2006 van coolant issue

340 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Tatefinkbeiner, 4 d ago

Tatefinkbeiner

Discussion Starter · 3 mo ago

I've got a 2006 duramax van that is losing coolant. I don't see any external leaks and the oil is not milky or anything, but every time I drive it I have to fill the coolant reservoir. From the reading that I've done it seems like it may be an issue with the egr valve or cooler where it may be pushing the coolant into the exhaust and burning it out. What I'm trying to figure out is if it is financially better to replace the parts or just delete them all together. I've read about using a blocker plate between the cooler and the exhaust then getting EFI to tune it out, but I don't think that would fix my coolant leak problem. Right now I'm looking at around $600+ for a new cooler and valve and that would put it back to stock form or I could go with EFI and delete the whole thing for $850 I think and get the added benefit of a better tune. I guess I'm just looking for direction on what to do or check to see if I'm on the right track.

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DMAXfirefighter

· #2 · 3 mo ago

Emissions equipment deleting is not allowed to be discussed.
The easiest way to find out if it is from the egr leaking is to bypass the coolant flow through the egr. If it is still eating coolant, it is not the egr and needs to be further diagnosed. If it stops eating coolant, that points to the egr cooler and you’ll have to fix that to get to to stop eating coolant

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Tatefinkbeiner

Discussion Starter · #3 · 3 mo ago

Thank you for the response! So how do I bypass the coolant flow to check that out? I would very much prefer to keep everything in stock form so if I could pinpoint the problem that would be great.

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Ron Nielson

· #4 · 3 mo ago

EGR coolers with leaks usually do so when very hot. Not possible to duplicate under garage conditions. It's somewhat similar to a circuit board with bad solder joints such that they work when cool but open up and fail the circuit when they get hot.

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DMAXfirefighter

· #5 · 3 mo ago

So you will have to get some heater hose, remove the hoses from the inlet and outlet of the egr cooler and just route the coolant flow around the cooler bypassing it

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ShopSpecialties

· #6 · 2 mo ago

What is your build date ? Does your coolant bottle have a black grime on the inside ? After it has cooled down overnight is your upper radiator hose rock hard and the coolant tank under pressure ?

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Tatefinkbeiner

Discussion Starter · #7 · 4 d ago

ShopSpecialties said:
What is your build date ? Does your coolant bottle have a black grime on the inside ? After it has cooled down overnight is your upper radiator hose rock hard and the coolant tank under pressure ?

It looks like it was built 11/05. The upper radiator hose is definitely soft when cooled down and at this point I'm having to put a gallon or so in it every time I drive it. At this point I think I need a recommendation on a shop to talk to about EFI live and my options going forward because it seems like it may be leaking through the cooler to the exhaust. If you have any tuners or shops that would know about the VAN I would be very grateful so I can give them a call and talk through the best options.

Thanks again!

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