Coolant leaking and a caramel color. Low oil

bourbonBC · March 27, 2017

Hello,

New to the forum so if I screw up, please let me know and I will try and learn quick. Recently purchased a 14 CPO LTZ with 47,000. 5.3 and 4x4. Today marks two weeks of purchase. 6 days after buying it I noticed a sound when shifting gears at speed. Sounded very similar to a slip yoke. The kind of "chunk". Some louder some softer. Has done it 3 or 4 times since I bought it. Yesterday I ran some errands and came home an noticed a stain on the garage floor. Looked like someone spilled a caramel coffee or something except this was no coffee, it was clearly coming from the truck. I looked and could see it dripping from the bottom. Traced it back to the very bottom of the coolant reservoir. After researching, I think the most likely culprit is oil getting into the coolant as it was barely registering on the dip stick.

Called dealer first thing this morning and they towed it to the closest dealer. First thing is, thank God it is CPO. But this seams like a pretty big issue for a truck initially sold in August 14. Carfax was clean and looked like it was well maintained service wise.

Still waiting to hear back from dealer, but I am very weary going forward. If this truck is having this major of issues this early, then I am half tempted to tell the dealer that I am not comfortable with these issues after only two weeks.

I have looked and looked and cannot seem to find many issues like this in this new of a truck. I see it in old, but not the newer. Anybody heard of this before?

Thanks for the input!

acc412 · March 27, 2017

Sounds like a blown head gasket. I hope GM takes care of you and I'm sorry you had to deal with this.

arkenzo · March 27, 2017

. Looked like someone spilled a caramel coffee or something

I doubt it's anything serious bro, listen, someone must have been drinking caramel coffee under your truck and accidentally spilled it and simply forgot to clean it up.

Something similar happened to me back in 2010, someone was drinking strawberry syrup under my 2010 Nissan Altima and forgot to clean it up, didn't matter much anyways, sold it after the transmission blew. Very coincidental.

Edited March 27, 2017 by arkenzo

gmtech117 · March 27, 2017

Does your truck have a oil cooler? I've seen one break inside the radiator and coolant and oil mixed, makes one hell of a mess in the cooling system but it's fixable.

jagabom (Esquire) · March 28, 2017

CPO?

Jim

gmtech117 · March 28, 2017

CPO?

Jim

Certified pre owned

bourbonBC · March 28, 2017

^{Does your truck have a oil cooler? I've seen one break inside the radiator and coolant and oil mixed, makes one hell of a mess in the cooling system but it's fixable.}

^{^{You were correct. Dealer called and said it was the oil cooler. They flushed the engine, replaced the radiator and the part that failed. He said that the coolant did NOT mix with the oil, meaning that the oil only mixed with coolant. So I take that as sign of good news. He said it did not impact the engine. Said they would finish it up today and then drive it tomorrow to see if they can hear the sound I referenced earlier.}}

^{^{I think that after I get the truck back I am going to call my mechanic and pay him to go over the truck to get a different opinion on the over all shape of the vehicle. I am not saying I do not trust GM, but I trust this guy.}}

gmtech117 · March 28, 2017

^{^{You were correct. Dealer called and said it was the oil cooler. They flushed the engine, replaced the radiator and the part that failed. He said that the coolant did NOT mix with the oil, meaning that the oil only mixed with coolant. So I take that as sign of good news. He said it did not impact the engine. Said they would finish it up today and then drive it tomorrow to see if they can hear the sound I referenced earlier.}}

^{^{I think that after I get the truck back I am going to call my mechanic and pay him to go over the truck to get a different opinion on the over all shape of the vehicle. I am not saying I do not trust GM, but I trust this guy.}}

Same with the truck I worked on, there was no coolant in oil just like yours. It should all be ok.

dasimmon · March 28, 2017

hope all the bad is behind u and u can enjoy the new truck

Static · March 29, 2017

^{^{You were correct. Dealer called and said it was the oil cooler. They flushed the engine, replaced the radiator and the part that failed. He said that the coolant did NOT mix with the oil, meaning that the oil only mixed with coolant. So I take that as sign of good news. He said it did not impact the engine. Said they would finish it up today and then drive it tomorrow to see if they can hear the sound I referenced earlier.}}

^{^{I think that after I get the truck back I am going to call my mechanic and pay him to go over the truck to get a different opinion on the over all shape of the vehicle. I am not saying I do not trust GM, but I trust this guy.}}

I am not positive on how this works but it seems like you might be a day late and a dollar short to have the inspection done now. I mean he might see something you can have fixed under warranty but regardless of if you are comfortable with it or not I dont think they will just say ok pick out another one. I guess you could trade it in but I just dont see them doing a buy back on it unless I am missing something on how the CPO's work.

bourbonBC · March 29, 2017

I am not positive on how this works but it seems like you might be a day late and a dollar short to have the inspection done now. I mean he might see something you can have fixed under warranty but regardless of if you are comfortable with it or not I dont think they will just say ok pick out another one. I guess you could trade it in but I just dont see them doing a buy back on it unless I am missing something on how the CPO's work.

I am sure it is not that easy to walk in and say "I want to pick out another one", but a pretty big part fail two weeks after I bought it and I have yet to hear what is causing the sound while shifting gears. It does not happen often but it has happened and I would say I have a pretty good case for them to take the truck back.

bourbonBC · April 4, 2017

Follow up on this. I took it to my mechanic and he said I should take it back to the dealer because the engine does not sound right. Not the DI, but he said it has a whine to it. They took off all belts and the noise is coming from inside the engine. Awesome. I dropped it off at the dealer last night and they are supposed to look at it today. When they replaced the radiator it was at another shop and they assured me there was no engine damage from the oil cooler going out. SOMETHING had to cause it to go out. And now the engine whine. Have had the truck for three weeks yesterday.

Why do I have this pit in my stomach feeling dealer is going to call me today and say they can't find anything wrong with it. My mechanic said that something had to be causing the noise, it is in the engine, and they should either fix it, replace the engine, or work with me on getting a different truck. We will see, but what has already been a giant pain in the rear, I have a feeling is going to get a lot worse.

duquephart · April 4, 2017

Hard to be optimistic about a dealer playing straight with you.

16LT4 · April 4, 2017

Follow up on this. I took it to my mechanic and he said I should take it back to the dealer because the engine does not sound right. Not the DI, but he said it has a whine to it. They took off all belts and the noise is coming from inside the engine. Awesome. I dropped it off at the dealer last night and they are supposed to look at it today. When they replaced the radiator it was at another shop and they assured me there was no engine damage from the oil cooler going out. SOMETHING had to cause it to go out. And now the engine whine. Have had the truck for three weeks yesterday.

Why do I have this pit in my stomach feeling dealer is going to call me today and say they can't find anything wrong with it. My mechanic said that something had to be causing the noise, it is in the engine, and they should either fix it, replace the engine, or work with me on getting a different truck. We will see, but what has already been a giant pain in the rear, I have a feeling is going to get a lot worse.

Your pit is probably correct, same way my dealer says that being able to shake my front driveshaft around in the T-case is normal, on a 6500 mile 2017. Joke's on them when I grenade that SOB. Any time a seal blows separating oil and coolant there is the possibility that both will mix; during engine running pressure gradient pushes oil into the coolant, but after shut off, pressure gradient wants to push coolant into the oil.

Edited April 4, 2017 by dukedkt442

Thomcat · April 4, 2017

..... Any time a seal blows separating oil and coolant there is the possibility that both will mix; during engine running pressure gradient pushes oil into the coolant, but after shut off, pressure gradient wants to push coolant into the oil.

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