Honda Civic / Del Sol (1992 - 2000) EG/EH/EJ/EK/EM1 Discussion

car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

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Old 06-24-2010, 03:53 PM
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Default car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

so my car starts to overheat when it loses coolant...obviously...but i dont see where the coolant is going???
i can smell it a lot when im driving but theres no leaking near the radiator or hoses that i can see...

i just bought a radiator cap like 5 minutes ago so i havent checked to see if thats the problem just wondering if theres any other ideas???

thanks for the help!!
Old 06-24-2010, 04:17 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

is the passenger floor wet? any smoke from tail pipe? is the oil milky looking?
Old 06-24-2010, 04:23 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

What kinda car? Check the heater hoses under the dash, it may be inside since u can smell it.
Old 06-25-2010, 01:01 AM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

Where are the hoses at?? Dovi haveto like take off the glovebox to get to em or I can just see them from gettin down under the dash???

And a friend of mine did say he sees like puff of white smoke when I shift when I'm hitting it kinda hard. And my oil smells like gas because my car is running rich for some reason. I'm getting those problems taken care of but I'm just tryen to get this coolant issue fixed myself.
Old 06-25-2010, 01:32 AM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

Is your passenger floor board wet? If so you may have a bad heater core. Also your radiator tends to begin to leak right at the seam at the top of the radiator:



or it could possible be your water pump beginning to leak from the weep hole.

Place a piece of card board under your car after you drive and come back later to see any leaks.
Old 06-25-2010, 01:03 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

water is probably escaping the water jacket, and going into cumbustion chamber. if you have gas in oil, that may acid wash the bearings. be careful
Old 06-25-2010, 04:53 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

Originally Posted by jxhxb
Where are the hoses at?? Dovi haveto like take off the glovebox to get to em or I can just see them from gettin down under the dash???

And a friend of mine did say he sees like puff of white smoke when I shift when I'm hitting it kinda hard. And my oil smells like gas because my car is running rich for some reason. I'm getting those problems taken care of but I'm just tryen to get this coolant issue fixed myself.
i would do a compression check on all cylinders if its blowing smoke it could be a head gasket if it is i would get it fixed a sap

over heating a engine will damage it soon

do the test and you should see close numbers

for instance i just did mine and i got 150.5 cyl #1 150.0 #2 150.5 #3 149.5 #4

im not to sure how high they should be but i think if you above 100psi and you have similar numbers you should be ok there

some one correct me if im wrong on the psi #s
Old 06-25-2010, 04:54 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

how does water leave the water jacket?? like a cracked headgasket?? i think i might be leaking from the seam on the top of the radiator tho. i'll go check
Old 06-25-2010, 05:01 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

MY WHOLE PASSENGER FLOOR IS SOAKED IN COOLANT!!!!!!

i have floormats over everything so i didnt notice but i put my hand on it and its soaked...

so wheres the heater core and do i have to take the whole dash out to get to it??
and im probably gonna have to take my whole carpet out to get all the coolant out right?
Old 06-25-2010, 05:03 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

any open area of the coolant system/jacket will cause you to loose coolant

such as head gasket , bad hose, crack in the block, crack in the radiator or heater core, weep hole in the water pump, bad gasket on the water pump , ,...down to a bad radiator cap ,.....you can also do a coolant pressure test and see if the system has a leak .
how fast are you losing coolant?
Old 06-25-2010, 05:07 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

Originally Posted by jxhxb
MY WHOLE PASSENGER FLOOR IS SOAKED IN COOLANT!!!!!!

i have floormats over everything so i didnt notice but i put my hand on it and its soaked...

so wheres the heater core and do i have to take the whole dash out to get to it??
and im probably gonna have to take my whole carpet out to get all the coolant out right?
yes its a hell of a job ,..for now you can bypass the core till you have time to fix it so you dont blow your motor or warp the head
if you want to bypass it to see if that is the only problem its easy but the heat wont work till you fix it

all you have to do is take the two hoses on the outside of the fire wall and get a piece of pvc and 2 clamps and run one into the other.
Old 06-25-2010, 05:11 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

had th esame problem just by passed them now my car doesnt over heat i still need to get a new heaetor core
Old 06-25-2010, 05:27 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

what did u do about all the coolant in your carpet and stuff??? take out the carpet or just shampoo it or what?
Old 06-25-2010, 06:33 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

wet dry vac, towels , soap n water.
Old 06-25-2010, 06:38 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

Originally Posted by tonyhatchetman
i would do a compression check on all cylinders if its blowing smoke it could be a head gasket if it is i would get it fixed a sap

over heating a engine will damage it soon

do the test and you should see close numbers

for instance i just did mine and i got 150.5 cyl #1 150.0 #2 150.5 #3 149.5 #4

im not to sure how high they should be but i think if you above 100psi and you have similar numbers you should be ok there

some one correct me if im wrong on the psi #s
those sound kind of low.. but what motor do you have?? i was searching earlier today to see what the compression numbers should be.. your right about them being even

i just did compression tests on my cars this week. my b17 had 185 across the board... and my b20vtec had 210 across the board...

any links to what the compression numbers should be at??
Old 06-25-2010, 10:13 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

Originally Posted by jxhxb
what did u do about all the coolant in your carpet and stuff??? take out the carpet or just shampoo it or what?
i just let it dry out its so hott were i live so it dried out within a couple of ours it didnt smell like coolent after it dried but i geuss you can take it out and wash it and all that stuff but i went the lazy way with it
Old 06-26-2010, 06:30 AM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

Originally Posted by dizzyroc88
those sound kind of low.. but what motor do you have?? i was searching earlier today to see what the compression numbers should be.. your right about them being even

i just did compression tests on my cars this week. my b17 had 185 across the board... and my b20vtec had 210 across the board...

any links to what the compression numbers should be at??
I have d15b7 I was told those numbers where fine on a stock d15 but I don't know for sure ....I know there are some b sires d sires compression calulators on google they might help ya.
Old 06-27-2010, 03:17 PM
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Default Re: car keeps losing coolant..can smell coolant but cant see any leak???

Remember when u compression test, u have do do it with the throttle wide open, maybe thats why he got low numbers, but they are all close in range so its ok.
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