Losing Coolant

[damdog05]

so i am ever so slowly losing coolant from my overflow bottle. i add more coolant and a couple of weeks later the light on the dash goes on. could someone tell me why im losing coolant or point me in the direction of where i might find out? thanks for your help.

[Supra2NR]

same thing happend to me b4, have you checkd your radiatior levels? if theyre running on low fill em up, and if the same thing still happens check the hoses for leaks

[damdog05]

ok thanks. could it have something to do with the head gasket cus thats what im really worried about?

[scruffboy]

Yeah, I went thru this problem and thoght the bottle leaked. But in reality it was the coolant system. You should check the whole system, hose connections, gaskets, water pump. You're losing coolant from somewhere. I think you would have a lot more probelms if it were a bhg. good luck, hope you find it.

Scruff

[IHateHacks]

There are 4 ways to test your engine for a blown head gasket.

A cylinder compression test, cylinder leak down test, cooling system pressure test, and a block test.

A cylinder compression tester is available at any autoparts store (not cheap). To perform a compression test, disable the fuel system by removing the 15A EFI fuse, remove the coils, spark plug wires and all the spark plugs. Test each cylinder with the compression tester. Standard pressure is 142psi with a maximum difference of 14psi between cylinders.

If that checks out ok, Id do a cooling system pressure test. Again, available at any napa auto parts store. Make sure it holds at least 8.5psi with no more of a drop of 1 psi per 5 minutes. I did mine at 16psi with no problems for 10 minutes.

If that checks ok, do a block test. Available at napa. You must warm the engine up, drain the coolant 3 inches below the radiator cap, start the engine without the radiator cap on and put the tester where the cap goes. Start testing by siphoning air through the tester for at least 30 seconds. If it turns yellow you are in trouble.

If those 3 tests turn out fine (which will not if you have a blown head gasket) the last test would be a cylinder leak down. I only save this one for last because of the $$ involved with this test. You need a leak down test kit, and an air compressor. You must find TDC of each cylinder, install the tester, and fill the cylinder up with compressed air at a determined psi, and should hold a certain amount of psi per certain amount of time. It is different on all engines so its best to leave this test to the pros.

Good luck hope this helps.

[damdog05]

going to check the coolant system right now. thanks for your guidance.

[Spudboy]

Not uncommon initial signs of a bad head gasket. It was for me.