trucks for features.

BillK01 · February 26, 2019

Dropping it off Wednesday morning - I'll report back what they ultimately find wrong with it. Thanks for the replies to my complaining!

15 Z71 · February 26, 2019

On 2/22/2019 at 11:57 AM, BillK01 said:

Well my passenger headlight LED surround burned out at about 500 miles. That's the only other "service" issue I've had with the truck since I bought it in December (which incidentally I had zero issues with my F150 until approximately 45k miles when the AC vents stopped circulating correctly).   I'm now at 3400 miles and I'm looking at a head replacement.

The other issues I have with the truck are related to my purchasing it too quickly and not really taking enough time to look at other options and features and really doing a better comparison - completely my own stupid fault. That being said some (but not all)of my personal beefs with my 2018 Sierra Denali are:

Cab room - what's up with it? Where is it? The rear seat area is pathetic compared to my old F150 - especially when you look at it from the outside. It looks like it should be huge but it's not. And why's there a huge hump down the middle of the rear floor? Certainly not for a driveshaft.   Having a big flat area there (like my F150) is really nice.

The infotainment system stinks on ice. The screen resolution is lousy and why no artist/song art and station art like my wife's 2016 Highlander has?   The Bose sound system is respectable enough I guess - but not really in a $65k vehicle - it should be much better.

The rear view camera sucks - no zoom - really? Even my 2011 F150 had zoom for hooking up my trailer - and the camera resolution in the stinking rearview mirror on my F150 was much better.

The Sonar is flakey - sometimes it's fine - sometimes it doesn't seem to be detecting what it should.

The front crash avoidance is bizarre and I am not convinced it will work when it is needed. I may try to do the big cardboard box trick out on my street one day to make sure.

The Lane Departure / Lane Keep assist suck. Compared to my wife's Highlander the Lane Departure works maybe 50% of the time.

The blind spot monitor sucks - wait - there isn't any blind spot monitor - again on a $65k vehicle.

The laser cruise control sucks - wait....there isn't any.

The push button start is …. wait - there isn't one.

Why is there no rear a/c vents in the back of the center console?

Why are there no cup holders on the back of the center console?

Again - all of my above gripes are just that - gripes. But given the sticker price most of that should be on a truck of this level. I take complete responsibility for not realizing all this prior to my purchase and got caught up in the excitement of a new vehicle. This is the first time I've ever bought a new vehicle so quickly and I truly do wish I'd have waited and went out and driven a new F150 (and maybe even a Ram or Tundra) before taking the plunge. But it's water over the dam now and I'm stuck with it. I've considered seeing if there's a chance I could trade for a new F150 but since I got 20K in trade for my old F150 and like 13k off sticker on the Denali - I just don't think I'd be able to pull it off this quickly.

All that said - I will say it's the quietest and nicest riding truck I've ever owned - and that 6.2 (when it's not leaking coolant) is AWESOME.

Bill

If you would have bought a F-150 and this would have happened you would be doing the same thing on the ford forums. Say "I wish I would have bought the GM". Just unfortunate that happened.

BillK01 · February 26, 2019

15 minutes ago, 15 Z71 said:

If you would have bought a F-150 and this would have happened you would be doing the same thing on the ford forums. Say "I wish I would have bought the GM". Just unfortunate that happened.

You betcha I would be. Ford, Nissan, Ram, Toyota - heck Kia - it don't matter - if I bought a brand new vehicle in December and had 3400 miles on it when they told me I had to have a head replaced - I'd be yapping. Add in the sticker price of $65k+ and I think I have some valid gripes. Also - I don't think I ever said I wish I'd have bought a Ford - I said I "wish I'd have waited and driven a Ford (and maybe even a Ram or Tundra) before taking the plunge."

Daniel16sierra · August 20, 2024

I have a 2016 GMC Sierra SLT recently purchased used with the 6.2L engine. It has 97,200 miles and took it in to the dealership for a quick issue with delayed start and they identified a leaking head gasket.. how concern should I be?