Busy morning for me 
I'm trying to track down a possibly major problem in my new car.
The other day, I popped the hood while filling up at the wallet sucking station and noticed a small little trickle of coolant coming out from under the cap. After wiping it off, it persisted...but it was really slight. I popped the cap, and there was no pressure.
I rushed home like a good hypochondriac and began to self diagnose on the Internet. Apparently, leaking coolant through the cap can be as benign as having a bad cap to your car having some new form of Hepatitis. I had already been a bit worried about the car's cooling system due to a prior fan relay blowout which caused the previous owner some overheating issues that had to be corrected. I wasn't 100% optimistic they were gone when I popped the hood and saw that the chrome pulley cover the car to me with had a bit of splatter on it.
I drove around in diagnostic mode watching the temps on the engine. It was 75F outside, and the only time the temp got worrisome was when I would get stuck in stop and go and it would climb close to 99C. Otherwise, the temp looked good (normal cruising at 82-83, highway in low 90s) and would cool itself off suffciently well.
When I got back to the house, I immediately grabbed a towel and tried popping the expansion cap again (no coolant was leaking). Again, no pressure.
Since then, I reseated the lid and oddly enough, and getting some pressure (however slight) when I remove the cap now. But, now we're playing Houdini.
Like a childhood actor from a bad 80's sitcom, my coolant seems to be vanishing from the public eye. I noticed it when I went to check fluids this morning, and thought that maybe, just maybe, I had misjudged how close to the fill line my expansion tank was. I even began to think it was possible it may have just needed to have been burped, even if the coolant was recently flushed to my knowledge (I've had the car just over a week).
After a local drive around town to run some datalogging, the car has far less coolant...so little in the reservoir in fact that I am forced to go out and pick some up before I can take it to the shop tomorrow.
There are absolutely no puddles in the garage, no visible signs of seepage anywhere on the engine that I can see either above or under it, and the seven quarts of fresh 5w30 synthetic seem to be crystal clear.
The coolant reservoir looks clean save for a little brown buildup on its walls, but the coolant itself looks clean....although I swear to god there may have been a very very very slight rainbow color seperation on the top, but I just chalked that up to normal buildup.
The car goes to a trusted wrench monkey tomorrow. I've asked for him to do a compression test and cooling system test because I want to be sure. I was planning on flushing the coolant when I did the Evenflo at home, but I think I may also have them do that if the system is coming back safe. I also plan on obviously buying a new cap because they are cheap and if it has leaked any coolant, it could be warped as it is.
I'm prepared for the guy to come back and say that the head gasket is gone. I guess I would have expected to see more evidence than that right now, but this could be an early warning sign versus a catastrophic failure. I'm also no expert, but it seems like the events leading up to this seem to not be entirely related to a head gasket issue. If the gasket is compromised, why would pressure be restored but have me losing coolant? Why would coolant not have pressure, but boil out from the cap?
I guess it could be the pump, but I don't understand where all the phantom coolant would be going? Plus if the pump is acting wonky, why are temps staying normal (asides from the one time I wasn't running any checks on temp and the coolant boiled over)?
Forgive the dissertation. I'm trying my best to troubleshoot this and understand it in rational terms and I have to admit I'm a little more than worried about it. One way or another, I'll find out everything I need to know tomorrow, for better or for worse.
Any guidance or help anyone can offer would be appreciated. Thanks!
- John
:xpl:
I'm trying to track down a possibly major problem in my new car.
The other day, I popped the hood while filling up at the wallet sucking station and noticed a small little trickle of coolant coming out from under the cap. After wiping it off, it persisted...but it was really slight. I popped the cap, and there was no pressure.
I rushed home like a good hypochondriac and began to self diagnose on the Internet. Apparently, leaking coolant through the cap can be as benign as having a bad cap to your car having some new form of Hepatitis. I had already been a bit worried about the car's cooling system due to a prior fan relay blowout which caused the previous owner some overheating issues that had to be corrected. I wasn't 100% optimistic they were gone when I popped the hood and saw that the chrome pulley cover the car to me with had a bit of splatter on it.
I drove around in diagnostic mode watching the temps on the engine. It was 75F outside, and the only time the temp got worrisome was when I would get stuck in stop and go and it would climb close to 99C. Otherwise, the temp looked good (normal cruising at 82-83, highway in low 90s) and would cool itself off suffciently well.
When I got back to the house, I immediately grabbed a towel and tried popping the expansion cap again (no coolant was leaking). Again, no pressure.
Since then, I reseated the lid and oddly enough, and getting some pressure (however slight) when I remove the cap now. But, now we're playing Houdini.
Like a childhood actor from a bad 80's sitcom, my coolant seems to be vanishing from the public eye. I noticed it when I went to check fluids this morning, and thought that maybe, just maybe, I had misjudged how close to the fill line my expansion tank was. I even began to think it was possible it may have just needed to have been burped, even if the coolant was recently flushed to my knowledge (I've had the car just over a week).
After a local drive around town to run some datalogging, the car has far less coolant...so little in the reservoir in fact that I am forced to go out and pick some up before I can take it to the shop tomorrow.
There are absolutely no puddles in the garage, no visible signs of seepage anywhere on the engine that I can see either above or under it, and the seven quarts of fresh 5w30 synthetic seem to be crystal clear.
The coolant reservoir looks clean save for a little brown buildup on its walls, but the coolant itself looks clean....although I swear to god there may have been a very very very slight rainbow color seperation on the top, but I just chalked that up to normal buildup.
The car goes to a trusted wrench monkey tomorrow. I've asked for him to do a compression test and cooling system test because I want to be sure. I was planning on flushing the coolant when I did the Evenflo at home, but I think I may also have them do that if the system is coming back safe. I also plan on obviously buying a new cap because they are cheap and if it has leaked any coolant, it could be warped as it is.
I'm prepared for the guy to come back and say that the head gasket is gone. I guess I would have expected to see more evidence than that right now, but this could be an early warning sign versus a catastrophic failure. I'm also no expert, but it seems like the events leading up to this seem to not be entirely related to a head gasket issue. If the gasket is compromised, why would pressure be restored but have me losing coolant? Why would coolant not have pressure, but boil out from the cap?
I guess it could be the pump, but I don't understand where all the phantom coolant would be going? Plus if the pump is acting wonky, why are temps staying normal (asides from the one time I wasn't running any checks on temp and the coolant boiled over)?
Forgive the dissertation. I'm trying my best to troubleshoot this and understand it in rational terms and I have to admit I'm a little more than worried about it. One way or another, I'll find out everything I need to know tomorrow, for better or for worse.
Any guidance or help anyone can offer would be appreciated. Thanks!
- John
:xpl:
