coolant problem

[cliort]

Hi Guys my coolant level keeps going down and I can seem to find where the hell its all going. I look under the car on the drive ....no leak I look in the passenger foot well no leak. Although a few weeks ago there was a leak there with a strong smell of coolant in the car? Now i cant find a leak anywhere and baffeled to as where the coolant is going? Can anyone help?

 

[Chris1.4RT]

Probably your head gasket is on the way out. The coolant is probably leaking into the cylinders and coming out the exhaust. I had this problem, cost me £250, got the water pump done at the same time and totalled £330. Just keep an eye on your coolant level to assess the state of the gasket, faster coolant drains, the more urgent it will be to replace. Leave it until you can afford it but dont leave it too long or you will damage the cylinder head. Theyll have to do the (or they should) the cambelt at the same time.

After it was all done on mine, the coolant stayed put from 85000 miles when gasket was done, to 108000 when I sold it (thursday).

Hope this helps, but bear in kind Im no mechanic, I might be wrong, it just sounds very similar to mine.

Chris.

 

[Speiro]

My old RT had this problem, just couldnt find out where the coolant was going.100 miles and the expansion tank would be empty with no puddles under the car. Had the water pump done, that helped but didnt solve the problem totally. Put it back into the garage and they put it through a long pressure test. In the end it was the core plug. They put a good sealant into the coolant in the end and that sorted it. It was either that or have the gearbox out to get to it and that was going to cost way too much.

 

[scotty16v]

a good indicator as to the state of the head is :

run the engine with the cap off the water bottle, if the water is bubbling loads that usually means the head gasket is on its way out.

 

[Chris_H]

well if the smell was in the car the matrix has probably gone. It leaks down and take a while to fill up the heater box then leaks out. Some signs can be misted up window with the heater on but not always and a damp passenger footwell.

Headgasket usually get worse quickly. Scottys method is good, let it idle when cool not hot and there should be no bubbling.

Also do not ever put any sealant crap in a cooling system causes more trouble and greater expense than sorting the real problem.

 

[Gwynny]

check your oil level see if it is high, and check your oil filler cap for Mayo!!!!