Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum 2004 Silverado help

Take the top fan shroud off and knock the fan loose with a big crescent wrench and disconnect the 2 heater hoses and it’s all 10 mm bolt heads and cleaning gasket from there

Replace those 2 heater hoses too while replacing water pump.

Just watched video. Nothing to that. Just like normal. I’ll. Be taking care of that tomorrow. Thanks yall

My 2001 had a tiny crack where the heater hose joins the plastic. The leak was dripping on the back coil pack. Did not find the leak until coil pack went out.

The best thing to do is find someone with a pressure tester. It hooks to the radiator where the radiator cap goes, you pump it full of pressure and if there is an external leak you will see it. If it holds pressure you have no leak. It prevents the guessing game and the parts buying. And if pressure drops and you can't see a leak then its usually a head gasket or a hidden freeze plug.

If you use dexcool and don't change the coolant annually in that year, it will destroy the intake gaskets.

Our 05 had Dexcool in it until about 250000 miles (and it was never changed), when I had to change the water pump. I replaced the water pump, flushed the system with water, and put in O'Reilly brand 50/50 Dexcool compatible coolant, and got it back on the road. Never have had to replace intake gaskets. Tahoe now has 310000 and still going strong.

Unless he has the 4.3 V6, the 4.8 and 5.3 V8 intake gaskets never contact coolant. The intake gaskets are even reusable.
Totally different engine than the 5.7 and 7.4.