Uncle Ben's

So, all winter long, I've been battling with a coolant system that defies the law of conservation of matter... not once, since I owned this fooking car, have I seen a single drip of coolant, or even oil on the ground... and it's been parked in the exact same designated parking space since day one (almost four years ago).

So, earlier this winter, while driving at work, my temp needle starts to go up. I'm like WTF, and I stop and check, and there is no coolant/steam anywhere in the engine bay, and none dripped out on the ground. So I put some coolant in and get all the air out, and it was fine, and then the next week, it does the exact same thing, after running fine all week long. This time, I check the coolant reservoir, yep, it's greener than Mountain Dew. I check the oil for possible mixed coolant. Yep, it's blacker than Wesley Snipes. I fill it back up with coolant, let the air bleed out for 5-10 minutes, and it is fine.... for a couple more weeks, then it's rinse and repeat.

Well, about a month ago, I filled it up what I hoped was one last time, and bled the air out for a good 20 minutes, making sure to put a little more coolant in every time, until no air was escaping. It was fine..... until last night, when I let the car idle for a couple minutes, the needle jumped up to about 5/6 of the gauge Of course there is no coolant anywhere in the engine bay, and none on the ground. What in the FVCK is wrong with my car? I swear to God if somebody gave me a fraction of its value, so that they could put it in a car crusher, I would say "let me get a beer and a chair." I'm getting so sick and tired of this ****, and of course, it can NEVER be something common/logical. My dad told me it sounded like coolant was evaporating. How can coolant evaporate, which leads to overheating? Wouldn't it be the opposite? Yes, I use 50/50

Cliffs: coolant disappears randomly from engine, no mixing of coolant/oil at all, no apparent leaks. Happens once every few weeks. WTF can I do to diagnose it?

BryanM.

iTrader: (1)

When you fill it up, how much does it take?

It does take a while for it to disappear, maybe a slight head gasket leak. If it was me, I would test the coolant fot hydrocarbons.

Just a thought.

Uncle Ben's

I still haven't used an entire gallon of it with several fill ups. I was thinking it might possibly be a bad HG or water pump, since the engine is one I just put in in November, and had been sitting in someone's garage long enough for the clutch to rust to the pressure plate. Would a shitty water pump cause water to evaporate, if the fins were gone but it was not seized? Do water pumps only **** coolant when they seize?

Edit: where, and about how much would I spend, to get the coolant analyzed? Never heard of that before.

BryanM.

iTrader: (1)

Not sure how much a HC test would cost, most places around here don't do them or prefer a coolant pressure test, which on second thought, maybe the ideal test in your case.

This can a tough problem diagnose sometimes. I had a coolant loss issue for a few months once, couldn't see any leaks, thought the HG was leaking...but then it just went away and haven't lost any since.

Uncle Ben's

Yeah, I've been really happy for the last few weeks, and then bam, overheating again. I wonder if I'm not sufficiently getting all the air out? What I've been doing is just running the engine until well after the t-stat opens, and squeezing on the upper and lower hoses until all the bubbles come out the radiator top.... maybe I should buy one of those plastic coolant bleeders and try that? It could just be a constant pocket of air that hides somewhere, and only shows up in the heater/thermostat area once every couple weeks

I think I'm just going to replace the thermostat this weekend, and pray that is it.