I have to add anywhere between 1 and 2 liters of water in my radiator every week. There is nothing leaking, so where is it going?

 

Could be a blown head gasket

 

if the head gasket was blown, would the car run funny or normal?

 

You might get alot of white smoke when you get on it hard,but a
leak that small could be hard to tell.

 

I had the same problem and with the help of the people on this board I narrowed it down to a leaking intake. So I replaced the gaskets and it has been fine ever since. Hope this helps.

 

If there are no signs of external leaks, you probably should have the system pressure tested. It may not pinpoint the leakage, but will tell you whether or not you even HAVE leakage.

BTW - Is there any mysterious moisture in the carpet on the passenger side floor?

 

Could be a heater core or an intake leak. Like Vader said, they make pressure testers that hook on to the radiator cap neck. You pump it up and wait awhile. If the pressure goes down then you've got a leak. Try changing the oil and see if there is any water/antifreeze in it. <--definitely not good for the bearings or the entire bottom end for that matter. I'm guessing you've checked by the thermostat already. A leak in the head gasket is not entirely out of the question but I would check all my other bases before ruling that a factor.

 

If you pressure test your cooling system yourself, do yourself a favor and pull the spark plugs. I pressure tested one of my engines and filled #7 cylinder with water. If my plugs had been in, I might have tried to start it at some point and bent a rod.

 

yeah, the more i hear, the more it sounds like a head gasket. the radiator cap i have has a lever on top that you can open to relieve the pressure. when i first got that cap, when i lifted the lever when it was hot, it would fill up the overflow. now it does nothing. definitely a leak somewhere. with my luck, it will be expensive.

 

Expensive? You can get a really "expensive" pair of head gaskets for $40. That isn't bank-breaking for most of us.

 

that's true if i had the time to do it myself. besides that, i can't see it being too much fun trying to do it in the parking spot at my apartment!

 

but a cracked head or block is expensive, and will act about the same as a blown gasket.

 

check the radiator cap the can cause a coolant loss if the won`t hold enough pressure it pushes hot coolant into the overflow tank where it then boils off slowly this is the main reason people have so much trouble with the dexcool.