Coolant Issue

[DanDriftS13]

First off my car is an S13 with an S13 SR. The deal is I have been losing coolant somewhere and haven't been able to figure out where. First everything started on Wednesday when my lower radiator hose blew and I lost all my coolant. Then on Friday night went out with some friends racing a little bit and after my first race I noticed coolant all over the windshield and immediately pulled over and shut the car off. Both of these times I noticed something had happened with in 30 seconds of it happening and shut the car off so there was no possibility of overheating the motor. Now on Saturday I noticed I was leaking coolant and found out it was coming from the heater core so I bypassed that and there was no more coolant leaking anywhere. So this is where I am at right now. I am losing coolant at a rather quick rate and can't figure out where it is going. Nothing underneath the hood is wet and there are no visible droplets or puddles underneath the car. I have a koyo radiator and flex a lite fans and whenever the fans turn on I can smell coolant. Whenever they are off I smell nothing. There is no oil in the coolant and there is NO visible smoke coming out of the exhaust as well as no smell of coolant from the exhaust either. I am going to change the oil tomorrow to see if there is coolant in the oil but as of now I pulled out the dipstick and there is no smell of coolant or looks of coolant in the oil.

Sorry for the long post just wanted to make sure to include anything and everything I know as of right now. I am going to do a leak down test tomorrow as well. Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank You
-Daniel

[mxsx25]

wierd... check the lines for the turbo... maybe do a compression test? thats wierd if you bypassed the heatercore and you dont see ANYTHING leaking under the hood or anywhere else but your coolant is dropping...it seems like it would be a headgasket, but at the same time you said no coolant smell from the exhaust.? is there white smoke? im curious on this one... hope you figure it out

[Jadeskyline]

Hey bro check your heater hoses regardless...i read that you bypassed it but check em neways....i had a similar problem (with no visible leaks showing from newhere)....i sat outside for weeks like a jackass bleeding the coolant system for maybe air bubbles in the system.....turned out to be tiny pinholes in my heater hoses didnt find out till the car got pretty hot and heard the hissing noise.....i could smell coolant (similar to ur problem) but could not find it event though i was losing coolant....when the car gets hot enuff the coolant turns to vapor which u will smell but not see leak but you will lose it nonetheless while driving....hope this helps and keep us posted gl

[MadMaverick]

First I would make sure you fully bled the system. If you blew a hose then its feasible that you have an air pocket after repair. Pressure testing the system is the next step if you have access to the tool. If you are loosing coolant at a "rapid rate" as you describe, it should show up somewhere (either on the engine or in it).

[DanDriftS13]

Before today I had no rad. overflow tank on my car so today I rigged up a water bottle as one and I found out the coolant is coming out of the cap. I had just put a new 16lb rad. cap on before my radiator hose blew on Wednesday so, I put back on my old cap which I know for sure is good. Still the same problem losing coolant out of the cap. I also changed my oil earlier today and there was no water in the oil. A friend of mine said that it was a possibility that it could be that the headgasket is bad and could be letting the compression from the motor slip past it and into the cooling system and pushing open the rad. cap and making my coolant spill out. I am going to do a compression test later on today and was wondering if anyone had any ideas of anything else I should look at before or during the compression test?

Thank You
-Daniel

[MadMaverick]

Before today I had no rad. overflow tank on my car so today I rigged up a water bottle as one and I found out the coolant is coming out of the cap. I had just put a new 16lb rad. cap on before my radiator hose blew on Wednesday so, I put back on my old cap which I know for sure is good. Still the same problem losing coolant out of the cap. I also changed my oil earlier today and there was no water in the oil. A friend of mine said that it was a possibility that it could be that the headgasket is bad and could be letting the compression from the motor slip past it and into the cooling system and pushing open the rad. cap and making my coolant spill out. I am going to do a compression test later on today and was wondering if anyone had any ideas of anything else I should look at before or during the compression test?

Thank You
-Daniel

If its combustion pressure pushing out of the head gasket, you will be able to see it bubbling before it even gets hot. I suspect that your rad might be warped where the cap attaches, Ive seen it a few times. Just to be clear, you had an open hole where your overflow tank was supposed to be? I would do a cooling system pressure test before a compression test. They also make a kit that tests for combustion gasses in your cooling system.

[DanDriftS13]

If its combustion pressure pushing out of the head gasket, you will be able to see it bubbling before it even gets hot. I suspect that your rad might be warped where the cap attaches, Ive seen it a few times. Just to be clear, you had an open hole where your overflow tank was supposed to be? I would do a cooling system pressure test before a compression test. They also make a kit that tests for combustion gasses in your cooling system.

Yes, basically an open hole where the overflow tank was supposed to be. I had a hose that ran through the hole where my coldpipe for the intercooler runs and just sprayed out on the ground if the pressure rose too high. The cap DOES NOT leak at idle and only leaks when I drive around and the car is above idle UNDER LOAD. I can rev it up in the drive way and it DOES NOT leak either. The hole where the cap goes being warped could be a possibility I guess because the top of the radiator seems to be bowed up a little bit and I know it wasn't like that when I got the Koyo. I don't think I have access to a cooling system pressure tester but I do have access to a compression tester so either way I am going to do a compression test to see if that will tell me anything.

[DanDriftS13]

By the way I have a cometic metal headgasket on the motor with somewhere between 1500-1800 miles on it. The motor was rebuilt and I drove it around untuned while I broke it in and just this past Wednesday had it tuned. NONE of these problems occurred before the tune.

[MadMaverick]

Yes, basically an open hole where the overflow tank was supposed to be. I had a hose that ran through the hole where my coldpipe for the intercooler runs and just sprayed out on the ground if the pressure rose too high. The cap DOES NOT leak at idle and only leaks when I drive around and the car is above idle UNDER LOAD. I can rev it up in the drive way and it DOES NOT leak either. The hole where the cap goes being warped could be a possibility I guess because the top of the radiator seems to be bowed up a little bit and I know it wasn't like that when I got the Koyo. I don't think I have access to a cooling system pressure tester but I do have access to a compression tester so either way I am going to do a compression test to see if that will tell me anything.

Well, you WILL loose coolant from that overflow line even at normal driving temp. When the coolant expands, the pressure pushes coolant into the overflow, which then gets sucked back in when the car cools. Since you had nothing to suck back in, you have coolant loss. The radiator swelling at the top tells me that you have overheated the car in the past. The conjunction of these two things still leads me to believe you have an air pocket in the head. I would bleed the cooling system again and see if you still loose coolant. If you think its leaking into the head, pull your spark plugs and look at the color, if they have a greenish tinge, a headgasket is a possibility.

On a side note: I have seen a shitload of turbo volvo engines come in with blown headgaskets, combustion pressure leaking into the cooling system. In every case, running the car with the rad cap off and revving it produced a fountain of coolant from the radiator. Boosted cars blow huge amounts of pressure through the cooling system, you should be able to see this when the car is cold. If it is hot and the rad cap is off, bubbling and overflowing is just coolant boiling in the block (because the system is not under pressure to lower the boiling point).

[DanDriftS13]

Honestly I have never bled the coolant system and never had a problem with an air bubble anywhere. So since I have never done this where is the bleeder screw at so that I can do so? Also, the car has never been overheated the hottest it has EVER gotten was half way between the 4th and 5th marks on the stock temp gauge and it was shut off immediately once I saw it that hot. I don't think that it is leaking any coolant into the head because I see absolutely no smoke coming out of the exhaust. If bleeding the system doesn't stop the problem I will pull the plugs and look at them.

[DanDriftS13]

I have been running my car for a while now without a coolant overflow tank and have never had an issue losing coolant. This is why my current situation is bothering me so much....

[DJ_Sunrise]

Drain and fill the system again... leave the radiator cap off and keep topping it off for an hour. I've never had a problem with my SR's and KA's.. Just take your time. Switch heat/ac on and off periodicaly while squeezing the hoses.

-Bart

[MadMaverick]

Drain and fill the system again... leave the radiator cap off and keep topping it off for an hour. I've never had a problem with my SR's and KA's.. Just take your time. Switch heat/ac on and off periodicaly while squeezing the hoses.

-Bart

KA's are NOTORIOUS for air pockets. Your SR should be a cake walk.

You dont have to drain the whole system, though it may be a good idea to drain the rad if you havent changed your coolant in a while. Fill it up and let it idle, turn on the heat (lo power). This opens the heater control valve and allows coolant to circulate into your heater core. Once you get good cabin heat, you can shut off the heat. If the coolant starts boiling over (meaning lots of coolant coming out) shut off the car and top it off again. You shouldnt need to fool with the bleeder screw to get all the air out of an SR. Cap her off and take it for a little spin. After the car is FULLY COOL, open the cap and top it off again. Check your coolant level in the same way in a few days.

Also, the car has never been overheated the hottest it has EVER gotten was half way between the 4th and 5th marks on the stock temp gauge and it was shut off immediately once I saw it that hot. I don't think that it is leaking any coolant into the head because I see absolutely no smoke coming out of the exhaust. If bleeding the system doesn't stop the problem I will pull the plugs and look at them.

If your radiator is bowed out like that, its gotten really hot and really pressurized. When you shut down a car at full hot like that, you cut off the water pump and let hot coolant sit inside the block and radiator. Its better to idle the car until it cools off to normal temp (fans + water pump > ambient air). If you dont think coolant is leaking into the combustion chamber, then what do you think a compression test will do? I think your looking in the wrong places for a solution. Always start with the basics.

I have been running my car for a while now without a coolant overflow tank and have never had an issue losing coolant. This is why my current situation is bothering me so much....

Pretty much every car will piss a little coolant when it gets hot. Think about it, you have a given volume of liquid (coolant) at ambient temperature. You then heat the liquid 150-200 degrees hotter than normal. I dont have the numbers in front of me, but your 16psi rad cap just isnt gonna cut it, especially when you said yourself the car HAS gotten hot at some time or another.

Let us know how it works out.

[DanDriftS13]

Well I pulled the plugs today and they all look perfect, but I am still going to do a compression/leak down test just to be sure. I'll keep you posted and let you know when and if I figure out what is going on with the car...

[MadMaverick]

Well I pulled the plugs today and they all look perfect, but I am still going to do a compression/leak down test just to be sure. I'll keep you posted and let you know when and if I figure out what is going on with the car...

Did you fill/bleed your system? We keep telling you to try this but you seem to blindly avoid it. You are going down the wrong diagnostic road my friend.

[Gnnr]

Listen to MadMaverick! Geesh.

[DanDriftS13]

Yes I did fill and bleed the system there is no change in what has been happening. I had done that a couple times before I even posted this up on here. Now I have done it again and still no change...

[MadMaverick]

Either the coolant is leaking externally, into the combustion chamber (smoking) or into the crankcase (milky oil). You say your loosing a good amount of coolant so it should be obvious where it is coming from. Pressure test the cooling system, look for leaks. Check for a blown headgasket with a block tester, not a compression test. A compression test will not necessarily tell you if your headgasket is blown.

Is the passenger side carpet wet? Are the heater hoses leaking?

Coolant doesnt just disappear, so there is something you are missing.

[Xandy Boosts]

I tried for months and MONTHS to diagnose my coolant leaking problem. Finally I went to some buddies shop and they pressure tested my system for me. Finally after doing that, I found a SMALL pinhole leak on one of my hoses that run along under the intake manifold. I did not see it while the car was running, it was only until it was put under pressure that I saw it.

You may not need it, but I like to be overkill on my cooling system after blowing 2 headgaskets. A lisle funnel, a coolant breather tank, an aftermarket water temp sensor + 1 hour of my time and I've got my system on lock now.

But yea get it pressure tested, if you see the pressure gauge drop, you have a leak somewhere. If not, its probably a bunch of air pockets.

[DanDriftS13]

Coolant isn't disappearing at a rapid rate anymore now that I put a reservoir into the car. Although I still get a coolant smell when the motor is warmed up and my fans kick on... I am going to try to get a coolant system pressure check done...

[NIZzS13]

I would say check under the intake manifold also I had a similar problem. Lift up the car and look carefully up near the starter and alternator. I need be take out the starter and alternator to get a good look. I had 3 hoses under there leaking a one point the pressure in the coolant system in these SR's is no joke and the hoses under the intake R usually the first ones to go.