nealpellecchia
Active Member
I'd like to see the result of some glue in the cracks. If that's impossible why are they allowed to market it.
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Low coolant light.
- Thread starter nealpellecchia
- Start date
nealpellecchia
Active Member
Thank you for all your input.
Will L.
Well-Known Member
Um, yeah.
Let us know how it turns out.
Let us know how it turns out.
nealpellecchia
Active Member
Never good?.....
GM Guy
Manual Trans. 2WD Enthusiast
They are allowed to market alot of things that dont work. This is vehicle repair, not the FDA. 
I didnt read your other thread, but if the same people responded to this one, then believe them, they have been around the block more than once.
Not fixing the issue or trying a myriad of magic potions will all result in the eventual failure of the engine, and will cause you major incovenience and could cost you a ton of money. Proper diagnosis is ALLWAYS worth it.
the 6.5L is not really an engine you can "limp" along with issues, if something is wrong, it will usually self destruct at some point.
Good luck!
I didnt read your other thread, but if the same people responded to this one, then believe them, they have been around the block more than once.
Not fixing the issue or trying a myriad of magic potions will all result in the eventual failure of the engine, and will cause you major incovenience and could cost you a ton of money. Proper diagnosis is ALLWAYS worth it.
the 6.5L is not really an engine you can "limp" along with issues, if something is wrong, it will usually self destruct at some point.
Good luck!
nealpellecchia
Active Member
Thank you.
cornemuse
Well-Known Member
My '84 6.2 Blazer coolant lite is on most all of the time. This started after replacing the old brass radiator with a new plastic/aluminium radiator. Yes, the radiator is full to the top, , ,
, , just live with it, , ,
-c-
, , just live with it, , ,
-c-
Will L.
Well-Known Member
@cornemuse that sounds like you lost the ground circuit is all. Test with a little jumper wire, if it works you could solder a wire to the edge of the unit and run that to ground. Or live with it.
nealpellecchia
Active Member
Air pocket.....parked on a hill opened cap. Drove for an hour then temp slowly went up. I think it sucks in air from head crack into an air pocket that goes near the coolant level sensor.
GM Guy
Manual Trans. 2WD Enthusiast
yep, sounds like a head crack.
Hopefully you have not added sealant yet, it will clog up a radiator and heater core.
Hopefully you have not added sealant yet, it will clog up a radiator and heater core.
nealpellecchia
Active Member
Yeah GM stuff I got, tablets, is said to be like the bars stop leak I put in years ago to stop a heater core leak. Clogged the rad had it rodded out still may be clogged a bit.yep, sounds like a head crack.
Hopefully you have not added sealant yet, it will clog up a radiator and heater core.
GM Guy
Manual Trans. 2WD Enthusiast
the cost to have it rodded would have went a long way towards a good head or head gaskets.
C'mon man, give the truck what it deserves!
C'mon man, give the truck what it deserves!
nealpellecchia
Active Member
The rad...iatorthe cost to have it rodded would have went a long way towards a good head or head gaskets.
C'mon man, give the truck what it deserves!
nealpellecchia
Active Member
?... ok you don't think it was the rad.
Husker6.5
135' diagonal 16:9HD, 25KW sound!
Man, we've ALL been trying to tell you that the symptoms you have been describing ALL point to either a head crack between the valve seats into the water jacket and/or a head gasket leak! It is common on these engines, and just about every single one of us has gone through this! Dude, denial is NOT a river in Egypt! You can keep throwing your money away on "Snakeoil Medicine Miracle Cures" that fix nothing, may make the problem worse, and just lighten your wallet.
It's past time to put your big boy panties on and just pull BOTH heads and see what the hell is going on, cracked head(s), blown head gasket(s) or both!
It's past time to put your big boy panties on and just pull BOTH heads and see what the hell is going on, cracked head(s), blown head gasket(s) or both!
nealpellecchia
Active Member
Runs too good. Once apart, if it's a lot,p may go to the junkyard like that. Why these are recommended GM tablets dude! Lol.
Husker6.5
135' diagonal 16:9HD, 25KW sound!
The GM tablets are a bandaid at best that buys you some time. They are the same stop leak tablets GM recommended for use on their POS Cadillac 4.1 aluminum block engines in 83-85 that leaked like a sieve internally and blew at about 35K miles (I know, because I owned an 83 Coupe DeVille that blew its THIRD engine at 106,000 miles (the first two were replaced under factory warranty) and I sold it to a kid who was going to put a SBC into it.
Now, back to your insistance that pouring shit into the radiator, even GM authorized shit, will somehow "miracle cure" your coolant loss - it WON'T! It is a temporary fix at best that WILL fail, and catastrophically, at the worst possible time and/or place.
I speak from experience with my 94 work truck. I had a mystery slow coolant loss and the occasional white puffs of exhaust on start up. So I used some of the GM Factory stop leak, and yes, the loss stopped for about seven months. The GM stuff also evidently messed up the Low Coolant Light sensor in the overflow tank, so that it never came on when the level went low. It was a cold February day when the catastrophic failure occurred. While the micro walnut shells fill and expand in any gasket leak, or crack in the metal of the head, thermal expansion and contraction will eventually lead to the "fix" failing. I was driving along rhe Interstate in Omaha, heading back home in Lincoln after finishing a job, when the heater started intermittently blowing ice cold air and hot and the temperatire gauge began to shoot up to the red zone.
I pulled off and grabbed a couple of gallons of antifreeze and put two gallons of 50/50 mix in to top it off. Back on the road and it did it again 25 miles down the road. Pulled over at the Rest Area and used the second gallon to make two more gallons of 50/50 to top it off with, then refilled the jugs with straight water just in case. 20 miles down the road it overheated again, so I pulled off onto the shoulder and poured the two gallons of water water in. 15 miles later, it did it again and I limped into the Rest Area on the edge of Lincoln, refilled both jugs and topped off the cooling system yet again. 14 miles later I got home just as it started overheating again. If your keeping track, that was a total of 10 gallons of coolant/water in 60 miles pumped through the engine!
When I pulled the heads off the next day it was all too evident what happened. The original hairline crack between the valves in #8 had opened up due to thermal cycling to the point that the GM tablets could no longer plug the leak, as evidenced by the brown streaking all around the crack. Once the coolant level dropped to allow air pockets in the heads and they overheated, the other cylinders began cracking between the valve seats into the coolant passages. #'s 8,6 & 4 on the passenger side cracked visibly to about 1/32" wide and #'s 3 & 5 on the driver's side did, too.
So, my $12 "fix" wound up costing me $385 more for a second head, to replace both of them, than if I had just spent the $385 on a head to fix the initial leak seven months earlier.
Remember the old Fram oil filter commercials, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later"? How about the old racer's adage of, "It was running its best - just before it blew"? You're being penny-wise and pound foolish by thinking that bandaiding your mechanical problem with magic tablets "fixes" anything. You're just ensuring that your truck WILL be making a one-way trip to the junkyard sooner than later with two bad heads, when right now best case scenario is you replace one blown head gasket and worst is you do one head.
But hey, it IS your truck, you do what you want with it. Just don't come crying back to us when a head or heads let go catastrophically. You run the real risk of hydro-locking the engine and blowing holes in pistons and/or bending rods, too. it's not like you weren't given sound advice or warned by multiple members on this forum concerning the problem.
Now, back to your insistance that pouring shit into the radiator, even GM authorized shit, will somehow "miracle cure" your coolant loss - it WON'T! It is a temporary fix at best that WILL fail, and catastrophically, at the worst possible time and/or place.
I speak from experience with my 94 work truck. I had a mystery slow coolant loss and the occasional white puffs of exhaust on start up. So I used some of the GM Factory stop leak, and yes, the loss stopped for about seven months. The GM stuff also evidently messed up the Low Coolant Light sensor in the overflow tank, so that it never came on when the level went low. It was a cold February day when the catastrophic failure occurred. While the micro walnut shells fill and expand in any gasket leak, or crack in the metal of the head, thermal expansion and contraction will eventually lead to the "fix" failing. I was driving along rhe Interstate in Omaha, heading back home in Lincoln after finishing a job, when the heater started intermittently blowing ice cold air and hot and the temperatire gauge began to shoot up to the red zone.
I pulled off and grabbed a couple of gallons of antifreeze and put two gallons of 50/50 mix in to top it off. Back on the road and it did it again 25 miles down the road. Pulled over at the Rest Area and used the second gallon to make two more gallons of 50/50 to top it off with, then refilled the jugs with straight water just in case. 20 miles down the road it overheated again, so I pulled off onto the shoulder and poured the two gallons of water water in. 15 miles later, it did it again and I limped into the Rest Area on the edge of Lincoln, refilled both jugs and topped off the cooling system yet again. 14 miles later I got home just as it started overheating again. If your keeping track, that was a total of 10 gallons of coolant/water in 60 miles pumped through the engine!
When I pulled the heads off the next day it was all too evident what happened. The original hairline crack between the valves in #8 had opened up due to thermal cycling to the point that the GM tablets could no longer plug the leak, as evidenced by the brown streaking all around the crack. Once the coolant level dropped to allow air pockets in the heads and they overheated, the other cylinders began cracking between the valve seats into the coolant passages. #'s 8,6 & 4 on the passenger side cracked visibly to about 1/32" wide and #'s 3 & 5 on the driver's side did, too.
So, my $12 "fix" wound up costing me $385 more for a second head, to replace both of them, than if I had just spent the $385 on a head to fix the initial leak seven months earlier.
Remember the old Fram oil filter commercials, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later"? How about the old racer's adage of, "It was running its best - just before it blew"? You're being penny-wise and pound foolish by thinking that bandaiding your mechanical problem with magic tablets "fixes" anything. You're just ensuring that your truck WILL be making a one-way trip to the junkyard sooner than later with two bad heads, when right now best case scenario is you replace one blown head gasket and worst is you do one head.
But hey, it IS your truck, you do what you want with it. Just don't come crying back to us when a head or heads let go catastrophically. You run the real risk of hydro-locking the engine and blowing holes in pistons and/or bending rods, too. it's not like you weren't given sound advice or warned by multiple members on this forum concerning the problem.
Will L.
Well-Known Member
When I get as a Mac tools guy a few years back, I went into a gmc dealership and saw a tech cutting up pieces of foam like used in seats. A walked by him 2 minutes later to see him packing it in behind the glass of the side mirror. A couple days later at a Chevy dealership another tech did the same thing so I asked him- that is the factory approved repair for a vibrating mirror in gmt800 trucks.
I asked the Chevy guy about doing that to my suburban when it starts having the problem and his response was "Heck no, Will. Take it apart and fix it the right way- this is one of a million jury rig fixes from GM to save $ under warranty."
Maybe he was wrong, he has only been a Gm tech since he was 20. I brought him a birthday cupcake on his 65th about a month after the mirror fix.
Figure it out, if they pinched pennies building it the first time, why would they do something the best way later under warranty?
I asked the Chevy guy about doing that to my suburban when it starts having the problem and his response was "Heck no, Will. Take it apart and fix it the right way- this is one of a million jury rig fixes from GM to save $ under warranty."
Maybe he was wrong, he has only been a Gm tech since he was 20. I brought him a birthday cupcake on his 65th about a month after the mirror fix.
Figure it out, if they pinched pennies building it the first time, why would they do something the best way later under warranty?
nealpellecchia
Active Member
I did my wife's v6 pinto. Both heads cracked between the valves. Cheap easy.
Wow, great reads.When I get as a Mac tools guy a few years back, I went into a gmc dealership and saw a tech cutting up pieces of foam like used in seats. A walked by him 2 minutes later to see him packing it in behind the glass of the side mirror. A couple days later at a Chevy dealership another tech did the same thing so I asked him- that is the factory approved repair for a vibrating mirror in gmt800 trucks.
I asked the Chevy guy about doing that to my suburban when it starts having the problem and his response was "Heck no, Will. Take it apart and fix it the right way- this is one of a million jury rig fixes from GM to save $ under warranty."
Maybe he was wrong, he has only been a Gm tech since he was 20. I brought him a birthday cupcake on his 65th about a month after the mirror fix.
Figure it out, if they pinched pennies building it the first time, why would they do something the best way later under warranty?