My coolant is draining..AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS GOING!!

[greekgalant]

My pipes aren't leaking...there isn't any smoke coming from my exhaust indicating that I might be burning excess coolant...but every two weeks I have to put more coolant in my reserve tank. My car isn't running hot or anything. But it is draining or burning up and I can't figure out from where. I just flushed the whole system and its still doing the same thing. I even tightened some pipes....if anyone has this type of problem or knows the answer...let me know!! Thanks

[burthold]

check your over flow, check your radator cap, Both are cheap and can cause you to loose some coolant without massive overheating. You may be burning a small about too without the tale tale signs of exahust smoke. It may be a very small leak in a head gasket that only loosed fluid under preasure. Check the easy stuff first!

Wes

[TJC]

Well, most ppl complain about the crusty green stuff that's on the ends of the upper and lower radiator hoses; they are the 1 3/8" hoses. That crusty green stuff is coolant and that is a slow leak. The stock pinch clamps for the hoses are a joke. Clean up the crusty green stuff at the ends and buy yourself some real hose clamps at your local autoparts store and that should do it.

Also please constantly check your radiator water level and also the overflow tank and make sure it's filled. A low radiator can cause overheating an other major damage. If you car is two years old or over 30k since the last time you changed out the radiator fluid, it's time for a flush and refill and also change out your thermostat. Small price to pay maintain your car well. Oh, and do get the thermostat from the dealer. It's a little more but you can tell it's a big difference in quality (at least I can); about $21.

[Mante]

Im in your boat with the loosing of fluid. The dealership put ina new waterpump and sent me home....ehhh wrong answer. Next I check all hoses for resdue or any sign of a leak...nope...Did the lil test in our 8g Service manual to see the thermostat went up on me...its working just not all the way to factory specs, that was replaced! Be sure to work on the car outside or you will experience antifreeze/water all over the garage...doah lol after all of that its the damn head gasket, cheap part but getting to it takes about 30 min if your used to dealing with the 10 bolts on the head. The only hard part about doing this is torquing the bolts to the proper settings (76n I believe) other then that...piece of cake..good luck

[manybrews]

the chances of it being anything other than dribbling hose clamps is slim.

the head gasket failure? almost impossible. i can count on one hand the number of internal head gasket failures weve had in 10 years, and all of those had been overheated or neglected.


you probably wont see or smell anything, as the leaks are small, and quickly evaporate with engine heat.
they also only leak under pressure.

[pinoyesv6]

just a thought, how high are u filling the resovior tank. i mean if u fill it up too high when the coolant heats up the resovior level will go out and if the cold level is too high, then some of that coolant is gonna go out of that hose on the top of the resovior tank and as a result, you might think ur losing coolant in a bad way

[BlueESV6]

Is it actually dropping in the radiator or just the resevoir area? Also, can't you find leaks using a black light? I think I remembered you could because of the coolant color flourescing under the black light... it might give a place to start looking anyway....

[greekgalant]

Well I already flushed the system and still having the same problem. I changed the clamp for the upper radiator hose because it was leaking and it is no longer leaking. I can't find any other leaks and I'm still loosing fluid. within two weeks almost the entire reserve tank is empty. I'm gonna check tomorrow for other possible pipes that might be leaking...I checked most of them..but not all. Hopefully I'll find something. Hopefully it isn't a cracked radiator or anything like that. PLUS I NEED IT FIXED IF I'M GONNA DRIVE DOWN TO NOPI!!!

[pinoyesv6]

check the resovior tank. its connection. hell it could be drainging cuz its on there loose. if the radiator still full with fluid when u check it? hell u might just wanna let the car jsut sit there and u might see where the coolant is draining or maybe even let it sit tehre and runn it for a while

[Gilhuly]

I am in the same boat. The car is running fine and clean- it's not the head gasket. I'm losing about a pint per week I think. I can't se any leaks. I havent done all my hoses,though. Greek, keep us posted on this issue and I'll do the same. I'm going to do all my hose clamps and let u know of the outcome.

[TJC]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(greekgalant)</div><div class='quotemain'>..... I changed the clamp for the upper radiator hose because it was leaking and it is no longer leaking.....</div>

perfect, now do the same for the bottom radiator hoses. more than likely, it's either or both the upper and bottom radiator hoses that's leaking. lots of ppl have that crusty green stuff on the ends that signify coolant leak. just make sure you replace the hose clamps on both ends of both hoses, where it connects to the radiator and at the engine. I did this and my leaks stopped. overflow coolant reservior tank now stays constant. :thumbsup: