Hey all,

I have done a search on this, but nothing came up?

I havent had heat for a while in my chevy, as I have a small coolant leak. I believe the leak is coming from the exhaust gasket, but I am not sure. I do get bit of white smoke out of the exhaust until the engine is warm, and the smoke goes away?

My coolant is slowly depleting from the overflow container, and I only get heat when I refill.
It also seems that I only get heat when I am driving (with the accelerator down) if I am at idle, I get no heat at all?

I live in Kazakhstan, and I dont speak Russian, so taking the car to a garage is next to impossible, therefore I have no access to pressure systems or tools.

As a quick fix, I empted a bottle of rad seal into the overflow coolant plastic container, and now the level is constant, however I have noticed that the temp guage has been getting higher. I think that my coolant pipe has blocked somehow, not allowing the coolant into the radiator?

Just to confirm, there is only one pipe connecting the radiator to the overflow container? (the top radiator pipe?)
Should I order a new pipe?

Help guys and gals.

Cheers,
Tim

 

steam from the exhaust is lower intake gasket, head gasket or cracked head. a plugged heater core is a possibility for your lack of heat. is the coolant in the radiator muddy brown colored? do the radiator hoses get harder to squeeze when the engine is warmed up? is the oil a light brown?

 

I havent checked the coolant in the radiator. Although it was recently refilled by a garage, because the level was low.

How would I check without draining the system?

I havent checked the radiator pipes when the engine is warm.. I will check this next time I drive.

I checked the oil and it looked like normal oil (it wasnt light brown)

How difficult is it to change/unplug the heater core?

 

Rad Seal of any kind is garbage and creates more problems than it solves. I would have figured out where you were losing coolant instead of adding a band aid. Unless the Lower Intake Manifold gaskets have been done before I would start there. Rad seal can plug your rad and your heater core. Also when the mechanic topped up your system he could have added the wrong antifreeze. I would get a rad flush asap then figure out were you have a leak. Check the hose conections and the LIM first. If you don't find anything there then you could be looking at a head gasket like mentioned before.

 

when I am driving (with the accelerator down) if I am at idle, I get no heat at all?
Check the round black looking ball under the hood. its pretty big. its a vacuum reservoir that helps with good blowing ac etc. see if the vacuum line running to it is broken.

the rad seal stuff is a hit n miss. Its job is to clog up leaks etc. Problem is if you have gunk in your radiator then you put this stuff in it can plug your rad,which sounds like thats what it did. been through this bs myself.

 

have you puller the radiator cap off(when engine is cold) to check the level in the radiator? overheating my be low coolant level. the steam could be normal condensation when you start it when its cool or damp outside.

 

Quick update guys,

I opened the Rad cap, and the radiator looked dry? There was no water near the top?
I got some universal anti-freeze and threw in about 3litres, until I could see the anti-freeze at the top.
I then ran the engine for the next 10mins with the rad cap off and my heater on full blast on the warm system.

I then hit the road

My temperature reading was just above the quarter mark, and I continually got heat

After a day or two of driving, I have noticed that my temp gauge had moved towards the middle reading, and it seems to be spiking.. It almost hit the 3/4 mark yesterday?

So from this, we have ruled out a dody heater core (as the heat was fine, when the coolant was the correct level)

So we are defo looking at a radiator leak or similar.

When I filled up, I looked underneath, and there was no visible leaks (even after running the car for 20-30mins)
My oil is a normal colour (not muddy at all)
Therefore, would you assume that the leak is at the intake gaskets or exhaust gaskets?

Sorry for the long reply

 

It wouldn't be your exhaust manifold gaskets.

I have seen a leak on a friends blazer that you wouldn't even know was there. For the life of me I can't remember if it was the Lower Intake Manifold (LIM) gasket or a hose or what. All I remember was it was on the driver's side of the engine towards the rear and was in a PIA spot.

It wouldn't even leak until it got around 195 degrees Fahrenheit. You wouldn't see any steam, but yet it would dry up very quickly (because I believe it leaked onto the exhaust manifold). The only way we found it was driving the car until it got to about 205 degrees Fahrenheit and then pulling over and looking under the hood. Even then, if we hadn't had a flashlight we probably wouldn't have seen it.

When the truck got below 190 or so, it wouldn't leak.

 

I'd be willing to bet it's the LIM gasket. It's not going to be long before it starts to mix with the oil. Just got through replacing all gasket's on a 98 4.3L