Pinkypinks

my 99 tahoe is having a problem, sometime when i start the truck up in the morning the truck is fine, once it warms up and i get out and go into a store or something and get back in and start it up it will smoke. I have looked for external leaks and tried a fluid block tester and havent found anything. i have been loosing coolant very often, ive smelt exhaust and doesnt smell like coolant. The oil doesnt look milky, and coolant is really clean, any help would be great, thanks

cleveland63b

if it smokes its getting in the combustion chamber

Allan In NE

Intake gaskets.

Allan

Pinkypinks

well that was my first thought, but the guy i bought it from said he supposably took it to a shop and had them changed but who knows... i think what im going to do is try checking the torque on the bolts, its 30 ft lbs right

chevyguy1523

have you tested the head gasket? wait a second, what color is the smoke? black, blue, white, gray,or what can you tell ?

Camaro 69

Well, since coolant is disappearing "very often", it's going one of two places. Either you have an external leak that you should be able to see, or the engine is burning it. You see no traces of a leak, plus you have what I'm figuring you're describing as steam out the tailpipe. That all means you have an internal issue. Could be head gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, or (hopefully not) a cracked cylinder wall. Removing the intake manifold is step one to get to everything else, so that isn't going to be a waste of time even if it isn't an intake gasket.

Pinkypinks

I drained the oil yesturday and didnt fine any water in the oil, i think its burning off, i have a very minute leak on the qd on the intake manifold but not enought to say why im loosin coolant as often, the smoke is white but comes in spurts, like today i drove to work and back with little to no smoke, some days ill start the truck up after wk and it will smoke, it never over heats, only time i really notice the smoke is when im gettin low on coolant.

chevyguy1523

tedious job, good news is the gaskets will be relatively cheap.
hey camaro69, should this person also have their heads checked at a machine shop?

Pinkypinks

Ya but is it the head gasket or intake? Wouldnt an internal intake leak leak coolant into the exhaust?

Camaro 69

If the intake, coolant could be getting sucked into the cylinders and burned. Could also be a head gasket where it blew out between a water jacket and cylinder. Depending on what went and where, you wouldn't necessarily get coolant in the oil. The fact that coolant isn't in the oil is good news for all your bearings. And yeah, if you end up removing the heads, getting them checked out would be a good idea. It's good insurance to make sure they aren't warped, and at the very least might as well replace the valve stem seals.