I was wondering, if anyone knows if coolant can evaporate.... I loose coolant and always have to fill up the coolant reservoir.

The cap on the tank just sits there it cant be tightened, so could this be a cause?


Other then that i cant see a leak anywere and the car runs perfectly......


Thanks

Sam

 

coolant itself should not evaporate, well it can, but its the water that evaporates mostly. you want to make sure your cap is as tight as possible and does not leak. if it leaks, or does not function proporly, you will not maintain pressure, which in turn will lower your boiling point of water. if it boils...water will evaporate more quickly. if i were you, i would test your cap and make sure it maintains pressure

 

The caps on our coolant reservoirs are vented, so being tight is not a major concern. Typically, once the coolant mixture is thoroughly mixed, there should be very little evaporative loss.

It is more likely that your coolant level decreases due to leakage or periodic overheating that boils and surges some coolant from the reservoir. A reliable radiator cap can prevent these surges and maintain correct system pressure to help prevent any boiling over.

As for the possible leakage, there can be many causes and paths for coolant to leak, and some of them are internal so that no evidence of leakage may be present other than the loss of coolant.

 

of course, i knew that, i thought he was talking about his radiator cap. if you have an internal leak, you may get steam out of your exhaust, and your oil could have water in it

 

Well, I checked for bubbles in the coolant and really all that is going on is the reserculation of the coolant. Aslo I checked the cap on the radiator and that seems ok and i even checked for any signs of coolant leak at the neck of the radiator but nothing seen.

Also, I checked some variose hoses and nothing that can hint to a leak.....

I was thinking maybe somewere by the transmission? Is it a common leak location?

I will examine further....

As for exhaust, Occassionally I might get a small whitish cloud at startup but dissapears once it starts so, basically just a puff. I read somewere that that was common on our cars.

Also, the car runs normally. no hesitation or such, other that that caused by my EGR Valve. That I know from the check engine light...

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sam

 

How fast do you lose coolant? If it's relatively quickly, check your oil to make sure you don't have a leaking head gasket. Check inside your valve covers. If there's a yellow, kinda creamy substance in there, it's most definitely head gaskets. If it's kinda slow, it could be a pinhole in your heater core. With it being summer, the coolant would evaporate pretty quickly and you'd never know until the hole decided to go for broke and start dumping all over your carpet.

 

Thanks for the reply

Well, what you say makes sense. THe oil is normal and so is everything under the valve cover....

The leak is pretty small. I have now driven about 400 miles and it has droped about 3mm on the resovoir tank

 

ive seen the tanks leak.
they will leak were they were molded along the bottom and you really dont notice it.
is there a stain of somesort on your frame rail?
id take it out of the car, fill it up with water, and hang it somewhere with some paper towels underneath.
a new one is very inexpensive, and looks much better.

good luck.

 

Hey thanks for finding my somewhat old post

I have not inspected the tank but can imagine it being one thing. I will look into it.

I have however seen traces around the cap of the tank that by the way sits loosly on the tank.