chevygirl2020

Hey guys,

Today I went out to my truck to find a huge puddle underneath. The color of the liquid was orange, so when I checked my engine coolant, I saw it was very low. Although I dont have experience with such a problem, I want to find the leak and fix it myself. Am I able to drive at all with this? Needing to fix this asap, any help is much appreciated. Pretty stressed out.

amount of leak, still leaking

picture from the front of truck

picture from behind the wheels


Thank you!!
-Allie

kevinkpk

My recommendation is, you will need to pressurize the system, with that out of my area, can you pressurize the radiator through the cap? That was the old fashion way, pressurize the system, then look for the leak,

kevinkpk

Is it ok to drive, yes, and no. The yes part is if you can keep the coolant level so as to not overheat, with that you do not want it to overheat as that will cause major engine damage.

mountainmanjoe

It looks pretty bad. I wouldn't drive it like that.

But it depends where it's leaking. There is a small chance that it's just the overflow reservoir. In that case you would be ok.
More likely its a ruptured hose. That would be an easy fix. You could even duct tape it until you get to the parts shop.

As it is right now, you should be able to idle it for a few minutes at a time. Doing so could pressurize the system a bit and help you find the leak. Just keep the radiator topped up.

chevygirl2020

Thank you guys! What is the best place to start looking, the radiator hose? I won't drive it until I have this fixed, I think the leak is pretty big because of how fast the puddle became bigger.

chem_man

I would first visually look over the hoses, radiator and overflow reservoir to see if you can see anything obvious like a missing or loose hose clamp, a burst hose, a disconnected hose, a crack in the coolant recovery reservoir, etc. If you do not see anything, then fill the reservoir\system with water, and start the engine and look for water/coolant squirting out from hose ends, the middle of a hose, draining out the front of the block behind the fan (which would be the water pump leaking), etc. Keep an eye on the coolant reservoir so you do not run our and overheat the engine.

Hopefully you will have a helper that can start/stop the engine as needed while you look things over.

Good luck!

mountainmanjoe

Yes start with the huge radiator hoses. They are the fattest ones under the hood. One on top, one on the bottom.

You should also be able to find the heater hoses. They run in a pair, from the engine over into the firewall right in front of the passenger seat. They're roughly 1" thick.

The water pump is right at the front of the engine. At around 10o'clock if you were facing the fan.

The reservoir should be pretty obvious. Check all the hoses attached to that as well.

chevygirl2020

Checked the hoses, they seem fine from what I saw. A couple days ago I had a weird sound that I thought was my serpentine belt (its known to squeak sometimes, havent had time to put on a new one) which I sent to a college friend who works on vehicles. After also sending him pictures of this coolant leak he believes its my water pump. Going to take apart the front of the truck with him and try to figure out if that is correct, if not I will be using your guys help to figure out the next spot to check. Because I havent done much work in terms of taking apart the front of my engine, I was and still am a little nervous of messing something up.

After doing some research about replacing a water pump and with some help I hope to be able to fix this soon. Never knew the water pump was such a large piece, learning more every day! Of course I am sad about the cost of replacing this (and probably my serpentine belt while I am at it), but I am excited to have an excuse to learn more and get experience taking apart the front of the truck.

Thank you guys!!! Can always count on this forum to help. I went into buying this truck the day before moving to college for my 2nd year knowing absolutely nothing. Wanted a truck that I could learn on and be able to beat up in the mud and doing donuts lol. With the help of this forum I have learned so much from real people.

Thanks again and will report back with more info,
Allie

Rednucleus

The pump has a weep hole where the coolant leaks from - you should be able to see it from under your vehicle w/o taking anything apart to verify that's the problem.

mountainmanjoe

I've seen water pumps seep, but never gush like that. First time for everything I guess. Good luck.