hi guys this is my first post on the boards, i have a 91 Camaro Z28 with a 350 TPI and my coolant seems to be disappearing??? i had filled up my radiator with correct coolant and put on a new radiator cap. i do not have any VISIBLE leaks, no puddles under the car ever and still my coolant just vry slowly disappears leaving me to have to top it off. i mean the overflow tank gets sucked dry. this doesnt happen fast but about every month or so the tank is dried up and i have to top it off. i first noticed this when my Temp guage was jumping all over the place...i popped the hood and my radiator fluid was sooo looow, now i keep an eye on it every month and its disappearing! sorry for repeating myself but what is goin on?

 

coolant never just disappears. If it doesn't go outside and doesn't stay where it should, then it is going inside.

most likely, it is a blown head gasket. If not that, then you probably you have a crack in the block (on the inside), but it is probably the head gasket.

Usually when head gaskets blow, you see lots of white smoke out the tail pipe, but if it is a small leak, I guess you could miss it. Another indication, water in the oil. Pull out your dipstick, and check for water spots in the oil.

Then again, once a month is pretty slow. Maybe it is dripping somewhere, you just didn't notice because of all the dirt and grime and then it evaporates

 

I had this happen on a different car though. The rad fluid was leaking into the intake and being burned off. i agree it could also be a head gasket. But I wish I had known when mine overheated it went all at once.

 

absolutely no dripping, car is clean and i park it in my garage every night. i do have a little white smoke coming out of my exhaust but thats only on warm up and its fairly cold out still over here. oil is clean, no signs of water. if it was leaking internally and burning up in the combustion chambers then i definately would have white smoke coming out my exhaust at all times right? anything else i ahould look for cause i am definately not leaking anywhere externally?

 

I didn't notice the smoke from mine so much but it was cold in MN that time of year. I don't remember if you can smell it. But it didn't totally blow out until the end. Then there were giant clouds of smoke! I think a lot of it burned off when on the highway. Have a pressure check done on it. It could just be a steam leak from a hose or connector now that I think of it.

 

I've had problems with the heater control valve dripping.. Where it was located it leaked onto the rail of the valve cover, then ran down to the back of the engine where it dripped onto the exhaust manifold and obviously evaporated... This happened for a while before I noticed it.. It would only seem to happen when the slider was set to cold...

 

I used to have a problem like this with my '89 RS. What I found was that while the engine was running at speed, the pressure from the water pump would force small amounts of antifreeze thru a tiny crack in the radiator. It was nearly un-noticable and never really dripped when I shut the car off. It may not be the radiator, but you could have a leak like this elsewhere. Check to see if you have any wet spots on the bottom of the car. This should give you a decent idea as to where to start....

 

Could he use the unltra violet light and die check the coolant
or does this not really work good with coolant leaks , or is it better for external leaks only?

Danny

 

i had this same problem 2 months ago. the coolent was leaking into my transmission. dont know if you have an automatic, but its worth looking into.

 

hmm this sounds very interesting as i think if there is a leak it only happens at speed with my car also...im gonna look into this thanks

 

Pretty much what I found was that at high RPMs the water pump created enough pressure to force liquid thru the small cracks, but when I slowed down to lower RPM, less pressure, no leaks. It really confused me for a while. I finally figured it out and it all made sense.... You have to go to lower RPM to come to a stop and no more coolant flowed out..... That was my case...

Best bet is to get under the car and find out if there even is a coolant leak, or if it is seeping into another part of your engine...
Good Luck

 

same prob diff place my T/A had a split in the coolant res that was so small the water pump pushed coolant out I found it by being under the hood and pushing the throttle open and a hot jet of coolant proceded to soak my torso

 

Also, check the front of the block where the intake manifoldmeets the cylinder head. TPI systems are notorious for leaking small amounts right there. The engine heat will evaporate it, so nothing makes it to the ground. There should be a coolant stain on the block though. The fix is new intke gaskets.

 

try checking your waterpump weep hole with a inspection mirror. it is on the bottom of the waterpump. i also had a mysterious cooolant leak. this was the culprit.


it would leak but not puddle. why? the engine was hot and the balancer would fling the water right off.

 

double post

 

Bingo. I just did this on my TA a few months ago. I think I even made a post about disappearing coolant.

 

C Murda....any word yet? U get it fixed????

 

found it...this was pretty much my problem...it was always a little wet in that area i never thought twice about it but everything is good now.