Gooseward

Alright guys Ill go ahead and say hey to all being that its my first post but I gotta cut to the chase. Ive ran into some issues that need to be taken care of. I have an 04 Silverado Lt with the 5.3 vortech and I just started losing radiatior fluid at a bad rate. Seems to be using it pretty dang fast unfortunatly. Im just gonna assume and say head gasket is blown. I dont know a lot about mechanics so I need advice and help on what to do. Obviously i need to take it to a shop but I gotta save up a bit for the repair. What kind of money am I probably gonna put out to make this right? Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read this and helping me out. I appreciate it so much.

97-SilveradoMan

hey nice to mee you Gooseward, and whoa, before you assume head gasket, check the intake gasket. that could be the main reason your losing coolant. and regardless of whether is is an intake gasket or head gasket, your going to be spending a lot of LABOR money. To get to the intake gasket requires a lot of hours of standing over the truck. and replacing a head gasket isn't always the best choice, if not done perfect, it will create LOTS of other problems in your engine.

Gooseward

Thanks a lot for the response. I wish I knew what was up with it. It uses some oil too. Temperature rises sometimes and it uses fluid. Makes a funny noise when I have the ac on. Its parked till I figure it out. Would it possibly be cheaper to buy a used motor?

Mille Racer 69

Here is a quick way to find out if you have a bad head gasket:
take your oil dipstick out and take a good smell of the oil on the end.
If there is a distinctive gasoline smell, your head gaskets are bad.