coolant leak

Coolant keeps leaking with no sign of leak on car or on the ground. Water pump has been replaced but keep adding coolant. Light comes on and off whether coolant reserve is full or not. Reserve tank has been cleaned. Anyone know what this might be from?

Coolant keeps leaking with no sign of leak on car or on the ground. Water pump has been replaced but keep adding coolant. Light comes on and off whether coolant reserve is full or not. Reserve tank has been cleaned. Anyone know what this might be from?

What kind of car is it? What year?

If it has a 3100 or 3400 series engine, there's a great possibility that coolant is going into the engine. Pull the oil dipstick, look for

*Thick, cream-like substance, any color from off-white to chocolate-shake;
*Water condensation;
*Rust on dipstick.

If you see any of these, you likely need intake manifold gaskets.

Check next to the engine on the right side below the thermostat housing and see if you have any water pooling there. Malibus are notorious for thier intake manifold gaskets going bad. If you don't see any, it could be your thermostat. Also make sure your fan is working and chech your radiator and see if your cooling fins are compressed ( check the simple stuff first)

I own a 2002 Malibu. I pulled out the dip stick and the oil looks fine. No white stuff or chocolate substance. I then looked to the right of the engine and did not see any pools of water and the fan works. I still have to check the "cooling fins", but I have an appt to have it looked at on Thursday. I will let you know what I find. Thank you for the information. It helped me to describe and recommend what it might be.

Thursday after June 19th's posting was June 21st.
Today is July 16th, almost a month since your post.
What was causing the coolant leak?

Oops. Been extremely busy.....

They looked at my car on that Friday and my Intake gasket was bad. Fluid was leaking everywhere, but not much got into the engine. Also, car was running badly as well and the spark plugs and wires were so bad, they didn't know how the car still ran. Extended warranty paid for all but deductible. Total cost would have been $373 for the gasket and labor. Labor was 3.5 hrs. Plugs and wires were additional.

I assume this is a 3.1L V6. It is good that you caught it prior to noticing contaminated engine oil. That's an IMG that was let go way too long. Typical dealer cost to replace the IMG's is ~$1000. Most of your independent shops will do it for around $600. Good thing is, once you get a good set of aftermarket gaskets in there, you are good to go.

Joel

Yes, it is a 3.1L V6. I caught it just in time as it was starting to go into the engine. Mechanic stated that it wasn't enough to do damage. Thank goodness for that. This website helped me to self diagnose and tell the mechanic what I thought it was. Guess it wasn't a pretty sight. Oh, well....over and paid for, but thank god it wasn't $1000.