Burning Through Coolant

[Op-Ivy]

I am losing coolant... Fast.

It seems like whenever I'm climbing hills and keeping my turbo boost levels high the car loses its coolant. I had to put in almost 3 litres of water in after climbing a hill back into forest fire city last night.(West Kelowna.. We are on evacuation alert still. )

Anyways, I know for a fact that the coolant is not leaking out from somewhere, unless it is spewing out of the reservoir overflow. But I would probably be able to see it. I am thinking that the head gasket may be finished. I saw a few dark specs of something while looking in there a while ago.

Does anyone have any idea of what could be happening?

[jtanguay]

check the easiest first... you can get a dye additive from cdn tire and get the goggles to go with it.  then you'll need to rev the engine while looking under the hood and get the engine real hot and look for leaks.  if you find none, check the tailpipe for the dye, and then you might cry 

but hopefully its just a burst hose or something like that.  water pumps can start to leak water when they're about to go too...  oh and don't forget the expansion tank cap.  if it doesn't hold any pressure, you will lose coolant from there.  the rad could also have a pinhole leak... theres just soo much that makes the dye such a good idea 

[Op-Ivy]

Thanks JT! I will definitely try that soon!

[Op-Ivy]

Hmm I can't seem to find the dye at Canadian Tire. Any idea what brand it is? I checked the website as well and couldn't find anything.

[jtanguay]

Hmm I can't seem to find the dye at Canadian Tire. Any idea what brand it is? I checked the website as well and couldn't find anything.

it should be in the coolant section.  its these little packets that are blue green etc.  i think the green one is for coolant although its hard to remember.

[jtanguay]

have you been able to find that stuff??? maybe a visual inspection of the hoses would be a good idea in the meantime.  the ones connected to the water pump might be a little bit harder to inspect if they are bursting on the hidden side...

[Op-Ivy]

Sorry I've been super busy lately. I have however managed to find the dye at Napa. Only $6 or so too and the bottle treats 15 litres!

I know I have no leaks but now I can see that the coolant is coming out of the overflow hole in the expansion tank. I have to do more testing before I can figure out why it's being pressurized but I have a hunch I'm running too little coolant and it's boiling over. I'm going to drain and fill to 50/50 tonight then try it out soon. Probably not until Saturday or Sunday at the latest though... 

Thanks for checking in JT! 

Matt

[jtanguay]

Sorry I've been super busy lately. I have however managed to find the dye at Napa. Only $6 or so too and the bottle treats 15 litres!

I know I have no leaks but now I can see that the coolant is coming out of the overflow hole in the expansion tank. I have to do more testing before I can figure out why it's being pressurized but I have a hunch I'm running too little coolant and it's boiling over. I'm going to drain and fill to 50/50 tonight then try it out soon. Probably not until Saturday or Sunday at the latest though... 

Thanks for checking in JT! 

Matt

np.  the system should pressurize to about 15 psi give or take a few psi depending on temperature.  the cap should release the coolant pressure at around 20 or so psi?  your problem hopefully can be fixed with a new cap, but run another test to be sure its not the head gasket.  start the car bone cold with the rad cap off, and put your hand on the opening blocking it real good.  if you feel pressure building up right away, then its a head gasket issue