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Just lost all the coolant in my 2002, fortunately it went on my garage floor. The problem was that the tank under the hood on the right side sprung a leak on the bottom where the two hoses connect. New tank was $134 plus $200 labor at dealer. Plus $100 to have Vette trucked to dealer. Don't know if this is common or not. Glad it did not happen in the middle of nowhere.
Very common. I just had a thermostat that was partially opening causing all kinds of weird stuff to happen. I replaced all the coolant hoses, thermostat and the tank. +1 on the Dorman unit - perfect fit and way less money than at the dealer. I would recommend that anyone with miles on a C5 start to look at that tank. The plastic gets very brittle where the hoses connect underneath.
Thanks for the info guys. Didn't know this was a common problem. Guess I was lucky with mine in more ways than one. Mine didn't let go until in the garage and until 122,780 miles.
Thanks for the info guys. Didn't know this was a common problem. Guess I was lucky with mine in more ways than one. Mine didn't let go until in the garage and until 122,780 miles.
At least you were home! I changed everything out at 104,000. Cooling system looks factory new and i was amazed at how bad that original tank had gotten and how brittle it was where those heater hoses hooked on. Thanks for giving a heads up though!
Last edited by Ed Ramberger; Jul 16, 2019 at 09:59 PM.
All you had to do was disconnect 4 hoses and take 2 10mm nuts and swap them fill the tank.
Well least it didn't break down on the road like mine did as soon as I pulled into a restaurant. Instead of eating, I had to replace it in the parking lot at 105° in summer a few years back.
That's why it's important to check your ride least once a month and not expect anything to not happen to our old cars.
I think I have the same issue on my 1999 (99k miles): it has started to "dribble" at the upper hose connection on the surge tank (surge tank to radiator hose). I replaced the 20 year old hose and inspected the nipple on the tank: it looked fine. But the new hose dribbles the same way. I changed clamps with no improvement. I think I have a hairline crack as it only dribbles when the system is a full pressure.
Unfortunately, Dorman does not make tanks for the 1997-1999 cars: OE GM parts appear to be the only choice for 1997-1999 cars. I wish I had replaced this when I replaced the radiator and water pump!
Dorman 603140 for my 2002 can be purchased at Rock Auto for $56.
I've not seen this thread before and after reading through I'm thinking that possibly I should replace mine. I have an '02 with 19k miles on it. Although mileage is low, its still almost 20 years old. Is replacing now the best way to go?
To follow-up on my post, I found that on my coolant tank the brass reinforcement inside the top nipple had worked its way toward the pipe, not allowing enough clamp load on the hose to nipple. I tapped it back into place and the leak went away. My car is now in storage for the winter: I bought a new AC/GM tank from Amazon and will replace it in the spring.
@roegs The coolant should be flushed and replaced every 5 years. I would inspect your tank the next time you have the coolant flushed and if anything looks suspect, replace it. My father's 2003 Corvette has 40k miles on it w/o an issue: I suspect it is a combination of age plus pressure cycles. My 1999 has 99k miles on it, so it has seen a lot more pressure cycles.
2002 Major coolant loss
