4.8/5.3 GM mysterious cooling system leaks

[348tripower]

Wayne,
Are there problems with 2003 Chevrolet 4.8 leaking coolant? I have been asked to look at one of them  that is loosing coolant.
Thanks,
Don

[wayne petty]

i am going to copy and paste some stuff  i found.. there are TSBs on this...



snip

Check the water pump. Just replaced it on my truck. The gasket started leaking and the pressure test revealed nothing but when poking round the motor I found the leak.

snip

It had the 4.8 liter motor, but is basically the same as the 5.3. There is an issue with some of these motors, cracks develop in the head underneath the valve cover and coolant runs out of these cracks and down the oil drain ports in the head, straight down to the oil pan.


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important...


look at page 3, 4 and 5 of this...

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Content/Site302/SpecialIssue/02_01_2008/3555GM1pdf_00000005694.pdf



according to one post.. from a gm parts guy...

the heads are over a grand each...

gm is not doing anything..

the quickest solution is a BRAND new gm motor somewhere around $3K


there are a few ads for sealers... to clog the leaks.. i did not want to add this.. but anything is possible..


clean it... figure out where it is leaking from...  spend the time ..

if you need a radiator pressure tester...  HF has a complete set...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=65053

i am actually looking at buying one of those.. but i have gotten by with one of the rubber universal twist to expand version.

i don't know if it would work.. but gm offered cooling system sealer tablets .. that were required every time you worked on the cooling system of the cad 4100 V8's back in the 80's   they came on a GM bubble pack card.. looked like compressed road apples..??


instead of posting looking for wayne...

just post the problem description ..    i do breeze by daily... sometimes many times..

perhaps.. someone can change the title to "4.8/5.3 gm mysterious cooling system leaks..."


here is where to get the titles of the TSBs and recalls...

http://alldatadiy.com/recalls/index.html

something that should be done on most cars as they roll into the shop.. or during slack time when they are coming in for an appointment..

[348tripower]

Thanks.