ok so 3nights ago i filled my colant resivor with peak long life colant/antifreeze and i filled it to the cold mark right on the line of the tank. and then last night i filled my entire washer fluid resivor to the tippy top. and i noticed it looked like i had no colant but i though i maybe just didnt see it. so earlier not to long ago i looked under the hood and both the colant and the washer fluid is gone there is only a tad left on the bottom of the tanks.

why is this! is it a leak or something??? how do i know if its a leak or what? i tried squirting washer fluid on the winshield and nothing came out so its just gone. so what do i do?

i dont drive the car really at all i just roll it back n forth in the driveway a couple times every so often so its not a big deal for the washer fluid but without colant couldnt it hurt my engine? plz help guys!

 

You should properly top of your coolant by taking the radiator cap off, running the engine at idle for a little bit and keep topping it off at the radiator as it keeps burping air out. Once youre confident it's full at the radiator, then you add some to the overflow. Most likely you were a little low, you ran the car and the system drew the fluid from the overflow into the radiator, like it's supposed to.

If you want to test for a coolant leak, just fill it up, make sure the radiator cap is secure, run the car up to temperature and shut it off. Then just inspect your hoses and radiator, coolant leaks are pretty obvious imo, you should be able to smell it too.

The washer fluid is leaking if it's disappearing without you using it. Just fill it up and watch it. If it's leaking, it's leaking at the reservoir or the hose right as it comes out of the reservoir. If it's leaking down to only a certain point, then check any part of the hose/bottle that's at the same level as where the fluid is after it's leaked.

 

something to keep in mind too is that a radiator will tend to have air trapped in it once the cap is taken off and fluid is added, it will slowly push the air out and draw in coolant from your overflow tank... if there isnt any coolant leaked on the ground and such then i would just keep feeding it coolant till it stops. With the wiper fluid, definatly check the hose... could be a small leak anywhere along it. and its easy to replace...

 

wont the fluid for the radiator shoot at me since its hot or will it just kinda bubble? how many of those i belive 5liter of colant should i buy? i have only like 1 liter left and that stuff is expensive. thank you what should i do if its 1 of the hose's? are they cheap to replace?

 

The hoses are dirt cheap, they sell them by the feet, just bring in the bad one and buy the new one. its like 75 cents a foot for the bigger stuff, so it'd probably be less than 10 to run all new hoses. And the fluid from the radiator wont shoot at you if you start with a cool engine, take off the cap, then turn on the engine while adding fluid till its full. Then fill up the overflow tank. As far as how much, i know a brand new radiator holds 2 of the big jugs (i think they're gallon jugs) so if youve already put one in there id just pick up another, maybe 2... it never hurts to have some on hand, the stuff doesnt really go bad. The fluid in the radiator should bubble, thats the air escaping from the radiator/hoses. After a while it will get hot, so dont take more than like 15 minutes filling it. After a good fill park it over concrete and let it sit a few hours, then back it off and any leakage will be very evident.

p.s. if you happen to spill and burn any of the coolant, try and let the steam/smoke blow out before resuming. That stuff is TERRIBLE to breath.

 

thx so do i wanna turn on the car before or after i remove the cap? i only filled the overflow tank to the cold line so its about 2/5 of the jug. do all of them do the same is there really a diffrence in the colant? so do i just go into a napa or such and ask for a hose eqivelant to the old 1? how many hose's will i need to replace? thx for your help

 

It won't shoot out at you because youre not letting it pressurize. When you warm it up with the cap off, it's just cycling around with no pressure and hopefully forcing air out. It will bubble and the level will slowly drop as air comes out of the system. You don't want to run it forever like this but the idea is you run it long enough for the thermostat to open and then any air naturally makes its way to the open high point of the system (your radiator fill). You keep topping it off during this, replacing the air that's coming out with fluid.

If you warmed it up with the cap on, the system would pressurize and then any leak you introduced (like taking the cap or a hose off) would cause it to blow in your face.

 

I have no preference on antifreeze. I use whatever Oreilly's has on sale... this week: Peak 2 for $10.... I know cause i just swapped in a new radiator.

 

I'd assume you're dilluting it with water as well? 50/50 and use distilled. Also I wouldn't ever buy pre dilluted stuff, you pay like $7 for half the antifreeze and some water when you could pay $8 for pure antifreeze and buy a gallon of distilled water for $1. That's twice the 50/50 mix for $2 more.

 

of course. that'd be like buying premixed kool-aid....