At 11:55 PM 8/1/2005, you wrote:
Now for the question: About 2 weeks ago I started loosing coolant. My
first thought was, "God, not another head gasket." But inspection
reveals no leaks around the head; no visible leaks anywhere, for that
matter. The odd thing is that if I add coolant to the cold fill line
when the engine is cold, it will rapidly drop to about an inch from the
bottom of the reservoir (right around the top of the low coolant sensor,
so it blinks on and off while driving) in a matter of a day or so, and
then it stays there. As a test, I drove a week without topping off and
the coolant level never dropped more than another 1/'2" or so, still
visible in the reservoir. The other odd thing is that the coolant level
is always higher when cold; most often when I start the car the light
will be out, then as the car warms up the light comes on. The coolant
should expand when hot, so I'd expect the opposite to be true. The cap
is new and appears to be holding pressure fine. There is no coolant
smell, nor have I found any coolant under the car, in the splash guards,
or anywhere else that I can see. The overflow hose is dry and there is
no evidence of dry coolant residue near it. This car does not have the
second coolant reservoir in the fender.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks.
There may be air in your system. Did you run out of coolant in the reservoir?
Do you park your car at an angle where the coolant in the reservoir is
tilted away from the outlet to your radiator?
Have someone drive behind your car and see if there is any steam coming
out. It's going somewhere, if there is no air in your system that it is
replacing.
This happened on my motorcycle. I had left air in the system when I
changed the coolant. It is a little tough to burp it.
Dan
I never ran the reservoir empty, and it's always parked flat. The car has
been driven about 10,000 miles since the last coolant flush, so I'm not
sure it's a bubble from that... it would have to be new.
I'll double check the exhaust for traces of coolant, but it seems good from
what I've seen.
Thanks,
J.B. Hebert
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Current Vehicles:
'76 Ford Bronco
'78 Volvo 262C Bertone V8
'80 Alpina B7 Turbo Coupe
'82 Mercedes 300CD (Deceased)
'93 GMC Sierra 2500
'95 Mercedes E300D
