1996 Chevy Truck overheated, water runs through

[quote:42dff1da89="dadon"]Engine Cooling problem
1996 Chevy Truck V8 Four Wheel Drive Automatic 70,000 miles
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Hi, I smelled a bit of antifreeze nearing the end of my 6 mile drive home from work. 1/2 mile later I was at house & stopped truck. Steam rolled out from under the hood. I lifted the hood and did not see water, only steam. Waiting until it cooled, I opened radiator, added water only, filling up, thinking perhaps it had run low (it had leaked about 10 months earlier but a sealant had seemed to stop that leak. Drove the 6 miles back to work in the early am and started to smell the antifreeze as I was nearing my destination. As I backed into parking space, noticed water on blacktop in front of me. Shutting off engine, steam once again spewed out. Raisinng hood, water seemed to have gone over entire engine. Left it set to cool a couple of hours and then added water again in order to start and see if I could tell where it was coming from. Looking beneath the truck, the water seemed to be running through the system and onto the pavement without ever starting the truck. What are the possibile problems...blown head gasket? cracked block?...?? Thanks for any comments.[/quote:42dff1da89]

Hello,

Can you tell were it is coming from, the front of the engine , back one side or the other...

If it looks like it is leaking at the front of the engine it is a good chance that it is just a hose or possibly the water pump.

Check if its leaking at the radiator/radiator hoses/heater hoses/water pump/freeze plug/s.

It seems to be running out near the back of the engine, much closer to being in line with the wheels. There was nothing running out beneath the radiator. I did not check the hoses carefully when I saw the locatiion as I feared a far greater problem. There is a plate protecting the bottom of the engine and at least some of the fluiid was running down through a hole in the plate. Although the truck is not sitting level...there is an incline toward the back so that water hitting somethinng would run away from the radiator, I don't think it is nearly enough to cause it to go this far without also leaking along the way. I guess I need to look at it a bit closer but from the location it appears much more serious than a hose or radiator problem. When I had the leak a while back, it was also leaking from further back while sitting on the level. That was a drip...this developed into more of a deluge. I will double check the hoses tomorrow.

dadon

I guess I'm a bit rattled by the location where the water appears to be running from. I had not even thought about the water pump and had not closely checked the hoses. Thanks for those suggestions and I'll try to check them out over the weekend. Unfortunately, my mechanical knowledge and skills are pretty minimal. dadon

Yah, you will probably need to take that plate off to get a good look...