Losing water

My tank and radiator keep coming up low but there are no puddles on the ground(even after running for a while). I've checked the oil and it's good. Any suggestions?

Pressure test the radiator. have it full first so it will push fluid out instead of air. You should be able to rent or borrow a pressure tester at Autozone and maybe others.

That's where I would start.

James

My tank and radiator keep coming up low but there are no puddles on the ground(even after running for a while). I've checked the oil and it's good. Any suggestions?


Not good. If your losing water and its not showing itself as a puddle under the car you might have some probs on your hands. If you have a leaky head gasket or a small crack on the head or in the block that would allow water/coolant to pass from the cooling system to a combustion chamber, wich eventually comes out the tail pipe as steam or a drip from the tail pipe.


I agree, fill it and pressure test it. Look for leaks. If the pressure eventually leaks itself down, turn the car on and back off quickly, and pull the plugs. If any of the plugs are wet or appear steam cleaned you have water getting to a piston.

Another quick way to test it is pull the radiator cap and start the motor. Make sure nobody including yourself is standing around the front of the car just in case the coolant gets some distance.

If water comes flying out of the radiator, you have a problem. Its normal to expect water to pour out a little, what your looking for is pressure inside the radiator/coolant system thats being caused by something other than the water pump. obvious water circulation = good. Water blowing out everywhere = bad.

Good luck.

As said the old pressure test.
Always pressure test cold and warm and hot.
A coolant leak runs down so always look under everything like under engine and radiator and water pump and hoses and inside under heater core.
Water pump weap hole and coolant hoses and intake front and back and heater core and radiator tank and core are the main places they can leak.
Always watch the engine oil for coolant in it.
If you can not find anything with a pressure test they make a leak dye kit you can add to coolant and put a special light on it and find where it is leaking.
Good Luck and let us know how it goes.
MT

A combustion gas detector can also be put on the radiator and if combustion gasses are detected coming out of the radiator then when hot and turned off there may be some water allowed to go IN. Usually it can be seen out the pipe though after setting for a number of hours.

Thanks for all your reply's! I'll get to work on it this weekend and let everyone know how it goes.