coolant leak

[iwannadie]

so just the other day this started.

i go to work(2am nice and cold outside), about 3 miles from home the temp gauge spikes. i let off the gas a little and the needle drops right back to normal. at the same time i smell coolant really strong. i gotta get to work so i just keep going and figure what ever happens happens.

the needle never went above normal again, the coolant smell went away pretty fast and no issues the rest of the way.

its done the exact same thing 5 days in a row. if i drive a while, shut the car off and start it back up i get a strong coolant smell on start up then it goes away mostly. i keep checking for leaking fluid, puddles ect and cant find any. im loosing a small amount as i keep topping off the catch can.

upper/lower hose are new and fine, rad is newish and cant see any signs of leaking. no smoke out the exhuast or moisture signs. the idle has been surging very slightly, 100rpms up or down at stop signs and stuff i dont think its ever done that before.

someone suggested the Tstat as a good first thing to replace. any other suggestions? ......besides bhg?

 

[supramacist]

I have had the same things happen to my 91 n/a.

It maybe overflowing the overflow, and spilling out and drying before you can catch it. Is your fan shroud in good condition???
I think this is a standard situation for these cars. I was always topping mine off before it died. I wound up with a bhg. So find it.

 

[iwannadie]

I have had the same things happen to my 91 n/a.

It maybe overflowing the overflow, and spilling out and drying before you can catch it. Is your fan shroud in good condition???
I think this is a standard situation for these cars. I was always topping mine off before it died. I wound up with a bhg. So find it.

fan shroud is good.

when i get home and check the catch can is about half full or less. if it is leaking there its leaking it out fast and settling back to normal level fast.

 

[supramacist]

Ya that's what they do. When it spikes pull over and kill the engine and start it again, this should reset it. But probably not. Do you hear the water fall sound??? If you have air in there it will make this sound and will also conribute to overheating. I think you will have these things together. But it's only my theory. Hypothesized from working on mine.

 

[iwannadie]

Ya that's what they do. When it spikes pull over and kill the engine and start it again, this should reset it. But probably not. Do you hear the water fall sound??? If you have air in there it will make this sound and will also conribute to overheating. I think you will have these things together. But it's only my theory. Hypothesized from working on mine.

my heater core is bypassed so no water fall behind my dash...

 

[supramacist]

you can't even add die to it to find out where it's coming from because the antifreeze will glow under a black light. I'm out, man. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. I suggest a compression check.. It'll tell you if your leaking, but I bet your'e over heating and then overflowing and drying before you can see it so if it's not on the ground carry a gallon of water and a gallon of antifreeze with you. Or top it off and keep an eye on it. I had to put a qt of oil in mine every day depending on how I drove it the night before.
I leak a qt of oil every 100 highway miles.

 

[iwannadie]

you can't even add die to it to find out where it's coming from because the antifreeze will glow under a black light. I'm out, man. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. I suggest a compression check.. It'll tell you if your leaking, but I bet your'e over heating and then overflowing and drying before you can see it so if it's not on the ground carry a gallon of water and a gallon of antifreeze with you. Or top it off and keep an eye on it. I had to put a qt of oil in mine every day depending on how I drove it the night before.
I leak a qt of oil every 100 highway miles.

its cool i appreciate the help.

i Really think/hope it was the bypassed core hose that was leaking. my spark plug galley was nasty with crusty stuff, some looked wet to me on closer inspection. there was a spliced piece of hose right back there that could have leaked. the hose itself was bone dry though.

 

[Figit090]

first of all...every time i hear of a coolant problem i hear "change the thermostat" and i'm going to reccomend this as well. anything you do with the system will be affected by it so it better work right. and they're cheap...


moving on...
i bet one of your hoses is leaking. its possible for the engine to burn coolant but i think you'd be more likely to see coolant filling and spewing out of the catch can. if you're careful you could fill it up, run the engine, and run it hard for a bit so the leak shows itself and shut it down. be careful if a hose blows so you can shut it down.... and do all this before the engine gets hot so it wont fry itself if/when your cooling system takes a dump. but like i said you should change your therm. because if that thing is stuck shut you're going to get some serious backpressure and i could definitely see that forcing coolant out a hose...

the flourescant additive would be a good idea.... then it'd be obvious where the leak is. but therm. would come first because you have to get a bit messy and if you get the additive on the engine before the test it will only confuse things.

what color is your coolant? i know toyota red can make a purpleish crust but i dont know about green.

its always possible you didnt tighten a hose enough. my heater union hose is looseish and has a drip-speed leak that i have to fix.

before that it was an un-clamped hose that would spew a bit, it would run under the car, and then i'd smell it. if the leak happens when your coolant expands from heat, there's a chance its at the back of the engine and dries before it has a chance to drip down the crankcase.... or anywhere else that gets fairly hot. i only mention the rear because thats where mine did that.

if you loose coolant and get an air pocket i think that can be a cause of spikes. i dont know for sure; but i know when i had a BHG and it spiked a bit, i'd rev it and it would cool off. kinda oxy-moron when its overheating but it was just lack of proper coolant flow because it spewed some and had air in the mix.

 

[CRE]

I know you said your overflow bottle's staying at a regular level, but you might want to check your radiator cap while you're at it.

 

[supramacist]

I was just about to suggest the cap, LOL. I would burp the system as well. Just because you don't here thae waterfall sound doesn't mean there no air in there especially sinse the heater core is disconnected.

 

[Figit090]

yeah i doubt you will hear it at all witout the heater core.

 

[iwannadie]

well i Hope i fixxed it, my bypass hose was a little loose. i resetting it (back of the spark plug galley) sofar no leaks no spikes. i didnt get a chance to drive at night(cold) when i had the problems before. well see tonight when i go to work how it holds up.

i did burp and put new fluid in while i was at it so i hope it all helps lol.

i will replace the cap and the thermostat though soon as i can find a place to get both for cheap enough this week.

 

[Figit090]

if i remember the cap is around 13-15 dollars and the therm is under 5? whatever you'll see soon enough.

good luck, drive it easy until you discover more and replace those parts.

if that hose was loose it was probably your problem...thats the hose at the very back of the engine right?

oh and what i said about the thermostat, if it was stuck shut the pressure resulting might not be enough to cause a problem by itself but combined with the pressure from heat expansion it might...and then you cant circulate cool water - overheat.

 

[supramacist]

I am glad you can find this nutorious 5 dollar t-stat. Because I can't.

 

[Figit090]

eh..maybe i was off. whatever. sorry.

 

[supramacist]

No I keep hearing about a 4$ thermostat that is the best thing sinse orange juice. I have been hearing it for months. off and on ofcourse, but non the less. I'd like to know if it exists.

 

[Figit090]

dude just go to napa and find one?

 

[corylee316]

I got mine from Auto Zone for a couple bucks. I think I paid less than $10 for cap and t-stat.

 

[Figit090]

bingo.

 

[lostshadowz]

heh.. well I my self have a over heating problem. I've replaced the water pump, thermostat, rad. cap. none of the hoses leak. flushed the radiator too.

the radiator is a koyo one and not even a year and a half old, but it seemed to have blown the entiare top seal. I still had my old original radiator which worked fine so I put that back in. still over heats.

seems it likes to spill all the coolent in the car out the over flow tank for some reason. mechanic doesn't even know why.

a frind who has a turbo version of the same car said there should be a bleeder value to bleed air out the system but the book I have for it doesn't say anything about it.

So any ideas on what it is or how I could fix it would be awsome cause i really miss driving it. taking the bus to work sucks.