coolant loss ?

[tractorboy]

hello I actually have an Impala and am very impressed with the replys I have gotten here. A member of my family has a dodge caravan, and I think that this question is a basic question AND I am not getting any answers at the dodge forum so here goes::::

dodge caravan V6 3.0L 1994

It is my sisters van, she refuses to look after the van so I have to take care of it. I always check the coolant level, it is ok till one day she says that there is no heat. I go over and the van is low on coolant. I fill it up, rad and resevoir. There are no leaks, no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. There is no excessive steam from the exhaust and no coolant smell inside or outside of the van. It goes low again in a few days. I pour in a gallon and a half of 50/50 aprox coolant. I drive the vehicle and the temp gauge stays on or near the cool, except at a stop light it almost goes to the middle. The air temp outside is about 40 degrees. The upper hose is hot, not much pressure, can pinch off with my hand. Can feel slight something running through the hose. Still no smel of coolant or leaks.
what do you think is wrong. ?

[jw67]

i would say pressure test the sys..see where its leaking. and also look inside on the floor for any wet spots. it has to be going somewhere

[tractorboy]

that is what is so weird, ther are no leaks, no where. I keep thinking that it might be the head gasket. What about the rad cap ?

[p-impala]

if she said there was no heat maybe its leaking near the heater core

[jw67]

does it have rear heat? if so the lines run all the way to the back.

[Ventura77]

Quick question for you. Is there an additional hose off of the overflow bucket that just runs down to the ground? Something very similar happend with my S10. It in fact was the head gasket, though I was able to smell the antifreeze. What happened was there was a slight crack in the head gasket. When combustion took place in the cylinder, it would "leak" out pressure from the cylinder into the cooling system, thus pressurizing the cooling system. Though it wouldn't allow coolant into the system. If you drove it long enough the pressure would build up enough to where it would push the coolant into the overflow bucket and then it would run out the hose on the overflow bucket that goes to the ground. But if the vehicle was just sitting still, like in your driveway, you would never see where it was leaking. A good test to try is warm it up good and take a look in the overflow bucket and see how much fluid is in there. If it is leaking as much as you're talking about it should be pushing a considerable amount back into the overflow.

[thermal izod]

i'm goin' w/ the head gasket on this one....

[bobss396]

Toss in a package of Solder Seal Block Saver. It has been known to seal minor head gasket problems. You may have to ask around for it, older parts houses usualy have it.

Bob

[shengang1203]

Originally Posted by tractorboy

There is no excessive steam from the exhaust and no coolant smell inside or outside of the van. It goes low again in a few days. I pour in a gallon and a half of 50/50 aprox coolant.

I drive the vehicle and the temp gauge stays on or near the cool, except at a stop light it almost goes to the middle. The air temp outside is about 40 degrees. The upper hose is hot, not much pressure, can pinch off with my hand. Can feel slight something running through the hose. Still no smel of coolant or leaks.

I have similar problems. When I drive on highway, the temperature is okay. But when I brake frequently because of the red light, the temperature is almost to the middle or more. Do you know what's the problem? (I ever saw the low coolant level message and added some)

[billyo69]

Temp near the middle is normal 195 degrees.When you are driving air cools the water.I think your t-stat is not closing fully.Change your t-stat with a quality one.

[shengang1203]

Originally Posted by billyo69

Temp near the middle is normal 195 degrees.When you are driving air cools the water.I think your t-stat is not closing fully.Change your t-stat with a quality one.

What do you mean the t-sta? Which part? Generally, how much is it? Easy to DIY?

Also, someone told me it might be the coolant problem. He suggested me to add some coolant directly to the radiator. Is that okay?

Thanks very much!

[MT-2500]

Several places they can leak and be hard to find or spot.
One area is water pump on right front of engine behind timming belt.
If the drain is pluged on it it will run back under intake and eveperate or if real bad will come out left side of engine where the rad hose goes in.
Also it sometime just leaks when it wants to whick makes it hard to check
Another area is external head gasket leakage.
Also the rad can leak/pour out on the tanks at certain temptures and not at others or hot or cold.
They make some coolant leak dye that you can put in the coolant and use the special black light to find the leak or where it has been leaking.
Also run a pressure test on the coolant system.

[billyo69]

I was saying thermostat.But if you are losing coolant without it overheating and boiling over then you need to pressure test the system to find the leak .The water pump is a good place to look they have a weephole (look there) If your temp is cool when driving and hot while in traffic its the t-stat or elec fans arnt working.

[shengang1203]

Just check with a mechanic shop, it gives me an estimate (they said that there was a leakage problem). Could you please help me check which one is unnecessary? (2002 Impala, 92000 Miles)

Intake Manifold Set 77.63
VAL GSKT 21.55
Intake Manifold Gasket(Labor) 450.30
Coolant 16.00
Oil change,Lube&Filter 18.95
Environment Fee 2.00
Power Steering System Flush 89.99
Environment Fee 2.00
Transmission Flush & Fill 99.99
Environment Fee 6.00

Total:
Labor 669.23
Parts 115.18

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by shengang1203

Just check with a mechanic shop, it gives me an estimate (they said that there was a leakage problem). Could you please help me check which one is unnecessary? (2002 Impala, 92000 Miles)

Intake Manifold Set 77.63
VAL GSKT 21.55
Intake Manifold Gasket(Labor) 450.30
Coolant 16.00
Oil change,Lube&Filter 18.95
Environment Fee 2.00
Power Steering System Flush 89.99
Environment Fee 2.00
Transmission Flush & Fill 99.99
Environment Fee 6.00

Total:
Labor 669.23
Parts 115.18

I got lost about 3 cars and 5 post a go.
To many different post and cars here.
Befor I blow my mind trying to sort it all out Just.
Start a new post on your problem and give us all of the info like engine sise and mileage and main problem. What is it doing and not doing.
MT