2020 Tahoe, just over 50k miles. My bride got off the freeway, heard a noise (like grinding brakes she says), then steam from the hood. Made it back to work, coolant pouring out front of motor. No over heat yet. I started it and big wobble to water pump pully and coolant pouring from housing.
My two gripes: 1. Failed pump after only 3 yrs and 50k. 2. Driving Chevys since '76- previous vehicles when a pump started to fail, you got a coolant drip and had some time to diagnose, get the part & go on with life. This failure has the car parked waiting for a tow for warranty repair. If this had happened on our yearly trek to E WA the week would have been ruined. Don't understand the engineering of this important part to fail w/o warning and put you on the side of the road. Also would lead to overheat motor damage if someone less responsible continiued to drive it.

 

That does suck. Is it statistic's? Engineers will tell you that the pump went past its life expectancy. I see failed parts every day and for the most part; the replacement lasts a long time.

Are they asking to much from today vehicles? and the price. Over complicated systems for emissions. Stress from to much hp and torque. Unproven new tech?

if it got hot...replace the thermostat just because you' re in there. Ask them to spin all the pulleys while the belts are off

 

We had a 2005 Yukon XL Denali with 6.0 liter engine, but this had electric fans instead of engine-driven fan. Its water pump started leaking, so I removed the WP and took it in to CarQuest. I asked for a WP for a 2005 Yukon 6.0 engine, laid the new one next to my old one on the counter; I remarked that typically there were several GM part numbers for everything, and the guy said "good thing you don't have a "Denali", so I said "Oh yeah, I do". So he goes back and brings out a second WP with a different part number, and he lays that out on the counter next to the other two; all three looked exactly the same, and the two new ones were the same price ($129). So I got the one for Denali and installed it, lifetime warranty.

A few years later that WP also leaked, and I replaced it again with its lifetime replacement. My 1998 and 2004 Frontiers both are on replacement water pumps, only 108K on the 2004.

 

[QUOTE=tech2;488303]That does suck. Is it statistic's? Engineers will tell you that the pump went past its life expectancy. I see failed parts every day and for the most part; the replacement lasts a long time.
3 years/50k is beyond expected life? That's pretty sad. I have always seen 70-100k and several years on my 5.7s. I am most concerned with how catastrophic the failure was and how it led to a stranded car & wife (fortunately in my clinic parking lot). Are you saying replacements last longer than this POS?
Thanks

 

I am aware GM pushes that orange coolant and I have some reservations as to it's worthiness.

Anybody else find any problems with it?

 

All vehicle manufacturers like to sell their "own brand" of oil, coolant, etc. - because they make money doing that. GM has no refineries or facilities to make such coolant or ATF, they buy from a supplier with the GM-labeled Dexcool, Dexron, etc.

Orange colorant is a few parts per million of dye, and advertising gimmick.
Modern coolants labeled "safe for all makes and models" are all low pH coolants, made that way to be compatible with aluminum engine parts like radiators, cylinder heads, engine blocks. These are ethylene glycol and water buffered at lower pH with salts of organic acid additives such as potassium ethyl hexanoate, typically called OAT (Organic Acid Technology). I've actually assayed Peak coolant labeled "safe for all makes and models" and it contains the same potassium ethyl hexanoate.

Old school coolants used additives like silicates and phosphates which made coolants of higher pH, so those are not compatible with aluminum parts.

Yes, I am a retired industrial chemist, and I used gas chromatography interfaced with a mass spectrometer for such analyses, if anyone is curious....

 

lol. i was a pharmaceutical chemist for 10 years; wet chemistry and some instrumentation gc, IR spectrometry

OAT and HOAT coolant are what we use at Stalantis. Only issues we see are if the two are mixed they gel.
only issue i see with dexcool is when its left in too long and the ph drops and damages gaskets.

 

It's that #$%^&$#&*&#526795#$* H !!!

 

I specialized in GC, HPLC, and GCMS, used HP/Agilent with "A" revision ChemStation. I developed test procedures for our over the counter pharmaceuticals, used in QC and for required cGMP stability tests. I also did manufacturing support such as troubleshooting, and reverse engineering of competitors' products.
We also had FTIR, ICP, autotitrators, Karl Fischer, lots of good stuff.

 

Back home after warranty repair. Total cost $15 to cover towing over $100 limit. Extremely worn pump bearing, wobbling pump pulley & excessive coolant leaking. Soaked serpentine belt replaced as well.