Oh no, not again?????????? "long"

ThunderDave

ThunderDave

Registered User
My car has been losing coolant over the last year or so, but only enough that I was needing to top it off every couple of months. The other night on the way to work, the Temp needle started acting funky and cool air was coming out when the heat was on.:eek:

The temp needle went up just past M and finally came back down and stayed around O, I had heat after that. I added some coolant to it after work and figured it had just gotten down too far. It took over a half gallon to fill the radiator and overflow.

Tonight (Monday night) on the way to work, it was doing the same thing, only this time, the Temp needle kept going up and down. Mind you, this only 100 miles or so since this happened last week and it took most of a gallon to fill it back up.

The car still runs strong. The oil looks good from what I could tell when I checked it after getting home. Where is my coolant going? I did the head gaskets in Jan. 04 and against my better judgement, used the Ford gaskets my mechanic "friend" was getting for me.

The car still runs strong and shows no signs of a problem when the coolant level is high. Seems to me whether it was leaking out or leaking in, I should be able to track it down.

If it is the headgaskets, I'll have to park it because I just don't have the funds right now to fix it with Christmas and all coming up.

Any help on finding out what is going on with it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Check the side tank gasket on the radiator-when it starts to get cold, they will shrink, allowing coolant to leak.

Just a thought.
 
RadiumSC said:
My car has been losing coolant over the last year or so, but only enough that I was needing to top it off every couple of months. The other night on the way to work, the Temp needle started acting funky and cool air was coming out when the heat was on.:eek:

The temp needle went up just past M and finally came back down and stayed around O, I had heat after that. I added some coolant to it after work and figured it had just gotten down too far. It took over a half gallon to fill the radiator and overflow.

Tonight (Monday night) on the way to work, it was doing the same thing, only this time, the Temp needle kept going up and down. Mind you, this only 100 miles or so since this happened last week and it took most of a gallon to fill it back up.

The car still runs strong. The oil looks good from what I could tell when I checked it after getting home. Where is my coolant going? I did the head gaskets in Jan. 04 and against my better judgement, used the Ford gaskets my mechanic "friend" was getting for me.

The car still runs strong and shows no signs of a problem when the coolant level is high. Seems to me whether it was leaking out or leaking in, I should be able to track it down.

If it is the headgaskets, I'll have to park it because I just don't have the funds right now to fix it with Christmas and all coming up.

Any help on finding out what is going on with it would be greatly appreciated.
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That is exactly what I have experienced with my '90 5-speed SC. I have a new radiator, new t-stat and have changed coolant, and still my coolant level will act the same way. Where are they going? Does that absolutely mean the HG's? Where should start checking?

There is no sign of white smoke or that white thing which usually comes when mixing oil & coolant.

Sorry for hijacking your post...:eek:
 
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95% sure it's headgaskets. Check all hoses for signs of leaks, but a gallon of antifreeze that quick is almost dead sure of a headgasket problem.

There can be many reasons why new gaskets don't take.

Improper torque on the bolts (or didn't use new ones).
Erosion of the block deck surface around where the fire ring contacts the block.
Warped heads.
Detonation from a lean condition.
Excessive pressure from a blocked converter.
Too much boost (94 supercharger with 10% pulley comes to mind).
Partially blocked radiator resulting in abnomally high operating temps.
Leaking or blocked radiator overflow hose causing low coolant level.

There need not be any visible signs to leaking headgaskets.... you could have your oil and/or antifreeze analysed.
 
Does your radiator overflow container fill up with coolant after you start the car?

How does the motor sound at idle smooth or rough?

I was loosing coolant like that and it was a crack in the overflow container.....

Let's hope it isn't the dreaded HG monster.....
 
Before you jump to the HG conclusion, check the simple stuff first. Crawl under and look for streaks of coolant and trace them back. The water pump can leak coolant out the weep hole and you'll never be able to tell it. It will be dry as can be. But pull the pulleys and the take the harmonic balancer cover off and look for the tell-tale green residue trail. ;)
 
Birdman93 said:
Check the side tank gasket on the radiator-when it starts to get cold, they will shrink, allowing coolant to leak.

Just a thought.
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I'm pretty sure I have this issue in my LX.
 
1. Pressure Test..
2. Chemical Sniff test
These should tell you one way or another.
 
Oh man David thats not good. Did you ever check your passenger side floor to feel if it was damp like we had discussed on aim the other night? Maybe the heater core is shot. If it is a head gasket deal I can set you up possibly with a pair of good ported heads. Keep me up-to-date with your car's status.

Shane
 
Shane, the floor is dry.:(
Dave, I used new Ford gaskets, new Ford head bolts. It doesn't run hot, the idle is good and the car still runs great. It has the stock charger on it with 10%, never goes over 14 psi. Exhaust is Magnaflow cats and resonator with Flowmasters.

I'll do some checking on it and see if I can find any leaks and I'll check the oil again and the water pump.

The water pump was installed in 12/03 and torque specs were used when I did the head gaskets in 1/04.
 
You might also want to check the hose/pipe that runs to the oil cooler. Hard to see, but that is where I had a leak. It was only under pressure that it dumped coolant and I had to get the car up on the lift before I actually stumbled on it.

Ira
 
irar said:
You might also want to check the hose/pipe that runs to the oil cooler. Hard to see, but that is where I had a leak. It was only under pressure that it dumped coolant and I had to get the car up on the lift before I actually stumbled on it.

Ira
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I'm putting it up on ramps in a little bit to check stuff. With as good as it's running and no coolant in the oil, it's hard for me to believe the head gaskets are blown, but whenever there is a problem like this one, we all know it's our first fear.;)

Is there a clamp on a heater hose on the right side of the motor that is hard to see? Friday afternoon when leaving Advance after picking up some Coolant:D , I got on it a little and there was a strong smell of coolant in the car. That's why Shane mentioned the heater core.
 
I think I have to do a careful research to my car also. It seems that there's no coolant mixtured in the oil but I'm not 100 % sure.

In my case the coolant has disappeared from the overflow tank. When I last fullfilled it and came back after two weeks there wasn't hardly anything left in the overflow tank.

I know that my lower rad hose is not so good anymore and there is leak but has it something to do with the overflow tank...:confused:
 
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David, this might sound like a weird place to check but check the two black wire lumbs that run under the oil filter for coolant inside of them. On my old '89 XR7 coolant would some how get in there. I never did figure out how coolant was getting in there though. Hope this helps.

Shane
 
quick35th said:
David, this might sound like a weird place to check but check the two black wire lumbs that run under the oil filter for coolant inside of them. On my old '89 XR7 coolant would some how get in there. I never did figure out how coolant was getting in there though. Hope this helps.

Shane
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:confused: Yeah, uh, that helps a lot, I guess. I'll look there too.:confused:
 
Sampo said:
I think I have to do a careful research to my car also. It seems that there's no coolant mixtured in the oil but I'm not 100 % sure.

In my case the coolant has disappeared from the overfill tank. When I last fullfilled it and came back after two weeks there wasn't hardly anything left in the overfill tank.

I know that my lower rad hose is not so good anymore and there is leak but has it something to do with the overfill tank...:confused:
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You might have a crack in the bottom of the overflow tank where the little nub goes into the frame to keep it from moving....

Mine was cracked there and would loose coolant.....

Very easy fix with sandpaper and epoxy.....:D
 
the-big-e said:
You might have a crack in the bottom of the overflow tank where the little nub goes into the frame to keep it from moving....

Mine was cracked there and would loose coolant.....

Very easy fix with sandpaper and epoxy.....:D
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Let hope it's that! :)

I'm doing the front of my engine ( changing pulleys, take A/C away etc. ) now so it would be a good time to do the HG's but it will take the extra money...but right now I don't have it...
 
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quick35th said:
David, this might sound like a weird place to check but check the two black wire lumbs that run under the oil filter for coolant inside of them. On my old '89 XR7 coolant would some how get in there. I never did figure out how coolant was getting in there though. Hope this helps.

Shane
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Ok Shane, there was coolant in the wires loom as well as dripping from the frame, just behind that. I wasn't able to tell where it was coming from though. The hoses and clamps on everything seem to be dry.

The water pump looks dry and doesn't appear to be leaking. It's not dripping from the radiator or overflow. There were a few small and I mean small bubbles showing up in the overflow, but it wasn't like it was boiling or anything.

There is no sweet smell from the exhaust and the oil looks good. Is there somewhere the coolant could be leaking from and running down into that loom? The tow hoses going into the oil cooler are dry, but could there be a leak on the back side of the cooler that I can't see? Could it be leaking from the water pump gasket near the bottom, where it is impossible to see it? :( :confused:


Thanks!
 
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how about pressurizing the system and then looking for leaks. i think autozone sells little kits to do it with. also, is there any way the oil cooler itself could be leaking, like a crack or something
 
RadiumSC said:
Ok Shane, there was coolant in the wires loom as well as dripping from the frame, just behind that. I wasn't able to tell where it was coming from though. The hoses and clamps on everything seem to be dry.

The water pump looks dry and doesn't appear to be leaking. It's not dripping from the radiator or overflow. There were a few small and I mean small bubbles showing up in the overflow, but it wasn't like it was boiling or anything.

There is no sweet smell from the exhaust and the oil looks good. Is there somewhere the coolant could be leaking from and running down into that loom? The tow hoses going into the oil cooler are dry, but could there be a leak on the back side of the cooler that I can't see? Could it be leaking from the water pump gasket near the bottom, where it is impossible to see it? :( :confused:


Thanks!
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Well David, guess that advice I gave you turned out to be correct :p . Check this thread out http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36924. This thread discribes my problem that I had with my '89 XR7. Like I stated I never did figure out where the coolant was coming from. Use whats in that thread and try to figure out what your problem is. I surely hope that this helps you out :D.

Shane
 
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