Every morning I would fill up the container next to my radiator with water OR COOLANT, but it still would be empty by the time I drive home from work stuck in traffic. What causes that to loose the liquid I put in it? I know it's not leaking cuz I never see any evident of that.

 

Small crack in the overflow bottle itself that only leaks under pressure??

May not notice under idle conditions, but might release fluid under the higher pressures of operating RPMs created by the water pump.

Try either pressure testing the system if you have a tester yourself...or stop by a friendly shop-they may do it for free if you are nice enough to them.

Cheers!

 

you probably have a leak in that bottle

 

I used to be stricken by the empty reservoir bottle problem as well. It turned out that my radiator had a leak. Have you tried inspecting the radiator closely after the car's nice and warmed up?

It took me a while to find the leak because I kept checking it with the car off I finally had the bright idea to do it with the car at operating temp.

 

I am sure there is no leak. Because, the front of my car steam out white smoke like the water in the bottle is evaporating or something while I idel'n in traffic. Could that be because my fan is not working?

 

Any overheating issues?

Refill your coolant overflow bottle and run the car in the driveway. Raise the hood and watch the radiator and overflow bottle. Peek under the car.

Could it be... headgasket?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nameless Warrior &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I am sure there is no leak. Because, the front of my car steam out white smoke like the water in the bottle is evaporating or something while I idel'n in traffic. Could that be because my fan is not working?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I didn't see this post while I was working on mine.. this sounds like your coolant system is getting air in it and the coolant is bubbling out of the overflow bottle.

Run your car in the driveway, let it get warm.. maybe make a couple of quick trips around the block and come back to check it again.

 

Does your car blow white smoke at times? (head gakset )

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nameless Warrior &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I am sure there is no leak. Because, the front of my car steam out white smoke like the water in the bottle is evaporating or something while I idel'n in traffic. Could that be because my fan is not working?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The bottle steams or the front of the car steams? I'm betting on a rad leak.. that's where it'll steam..

 

you say the car smokes.. so its definately leaking somewhere under hood. check for traces of coolant or if you get there too late, start the car let it idle, place something (newspaper?) underneath engine bay to catch any leaks. how many miles on your radiator? did you ever sit the bottle on top of hot exhaust manifold?? that may do it if it is the bottle

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by "33R" &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Could it be... headgasket?</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's exactly what it was on my old Civic that had the same problem...

 

you mean you cant SMELL it? burning coolant has a really sweet smell. if you can see the steam/smoke you should definitely be able to smell it. not only that, but if you are going through that much coolant, Im surprised you dont have any overheating problems. any time I smell it I get all paranoid and inspect with a fine tooth comb. you could have a headgasket problem as well.