I have a 2001 Blazer it is consuming Anti-freeze every 2 wks. or so I have to add coolant, I suspect intake gaskets are the culprit. I now have developed another problem, the motor has got a lifter noise on the drivers side when I start it up when cold. I let it run for 5 minutes or so and the noise goes away, and drives fine, any suggestions. No oil is in the coolant, I also checked that.

 

did you try taking the radiator cap off when its cold and starting it. see if you have bubbles in the radiator, if you do its a bad head gasket, don't forget to put the cap back on. lower intake gaskets are very common on these trucks

 

most likely lower intake gaskets

 

I agree on the lower intake gaskets needing to be replaced. Your lifter noise may also be related to your leak. You may be getting coolant in the oil which will cause your lifter noise.
I would fix the intake gasket leak first and see what happens from there. One of my own 4.3's was doing the same thing and it cleared up immediately when I got the coolant leak fixed. Just don't let it go on for to long or you will end up with other more expensive problems to fix.

 

Do you think I should pull the lifters out and inspect them while I have the top end torn down. I would hate to close this thing back up and the lifter noise is still there.

 

You can check for collapsed lifters by simply removing the valve cover and pushing down on the rockers. Properly functioning lifters should not give.

What happens is debris can get into the check valve in the lifter, holding it open. This allows the oil inside the lifter to bleed out when off and also restricts the flow of oil back into the lifter when the engine starts again. If the check valve is held open, you will be able to push on the rocker arm, which will push the push rod down into the lifter.

 

Sounds good, Thanks.

 

If the oil level has come up or if the oil looks milky, foamy etc. you probably have coolant in the oil. Even if you cant see any evidence it can be there. I had the dissapearing coolant issue on my son's car. I could see no evidence of coolant in the oil but we kept loosing coolant.

I had an oil analysis ran and it had 4% coolant in the oil. That does not sound like much but the analysis showed that the bearings were starting to deteriorate due to the coolant in the oil. We replaced the head because it was cracked and changed the oil a few times to get rid of the coolant in the oil.

 

Terry s, Where did you get your oil analysis done? I did not realize that you could have that done for just one sample of oil, i had heard about people managing fleets that way. I assume they determined bearing wear by metal flakes being present in the oil?

 

Blackstone Labs is one place I have used in the past.