2002 silverado water sound from front end

I have a 2002 chevy silverado 6 cylinder regular cab that in the morning when i start my drive to work i hear a trapped water sound. Almost as if when i begin to accelarate the water begins to shift and it sounds whenever i accellarate from a stop. The sound comes from in front of the passenger glove box area, but from somewhere near the engine. It seems to always be there, some days making more sounds than others, on very cold days it tends to more more loud(running water, shifting water). I live in south florida, and dont really know where to find this noise.

I had this problem on my '99 and it was from air trapped in the heater core.

If you have just noticed this problem, flush your coolant system and put the green stuff in and replace the radiator cap ASAP, air trapped in the dexcool coolant system is eventually fatal in GM cars, i know from experience in a s-10 blazer with a 6 cylinder. The dexcool antifreeze chemically reacts to oxygen esspecially when heated up. Its turns to sludge and cloggs coolant passages, and tiny hoses to the point that when the coolant gets hot and starts to expand and it cant pass through certain passages it finds the weakest parts of you coolant system and that is usually the heater core and associated connections, or in my car intake gaskets. Also GM had a few bad radiator caps that didnt alow fluis to transfer. If you dont beleive me look under some of the blazer forums across the net and read what they say. I got another blazer after my first one crapped the bed and the first thing i did was replace the radiator cap and flush the coolant and replace it with the green stuff. GM people will tell you it needs dexcool, but i feel that the green stuff works better. And many people have not run into any problems with the green stuff.

Believe it or not this sound has been around for probably nearly two years, i just found this website. Im not so sure its coolant related but definatley like to hear others with the same problem.

I would like to give a better detail on the sound but its kind of hard to describe. The sound is more pronounced the first time the vehicle is used in the morning, but still does make the sound throughout the day. It almost sounds like someone is holding a bowl full of water and then blowing the water out of the bowl and it trickles down as i accelerate fast. I believe the water/fluid is trapped because it happens every day. It sounds like it could even be coming from the a/c unit area just in front of the passenger side glovebox. But it sounds whether or not the a/c is on or not. However, i do not see any water from inside the engine area or near the glovebox.

On what i believe to be a different issue, a "low coolant" light came on the other day. It looks orange. Can anyone advise me where to buy "the green stuff" and is that actually the name. Also, aproximately how many gallons of the green stuff is needed if i fush my system and then add. Is it 50/50 mix with water. Thanks for the advice?

Steve

Your telling me symptoms of the exact problem i had with my blazer. the "rushing water" sound is the coolant rushing past and stirring up the air that has become trapped in your heater core, which is located in the passenger side dash. the low coolant light probably came on cause as the sludge starts to build up and block passages, the expanding coolant doesnt have anywhere to go so it finds a weak spot and slowly, without you really knowing, leaks some coolant out somewhere. and then when it contracts it sucks air in through that same weak point in the system. and that is when you get the rushing water sounds, cause the air finds the highest point in the cooling system, and it just happens to be the heater core. oh ya, when the dexcool reacts with hot air, it like to start destroying your heater core and make it start leaking. Not to say that all of this will happen to you but it is just what i observed in many s-10 blazers with the same symptoms.

Do a search in the blazer forums for the same problem, youll find alot of info in the problem

The heater core I mentioned is mounted inside the truck close to the a/c unit. It's inside of the plastic ductwork on the passenger side.
The "low coolant" light is on because the coolant is low and air has replaced coolant. The sound you hear may be coolant and air sloshing inside the heater core. That would make sense if the coolant were low.
If the light is on and you hear the same sound I did, you could start by checking the coolant level.
On mine I removed the cap on the coolant reserve tank while the truck was cold. I let the truck run at idle with the heater set to hot and waited for it to blow heat. I added coolant and some "stop leak."
I replaced the cap and monitored the level, both hot and cold, regularly. My problem hasn't come back in years.
Whichever coolant you decide to use the important thing is that it has enough. Air trapped in the head would be bad.