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VE V6 coolant Level Drops in Engine

Gary E

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Hi. The level of coolant in the engine of my V6 VE Commodore keeps dropping.
The cooling system has no leaks and does not lose coolant, the engine has no overheating problems. I remove the pressure cap off the engine and fill it to the top with coolant. When the engine gets hot the coolant expands and goes into the expansion bottle but when it cools down it does not draw the coolant back into the engine, when checked cold the level in the engine is low and the expansion bottle now has that excess coolant in it . I have tried two new pressure caps, the sealing surface where the cap goes in the housing is okay, the hose to the expansion bottle has no leaks in it. It loses no volume of coolant , after 3-4 days i suck the excess coolant out of the expansion bottle and put it back in he engine and it starts all over again.
I have had the vehicle to a Holden dealership and two other workshops and no one can find any faults or work out the problem. Has any one experienced this problem . Appreciate any ideas . Cheers Gary
 

ChRiDDa

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Check your cap again - there were 2 different varieties available for the VE V6 - could be that you’ve sourced the wrong 1 twice
 

Gary E

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Thankyou for replying
I have had the car for years and previously when the cap on the engine was removed cold there was always coolant visible like the picture in the other posting. The expansion bottle level was always the same when checked cold.
In the last 12 months this problem has started. When the cap on the engine is removed cold , the coolant is not visible. The level in the expansion bottle is higher than normal. If it is left for a few weeks the expansion bottle level keeps getting higher. I suck the coolant out of the expansion bottle with a syringe and put it back in the engine around 400mls. There is no leaks and the system has never lost any coolant onto the road. It is just not sucking it back into the engine when cold . Cheers
 

Gary E

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Check your cap again - there were 2 different varieties available for the VE V6 - could be that you’ve sourced the wrong 1 twice
I have checked that the cap was the correct part number and the vehicle has been to a Holden Dealership and they varified that the cap is correct because someone else suggested the same , but Holden cannot fix it
 

Gary E

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can you see coolant in the engine... page 2 on this thread there are some pics of the coolant level in the engine to see if its the same
https://forums.justcommodores.com.a...oolant-at-the-back-of-the-motor.273963/page-2
Thankyou for replying
I have had the car for years and previously when the cap on the engine was removed cold there was always coolant visible like the picture in the other posting. The expansion bottle level was always the same when checked cold.
In the last 12 months this problem has started. When the cap on the engine is removed cold , the coolant is not visible. The level in the expansion bottle is higher than normal. If it is left for a few weeks the expansion bottle level keeps getting higher. I suck the coolant out of the expansion bottle with a syringe and put it back in the engine around 400mls. There is no leaks and the system has never lost any coolant onto the road. It is just not sucking it back into the engine when cold . Cheers
 

stick3

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only known cooling issues with alloytec is the water pump, o rings on front filler pipe (pic in first page of that thread) heater tap and thermostat housing at the back, cap and rad
have you replaced any of these things since you had the vehicle
 

Gary E

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only known cooling issues with alloytec is the water pump, o rings on front filler pipe (pic in first page of that thread) heater tap and thermostat housing at the back, cap and rad
have you replaced any of these things since you had the vehicle
it has had a water pump replacement , 2 caps , filler pipe. But since this problem started it has no coolant leaks . It just wont draw the coolant back from the expansion bottle into the engine when it cools down
 

lmoengnr

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Has the coolant system been pressure checked?
 

stick3

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only other thing i can think off is the hose from the bottle to engine it may have a split in it
 
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