Disappearing coolant

Metalcorpse

Registered User
Okay so its been a while since Ive had any issues i couldnt figure out myself, this is a real headscratcher. Ive been filling up my coolant reservoir every two days. Im lost. My best guess is that its evaporating somewhere, or a headgasket is going out and only spits out the site under pressure, burning off on the exhaust.
So far ive checked the oil, clean. checked the radiator, hoses and tstat housing, no leaks. checked for smoke off tailpipes and steam from under hood, nothing at all.

im stumped. could it just be evaporating somewhere?
 
Ill keep any possibility in mind if this keeps up. ill be switching to a high capacity rad in a few months anyway. if it still is causing trouble ill dig a little deeper
 
Use a pressure tester to find the leak. It's a hand held pump that attaches to the radiator fill neck, pump it up to 15-20 psi and look around at the whole cooling system. Water pump, heater hoses, freeze plugs etc.. if it holds pressure within a few psi over 10 minutes there's probably no leak in the cooling system and it could be a leaking radiator cap or a leak in the reservoir or hose going from the reservoir to the radiator.
 
Okay so its been a while since Ive had any issues i couldnt figure out myself, this is a real headscratcher. Ive been filling up my coolant reservoir every two days. Im lost. My best guess is that its evaporating somewhere, or a headgasket is going out and only spits out the site under pressure, burning off on the exhaust.
So far ive checked the oil, clean. checked the radiator, hoses and tstat housing, no leaks. checked for smoke off tailpipes and steam from under hood, nothing at all.

im stumped. could it just be evaporating somewhere?

Waterpumps will leak when in use only. Hard to detect. A press leak test is a good idea.
 
I had the same issue. couldn't find where my coolant was going and I had a new rad and hoses..turned out ONLY when id be at WOT and the system was at full pressure it leaked ever so slightly from under my rad cap onto my rad and instantly evaporated,took me weeks to figure it out.
 
I had bad freeze plugs on my Dakota pickup, and once those were fixed, I discovered that my radiator draincock would leak under pressure ONLY.

Fill it up cold, and it'll sit for weeks.

Run it warm, and it'd drizzle out.

Yuck.

RwP
 
Look at the coolant hose that is located between the passenger's side valve cover and the throttle body, where it looks like it has one of those guillotine styled fasteners. You may notice some coolant leaking out of here.....that's what happened to mine. If the coolant seems to leak or drip in between the oil pan and the block on the passenger's side, you've most likely located the problem.
 
You're not alone, I am having the exact same issue. I left my sc sitting in the garage for about a year and came back to find the radiator half empty with nothing in the overflow. Oil was perfectly acceptable and I can't figure it out. The pressure test is where I would start as well as having the coolant and oil tested for mixture just in case.
 
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