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2013 Chevrolet Suburban
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Fluids going "somewhere!?"

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Old Oct 18, 2010 | 8:14 AM
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brewder's Avatar
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Default Fluids going "somewhere!?"

Hello,

My wife drives a 2003 Suburban 1500 with 105k miles on it.... It's a "soccer mom" driver, so no towing...

Anyway, in the last year.. I've noticed that it seems to be eating both oil and coolant. Neither is dripping out on my garage floor, so i'm wondering where it all may be going?

It seems to be pretty significant amounts too... I'll need to add a quart of oil before each 3k oil change, and i'm adding about 1/2 a gallon of coolant every 2-3 months...

any suggestions for me?

//Brew...
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Old Oct 18, 2010 | 10:57 AM
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Default hmmm...

oil and coolant huh...

time for a compression test

my guess is one or both are going out the tail pipe...

bad rings will allow oil to get into the combustion chamber.

bad head / gasket / block will allow coolant into the combustion chamber...

and poof, out the back it goes...
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Old Oct 18, 2010 | 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted by SabrToothSqrl
oil and coolant huh...

time for a compression test

ahh, great. I'll get that scheduled. Thank you very much!
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Old Oct 18, 2010 | 11:57 AM
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Default well

or for $25 + labor you can do it yourself...

http://www.harborfreight.com/quick-c...rce=googlebase
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Old Oct 18, 2010 | 1:03 PM
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Originally Posted by SabrToothSqrl
or for $25 + labor you can do it yourself...

http://www.harborfreight.com/quick-c...rce=googlebase

Thanks! I'll check that out... truck is currently in for another service (trans & differential fluid flush)... and they called to tell me the water pump is leaking. I guess that explains that... except for the lack of drippings in my garage...
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Old Oct 18, 2010 | 1:57 PM
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Default well...

if it didn't leak in your garage, how do they know it does?

Coolant is fun to trace leaks for... and water pumps are easy to replace.... but I know it's not for everyone.

I hope that fixes it for you!
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Old Oct 19, 2010 | 3:01 PM
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Can't add anything as to the oil, but that generation GM V-8 was notorious for developing intake manifold gasket leaks, which puts coolant through your engine. However, compared to mine (a much higher-mileage engine).....see https://chevroletforum.com/forum/tahoe-suburban-25/99-tahoe-coolant-problem-36811/ above,
that's not a tremendous amount of coolant loss, though I suppose you should not be losing any.

I would darn sure find the leak source, because you certainly don't want to find milk on your dipstick like I did.
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