Ok it seems to have been happening since the car was serviced about a month and a bit ago. It appears i have a case of where is my coolant? I flushed the radiator and put the coolant in as per usual, every week or 2 i check the coolant level and it looks to be a lot lower than it should be, so i top it up, maybe takes quarter to half a litre to top it up again. Then same story... week or 2 down the track its gone again. There is only one leak that i can see on the concrete under the car, and its not coolant, its more of a dirty brownish water comming from under where the battery sits. I suspect it could be the overflow. Any idea on where this coolant disappears to?
Trust me thats where i looked first. All seems ok in that department. Argh im just gonna replace all the hoses, one of my ideas was the lower hose from the radiator to the engine. I had to force that off when i did a flush so im guessing ive split it somewhere or cracked it doing so. I know it leaked coolant there a tiny bit after i put it back on but it doesnt seem to be doing it anymore... maybe ive missed it.
Replace your cap first, if you think it's coming out of the overflow then it's a good indication that the cap is buggered.
mines a bit like that and i found out the hard way that it was in the safety position. week off work for another random act of stupidity. what pressure should the cap be rated to?
And if that doesnt work then you might have a head gasket leak between one of the cylinders and the water jacket. Does it blow an excessive amount of steam from the exhaust?
It's not huge, from memory 15psi? 120Kpa anyway. Another spot for leaks is the inlet manifold gasket, take the engine cover off and go over all the bolts.
Car doesnt blow any smoke/steam out the back at all, the only time i do see steam is early morning, but thats with every car during winter in melbourne.
I'd be checking the cap first, as others have mentioned. It is a 135kPa system, so if you replace the cap make sure you get the right one. Maybe there is a fault within the radiator... It might also be worth getting the system pressure tested, as that will help show up any issues. Have you had a look at the water pump, or just underneath it? Is there any remains of coolant there?
hi i have same problem with my car, it went in for service yesterday and we noticed the overflow had no water in it, anyway i had checked in a few days before and it was fine. they looked it over and couldnt find any water leaks, he said it might be the valley cover gasket? Anyway ill be taking it to radiator place this week to check the pressure and see what they have to say.
Same deal, put a new cap on first, about $8. The valley cover gasket is the inlet manifold gasket. People call it a valley because it's a V engine and it looks like a valley between two peaks.
i had a brand new cap that was slowly loosing coolant to the overflow bottle. in the end i bent the 2 tabs up a little bit that hold the radiator cap down. makes it hard to get on but alteast i don't loose my coolant there any more
did u find out what the problem was? Im havin a problem of where my coolant is aswell Gaskets are all fine on mine so not sure what the problem is. Ive also just had the coolant system all cleaned and have replaced the cap.
