Coolant overflow tank?

Mine is located in the right rear, whilst [I love sounding British] standing behind the vehicle. My canister has been removed.

I would suspect that your assumption is true, as you are losing it so slowly. But then again, perhaps because you are mixing water with the antifreeze, the water (alone) is simply evaporating? If you're mixing water with your antifreeze, it "will" evaporate at some point. Especially if you run a little hot. The hotter, the quicker.

PS: Cannibalized a hose from Pep Boys with a pair of tin-snips and added 2 new clamps. Total cost: $28.10. Plus 2hrs labor (incl. the trip to Pep Boys).

Back on the road again... Yippiee!!!

 

If you are overfilling the expansion tank, you will lose coolant because the tank should only be about half full when the car is cold. As the coolant expands at higher operating temps, the overflow tank collects the coolant. If it's full when cold, the coolant will overflow as the car heats up.

The other possibility is a bad head gasket and the car is actually eating the coolant. If that's the case, it's bad. You can check this by looking at the coolant in the expansion tank and see if there is any oil in it.

Birdman

 

The other possibility is a leaking water pump. These usually only leak when the engine is running. Drips out of the weep hole in the bottom don't make it to the floor as they evaporate on the hot surfaces they hit. A careful look at the bottom of the pump may show antifreeze traces. Or run the engine in place a while (don't get it too hot) and then feel on the bottom for any antifreeze.

Regards, Kerry

 

Don't get too caught up in the books description for coolant level. As said the tank should be about 1/2 full when cold. If it continues to lose coolant to the point it regularly looks as though there is nothing in it and it has a Ferrari cap, throw the cap over the nearest hedge and buy a Stant Lever vent cap at about a 13 lb rating. Do that no matter what. The Italian caps are trash and only work for about a year. Their only real use is for show.

 

WTF??????

 

Your cap could be old enough to allow coolant to bypass it. The springs and/or seals can get old, and when pressure builds up, rather than staying in the tank, it can leak out. That's why when doing a leak-down test to find coolant leaks, a shop will pressurize both the tank and the cap.......it has to be leaking from either the cap or the tank - or further downline from the tank in a hose, headgasket, etc.

By the way, though a bad headgasket leak could possibly displace oil into your expansion tank, it's unlikely it would be visible. Accordingly, there are tests that can be run on coolant from the tank that can detect the presence of combustion byproducts. Any presence of these will indicate a head gasket issue....

 

Ditto.....they replaced my cap with an uprated one as well.......

When they get weak it lets it blow by out the overflow, I suspect...I know I exercised that last time my water pump seized and melted the belt off!

 

You can get one locally, check the 308 cross-reference thread for the number. I don't like the way mine fit, it's hard to get on & off. :|

 

Interesting. We had an old Honda that had a bad head gasket and the oil in the coolant (and coolant smell in the exhaust) was impossible to miss. Black goo on top of the coolant in the reservoir.

Birdman

 

Aaron,
I will bet that your problem is much simpler. Replace the cap and if that doesn't fix it, check the waterpump and any hose fittings that can drip on anything hot.

Coolant leaks can be a pain to find for sure, but you will find it.

Birdman

 

LOL, that was my reaction too. I have an open cooling system (no overflow tank; just a hose that pees on the rear tire) and I don't lose anything (unless the car overheats, which it doesn't do).

Ken