Coolant low

[C W]

I was under the hood of my 01, 99k miles, and I noticed the coolant canister was basically empty with no coolant visible. I filled it to the fill line, and checked it again this morning and noticed that it is now down about halfway again. I filled it to the line again.



I get my coolant flushed every other fall, and truthfully never noticed it being low before.



Any ideas what I'm dealing with. There aren't any leaks. I do notice the faint smell of antifreeze when the vehicle has been running for an extended period of time.



thanks!

 

[Rodeo1488 Rodeo1488]

You might have a problem with the head gasket or possibly a crack in the block. If you change your oil and notice coolant in it, you are in for a long rebuild or an expensive repair.

 

[Todd Z]

Or the temp change caused the low level..... When it is cold, Fill the radiator also to get any air out. then fill the overflow..



IF you comfortable opening it while hot ( I RECOMMEND YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING) then you can get all the air out that way and re check it in a couple of days..



Todd Z

 

[Richard L]

CW,

It's way too early to be worried about blown head gaskets or cracked blocks, etc.



Since you get your coolant flushed regularly, they may have left an air bubble in the block. Air bubble will usually form in the engine when the coolant filler cap is lower than the highest point the coolant goes to in the engine. This is very common on new engines.



Ofer several engine runnings, the bubble will work itself out. It does this by the heat expanding the air. When the eingine cools, the engine will suck in coolant from the coolant reservoir and replace the air in the engine. Often times it takes several cycles to do this and you must keep coolant in the reservoir or it will suck air back in instead of coolant.



Since you added coolant to the line and it drew some of that back into the engine, and you refilled the reservoir to the line, just keep watching it and you will probably see that it requires less and less coolant until the air is purged and then you will not need to add coolant anymore. It's rare that this would last for more than 3-4 heating and cooling cycles until the air is purged.



Well equiped shops can flush coolant like transmission flushes and the machine purges out any air. At home you just have to keep filling the reservoir until the air is purged.



If you continue to have low coolant after 4-5 heating/cooling and refilling cycles, then start looking for possible leaks If your hoses are over 3 years old, you might want to look ar replacing them...one at a time as your budget allows for. Remember Hoses rot from the inside, so they may look fine on the outside but they may be shot when you take them off and look inside.



Also, if you are not having any over-heating problems, and you are not seeing any higher operating temperatures, you probably don't have any problems except for a bubble in your coolant system.



...Rich

 

[Fernando Gonzalez]

I had the same issue on my '01 ST a few months back; it turned out to be a crack in the intake port to the engine (don't know its technical name); it's under the throttle body, look where the upper radiator hose goes into the engine; I believe it is a thermoset plastic housing with a couple of flow/temperature sensors (my guess). Mine leaked while under pressure (e.g. hard acceleration) so I did not see any leaks while idling, and the coolant evaporated right away because of the heat of the engine. A pressure check of the cooling system might show you the exact location.



Fernan