my mothers 95 blzer LS coilant is disappearing. A friend said if it’s not on the ground than it’s in the engine somewhere
OR…it’s evaporating…
That somewhere in the engine would be the oil pan. Pull the dip-stick and check.
That “coffee looking” (with cream) stuff in your oilpan strongly suggests that you have a headgasket breech that includes an oil return channe, especially since you’re also losing coolantl. Do a compression leakdown test, and if you have a cylinder that won’t hold air pressure (I’m betting you will), than you have a blown headgasket.
What happens with a blown headgasket (among other things) is that on every intake stroke, when the vacuum in the cylinder spikes, it draws coolant (which is under pressure) through the breech and into the combustion chamber. It them burns (vaporizes) and gets blown out the exhaust valve. That’s where your mom’s coolant is going. From there it’ll typically destroy the cat converter and maybe the oxygen sensor. It’ll also deatroy the engine if left uncorrected.
If you’re lucky, it may be an intake gasket leak. These trucks were known for them. Dex-Cool aka Death-cool was the main reason.
Get the leak-down test performed as ‘the same mountainbike’ suggested. If all cylinders pass, it is more probably an intake manifold leak.
Busted made an excellent point. Since you haven’t mentioned any heating problems, I think there’s an excellent chance that he’s right.
You should know that the leaky intake manifold gasket that he suggested would also cause the coolant to be drawn into the combustion chambers and vaporized, to be pushed out the exhaust in the same way that a blown headgasket.
If you’re lucky, it may be an intake gasket leak. These trucks were known for them. Dex-Cool aka Death-cool was the main reason.
Actually it was a very poorly designed intake manifold that was the problem.
Yes a poorly designed manifold with poorly designed gaskets AND a really really bad coolant formulation and associated service recommendations. I know there’s been a big “Dex-Cool” wasn’t really the problem thing vs. “Death-Cool”. Well maybe Dexcool wasn’t THE problem - but it certainly was an important part of the multi-faceted failure.