New here and have a 2000 silverado with the 4.8 V8 engine. It has approx 160 thousand miles and lately has been loosing coolant but I can't find where. It doesn't show any signs of leaks. I have read some old post about intake gaskets leaking. Is mine one of the ones that commonly have gasket problems and is there someplace I should be looking for a leak or is the anti freeze being run through the engine and out the exhaust. thanx. wnk.

 

Is it puddling at all or are you just noticing it disappearing out of the reservoir? A buddy of mine had a head gasket go and he figured it out when there was water in his oil... I'd say check there, but I'm sure someone else will have a more specific answer.

Welcome to the forum by the way!

 

I had a S-10 that had a blown intake manifold gasket. Nothing obvious except coolant being low. After awhile, milky white goo started showing up on the dip stick. Too late by then to save the engine. Check to see if any one spark plug is fouled. May indicate something leaking into that cylinder. Good luck.

 

Easiest way to see if it is the head gasket leaking is take your O2 sensors off and look at the color on them. If it is then they will look like white. Grey is normal, black is rich. Then get a mechanic run a compression test on each cylinder.

 

Check the tail pipe as well. If it smells like antifreeze then you may have a blown head gasket that is exiting out the exhaust instead of leaking into the oil pan. I had one do this on a 305 V8 back in '79. It drove me nuts!! When I pulled the heads I found where the gasket had let go but had directed the coolent to the exhaust ports instead of the intake. At least it didnt kill the engin anyway. I also had one with a cracked head that did the same thing..leaked out into the exhaust port instead of into the block.
If your losing coolant it has to be going someplace. Remember water is lighter than oil, so check your dip stick as well, if it "seems" to be over full with oil it could just be the oil that sticks to the stick on the way out. I pulled my dads oil plug on his ford van a number of years ago and about a gallon of antifreeze came out before ANY oil did. He swore it was running normal temps..but the gauge had been broken for god knows how long?
One thing I have learned over the years..there are a LOT of things that can cause the same problems.
Good luck to you.