1990 GMC Sierra idling rough and guzzling coolant. Why?
Asked by LBTrask Jan 03, 2015 at 10:20 PM about the 1990 GMC Sierra 1500
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Truck has started idling really rough when, say, stopped at a light. The idle continues to
be rough when I pick up speed, but it tends to even out a little. On top of that, my coolant
has been disappearing a matter of hours after filling it up. Even though coolant seems to
be disappearing, I haven't yet overheated, so I'm assuming that is one positive about my
situation.
Any ideas?
8 Answers
Do you see where it is leaking from? No sign of a leak? Check oil. Does is look like a milkshake? Any white smoke out exhaust? If can't locate where coolant is going you might have a blown head gasket.
Oh wow, ok. So I topped up on oil about 250-300km ago, and my dipstick is showing nothing. To clarify with my coolant, I noticed it had sprayed all over my motor and pretty much everywhere underneath the hood. Didn't notice anything off about the exhaust at all.
Might want to do a pressure test on your cooling system. This will show you where the coolant is going. If you notice a drop in the pressure gauge but not seeing any leaks remove the spark plugs and see if coolant is on them.
Will do, thank you for your help! I was hoping it might be something more simple like a water pump or spark plug issue alone, but if guess it's not sounding quite like that.
Might be something simple. Like the coolant is spraying on something that's just not liking to be wet. When leak is repaired the other issues might take care of themselves.
Thanks for your input, guys. Really appreciated!
Thanks again guys! Found out I actually have a small hole in my radiator, and I need to replace one spark plug wire!
That's great. Something simple.
