coolant leak

[ferg's04]

first off, hi everyone. i have an 04 tahoe lt with 89000 miles on it. over the past few months i have been having to put a lot of coolant in. i have no signs of leaks anywhere. i spoke to a mechanic friend with a suburban and he said that his truck did the same thing and ended up being a recall in which the engine was replaced by the dealership for free. has anyone else heard of this and if so know how to go about it? thanks for the help.

[retired2001]

Welcome to the site! My '04 has needed coolant, recently but I have not been able to find where is going. I have not heard of this being a "re-occuring" problem. I have 128,000 miles on mine so I doubt if
GM would be interested in replacing my engine. Good luck, I'm sure you will get some more answers.

[unplugged]

Excessive coolant loss is never a good sign. If you don't see puddles under your truck then the coolant is leaking into the engine.

Common places to check for a leak are:

• Head gaskets
• Intake gaskets
• Cracked head or engine block

Don't wait on this. Serious damage to the engine and cooling system will result. I use a [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Stant-12270-Cooling-System-Pressure/dp/B0002SRGWU"]cooling system pressure checker[/ame] when trying to pinpoint a leak. Also another good tool is a [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Test-Tools-BT-500-Combustion/dp/B000I17Z68"]combustion leak tester[/ame].

For specific recall campaigns check the DOT website: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/

[ferg's04]

after more investigation, i noticed that my muffler has signs of damage due to water, almost rusting from the inside. is this another symptom, or a new problem?

[2ToNe04]

after more investigation, i noticed that my muffler has signs of damage due to water, almost rusting from the inside. is this another symptom, or a new problem?

you could have just gone over a puddle and got the muffler wet.

also some signs to check, is if white smell smoke comes out your exhaust.

and like unplugged said, you might have a broken gasket and its causing it to leak into the engine.

[ferg's04]

my tahoe sat all night as i just painted the calipers and inspected the brakes. i thought it was brake fluid but it was water leaking from the back of the muffler. i took it to the dealership today and have an appt for friday. the dealership said they would inspect the intake manifold and see if gm will pay...or me