Losing coolant again...

[kylefoto]

Blah blah blah blah.
Don't give me the BHG crap,
give me answers please.

Okay.
So a month or two back I had been losing coolant at a pretty steady rate, tried burping, tried flushing and refilling, almost everything, still would lose it. Then I took a drive down to Oregon for a supraburger cruise, and it was just fine, and after that weekend, I hadn't lost any coolant, or had been very, very slowly, until now.
The last week or so, it's been low when I first start up the car after it's sat, and will raise of course after I start driving. (I'm refering to the coolant overflow bottle, so the light would come on when I took a corner sharp) After school today, it was almost completely empty, and I put some water in there just for my own piece of mind.

Okay.
So I have not been overheating, been staying steady at 180, 190. I have been blowing a lot of white smoke on start up, but then again it's been below freezing, and I didn't blow any out today after school, it was a little warmer.
One thing I do know is that my radiator has 2 cold spots on the bottom, which we determined when I went down to Oregon.
Until now, everything has been great, no problems at all.

Anyone have any ideas?

Also,
My master clutch clyinder is leaking,
and I haven't gotten around to replacing it since it has never really been a problem with driving other than the fact that I have to refill it with brake fluid every week or so.
But nowwwww, it has a really short span of tenison. It's got the normal distance it usually does, but near the top of letting it out, it's got a dead spot with now pressure...
Is this just air in the system or something else?

 

[rumptis]

if its not BHG then it has to be a leak....small pinhole leaks can be very hard to track down. If you Rad has cold spots then it has problems and could be leaking. Start by checking all the hoses if they are overly soft or feel broken down replace them. Replace the RAD, sooner or later it will get bad enough to cause your car to overheat then you will have some major problems.

 

[kylefoto]

if its not BHG then it has to be a leak....small pinhole leaks can be very hard to track down. If you Rad has cold spots then it has problems and could be leaking. Start by checking all the hoses if they are overly soft or feel broken down replace them. Replace the RAD, sooner or later it will get bad enough to cause your car to overheat then you will have some major problems.

Alright,
I think I'm going to do a compression check and pressure check my system with someone hopefully this weekend.

I've been putting off getting the radiator, because it's not too bad right now, and I'm poor, paying off my parents from a whole bunch of shit, Christmas is coming, ect ect and want to get a CSF when I do get one.

 

[jdub]

Coolant has to be going somewhere

- Are you venting coolant out of the overflow bottle?
- Any puddles under the car?
- Wet spot on the passenger inside floor?
- Check your oil for that "milk shake" look in the cap

If your radiator has a cold spot, it's not doing it's job (like that's a surprise)...most likely clogged, especially if along the bottom. Get a pressure test done on your coolant system...that should reveal any leaks.

 

[kylefoto]

Coolant has to be going somewhere

- Are you venting coolant out of the overflow bottle?
- Any puddles under the car?
- Wet spot on the passenger inside floor?
- Check your oil for that "milk shake" look in the cap

If your radiator has a cold spot, it's not doing it's job (like that's a surprise)...most likely clogged, especially if along the bottom. Get a pressure test done on your coolant system...that should reveal any leaks.

haha, tru dattttt.

-Do you think it's possible for that much of an amount of coolant to vent out of the overflow? I do have a shitty cap on it that doesn't seal incredibly well...
-I don't think there are, I haven't really checked in awhile, but nothing noticable...
-No wet spot, oil is nice and clean.

 

[americanjebus]

are you topping off your overflow with coolant or water? from your avatar looks like coolant.

for a while i had the habit of carrying a jug of distilled with me, on hot summer days i would turn off the car and maybe as late as 20 mintues later some coolant would gurgle its way out of the overflow from heat soak because the mixture had been so diluted with water that it boiled easier, i started using coolant and it decreased, i let it idle down for longer periods and that helped too. Then again i live a couple thousand feet higher than you so that also played a part.

after that try a block tester, ya never know.

AND if you go through the whole process and it still persists, let me know we may have the same problem, my car spit out coolant 20 minutes after i turned it off in 20 degree weather after only idling....

 

[kylefoto]

are you topping off your overflow with coolant or water? from your avatar looks like coolant.

for a while i had the habit of carrying a jug of distilled with me, on hot summer days i would turn off the car and maybe as late as 20 mintues later some coolant would gurgle its way out of the overflow from heat soak because the mixture had been so diluted with water that it boiled easier, i started using coolant and it decreased, i let it idle down for longer periods and that helped too. Then again i live a couple thousand feet higher than you so that also played a part.

after that try a block tester, ya never know.

AND if you go through the whole process and it still persists, let me know we may have the same problem, my car spit out coolant 20 minutes after i turned it off in 20 degree weather after only idling....

haha,
that avatar picture was from awhile ago.
It used to be coolant when I was having the problem, and man was that shit expensive. I was going through so much of it.

I don't think it's boiling, it looked fine when I checked on it when I got home last night and checked it.

Where are you at in washington anyways?

 

[johnathan1]

AmericanJebus: Maybe you need a new radiator cap? You can pressure test that to make sure it is in spec with the same tester that's used to test the system.

kylefoto: PRESSURE TEST YOUR COOLING SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really, it is so simple and takes like a minute, yet people seem to never do this...how can people on line know where you coolant leak is? At 21psi, even tiny small leaks become obvious.

I noticed on friday that my car was making the "waterfall" sound that comes from the dash...and my system wasn't pressurizing like it should... First thought was "coolant leak"! Haha, I pressure tested it, and sure enough, I watched the needle on the pressure gauge go down, and started looking for leaks, it turns out the thermostat gasket was leaking, but you couldn't tell when the car was running, because the leak was so small, that the small amount of coolant that was leaking would evaporate before I could ever see it while at operating temp...

 

[kylefoto]

AmericanJebus: Maybe you need a new radiator cap? You can pressure test that to make sure it is in spec with the same tester that's used to test the system.

kylefoto: PRESSURE TEST YOUR COOLING SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really, it is so simple and takes like a minute, yet people seem to never do this...how can people on line know where you coolant leak is? At 21psi, even tiny small leaks become obvious.

I noticed on friday that my car was making the "waterfall" sound that comes from the dash...and my system wasn't pressurizing like it should... First thought was "coolant leak"! Haha, I pressure tested it, and sure enough, I watched the needle on the pressure gauge go down, and started looking for leaks, it turns out the thermostat gasket was leaking, but you couldn't tell when the car was running, because the leak was so small, that the small amount of coolant that was leaking would evaporate before I could ever see it while at operating temp...

Haha,
thanks Johnathan
I'll be doing it this weekend hopefully...

 

[americanjebus]

haha,

Where are you at in washington anyways?

I live in a small town that barely houses 50k people in the middle of the state, most people call it Wenatchee, i cant go to most of the meets cus its a 2.5 hour drive over snow and ice that people call the rockies. Then theres miles and miles of .... nothing.... all the way to spokane. The nothing is cool for high speed runs cus its like 50 miles of straight road but it gets old quick. This should give you a good idea.

I wanna move to upper seattle everett, bellingham area. They seam to have it going on up there.

 

[kwnate]

I wanna move to upper seattle everett, bellingham area. They seam to have it going on up there.

LOL at the pic!! I was out in wenatchee not to long ago. Not a bad place at all

You should move west of the Washington rockies though

 

[americanjebus]

al contrair Natedog my boy, im actually moving in the opposite direction to the bottom right corner of that map just outside the circle of nothing. Goin to WSU and am going to be stuck in that place for the next 5 or so years till i either get alcohol poisoning or a masters degree in something.

THEN i'll move over there with the homeboys and get my build on.

-Luis

 

[kylefoto]

al contrair Natedog my boy, im actually moving in the opposite direction to the bottom right corner of that map just outside the circle of nothing. Goin to WSU and am going to be stuck in that place for the next 5 or so years till i either get alcohol poisoning or a masters degree in something.

THEN i'll move over there with the homeboys and get my build on.

-Luis

hahahhaah
nice illustration.

That's pretty weak that you're moving to pullman.
NW washington supra scene has it goin ON!