Using coolant

[135sohc]

Few times now I have had to top off the coolant in the concorde (3.5 aluminum block, 165,000 miles). Had to do yesterday and again today I noticed it was down to the same level in less than 24 hours. No outward signs of leaking anywhere underneath, runs well, no codes and the fuel mileage is normal (not like an oxygen sensor was frosted up from burning coolant). This one has me scratching my head, will be putting it on the rack in the morning and going over the underside to see if its got a leak somewhere where its not dripping directly to the ground. Might pull the intake manifold plenum and see if the inside valley area is questionable and pop the plugs out to have a look around inside. only other thing could be the heater core but even there its not smelling nasty like coolant leaking inside, glass doesnt get slimy and the carpet isnt wet :confused2:.

Love the car but these stupid little things can really get annoying. Shadow is finally running 100% and now this thing is back for more...

[turbovanman²]

Water pump maybe?

Does it miss when it sits overnight?

[RoadWarrior222]

Not killing the O2 yet is not a guarantee it's not going out the tailpipe, coolants have got more O2 friendly... and unless they are directly drenching it, might not affect it much anyway, if the amount is enough to evaporate completely in the cylinder.

Check your oil, if there's even a hint of mayo/milkshake, crack the drain plug and check oil is coming out, not coolant (Coz oil floats on top of it)

Might need a mirror on a stick to do a visual check both sides of the rad when it's warmed up and up to pressure, sometimes they get these pinhole leaks that aerosolise or evaporate enough you never see them on the ground. Or you get a dribbler at the top of the rad, that evaporates off the fins by the time it gets to the bottom of the rad.

[135sohc]

Water pump maybe?

Does it miss when it sits overnight?

I thought the waterpump but theres no signs of leaking ?

Engine runs perfectly fine.

Oil looks cool, never seen the milkshake effect taking place. Radiator was replaced when the car got hit with a deer right around 2 years ago. I know the front end structure got slightly 'tweaked' from that so its possible something has since rubbed through on the radiator somewhere.

[135sohc]

Plugs are all clean. Transmission dipstick looked very full even though it was only running for maybe 4 minutes, nowhere near enough time to warm up enough and expand the fluid that much...

[135sohc]

Stupid loose hose clamp... :o Like I thought the perfect combination of a very small drip leak that only happend once up to 16psi and it was dripping onto an area that gets hot once running so it evaporated before hitting the ground.

[dwh4784]

Stupid maybe.....but gotta love easy fixes!

[black86glhs]

You know what this means......next week the head gasket will let go or the timing set will.....lol.

[RoadWarrior222]

LULz yeah, I remember a time back in the day, 2nd car I think it was, where I put a new rad cap on and it cost me 2 hoses, a rad and a waterpump :D

[135sohc]

You know what this means......next week the head gasket will let go or the timing set will.....lol.

Hush with you!

Timing belt was done @ 140k (should have been done @ 100k :faint:interference engine) and well if the gaskets decided to go into the corner and cry.

[MeandMyShadow]

I remember this all to well. Coolant is flowing across a weak thin point on the HG (usually cyl #1) that has eatin away from the pressure applied to it on that part of the gasket and is now going into which ever cylinder is the problem and burning away out the tailpipe. Wait for it....ah, there it is; WHITE SMOKE. Its a tell tale sign from the HG gods.