03 6.0 - Water Going Somewhere

[steiny93]

2003 2500hd with the 6.0, 70k miles

I've had the truck since 10k miles and never had to add water.

In the last 6 weeks I've had to add 3 times for a total of 1 gallon (something is definately up)

 

Crawled under the truck and no drips, engine isn't and hasn't in the past overheated (even under large loads). We double tow a 5th wheel and a boat, total weight over 20k lbs.

 

The exhaust isn't colored and the truck doesn't have a sweet smell to it, no drips on the garage floor and the oil is free of water.

 

I was hoping seep hole on the water pump, but without drips that doesn't seem likely.

Now i'm kinda thinking intake or head, probably not head as it isn't making pressure.

 

thoughts?

[steiny93]

i found the thread in this forum called '2004 5.3L Silverado Losing Coolant, Coolant Loss' within that thread they discussed a tsb regarding heads exhibiting a porous crack issue with castech heads. Does anyone know if the 6.0's have a similar issue (tsb appeared to not apply to the 6.0's)

 

Basically I'm trying to figure out if I should pull off the valve covers and look for a clean drain hole.

[Draenor]

It is possible that it is leaking from the water pump. It could be leaking just enough, burned off by the engine heat, to where you do not notice a leak. You could try to run a pressure test.

[steiny93]

yep,

It's heading in for an oil change tomorrow and I'm going to have them do a pressure test as well.

 

 

I wish it would just leak coolant all over the garage like the one before, made for a much easier time fixing the problem

[steiny93]

update; issue found

 

Got the truck on a lift, big light, system under pressure.

Found the problem (water pump gasket) SWEET!

 

I'm pretty surprised that with that amount of water being used it didn't drill on the floor or have a smell to it, but oh well.

[superjim]

update; issue found

 

Got the truck on a lift, big light, system under pressure.

Found the problem (water pump gasket) SWEET!

 

I'm pretty surprised that with that amount of water being used it didn't drill on the floor or have a smell to it, but oh well.

 

 

Glad you found the problem and it is relatively minor...compared to replacing heads.