Folks,

a few days back, my car would not start at all. I thought it might be the cold weather grumpiness my car exhibits occasionally when the temps get down to about 32F or lower. About 175K on the motor. It usually floods when that happens.

This time it wasn`t that. Pulled the plugs. They were dry as an old bone in the desert sun. I noticed a couple of days later after checking some things, that the coolant in the radiator was low. I mean really low. I had to add about a 1/4 of a gallon of antifreeze into the radiator. Strange thing is, the idiot light for low coolant never came on. It did come on after I replaced the lost coolant into the radiator. It went off shortly after driving the car about a mile or so, down the road. I haven`t been able to find a leak and there is no signs of coolant loss while parked in the driveway. I have a bad feeling that it is a coolant seal failure in the motor as I see white smoke alot when I first start it up.

Would a low coolant level in the radiator prevent the car from starting up? I have a suspicion that it might. I cranked forever on the starter before adding coolant and the car just would not start at all. A few days later, adding coolant and hitting the starter about 20 seconds, car fired right up and has given me no grief since.

 

Coolant in the motor would certainly make it hard to start. White smoke is a good sign that you do indeed have coolant burning.

 

From what I read and my personal experience with my GSL SE your engine will be needing a rebuild pretty soon.

 

I am suspecting this too.

Would a low coolant level in the radiator prevent my car from starting?

Anyone ever experience these kinds of "no start" conditions?

 

Low coolant level itself would not cause the car from starting.

 

I think yours is a leak. I lost a liter of coolant every two days. Turned out to be the heater hose and mot the intake. I had to let it warm up more then average to see the leak. Otherwise at idle it wouldn't leak. Or when shut it off.

 

As others have stated, unless you have an obvious heater hose leak (*check the return under the oil filter pedestal), then the only other place the coolant is going is into the intake side of the engine where vacuum is present. This is a pretty typical leak spot for our engines, and once it starts, it will gradually get worse until the engine fills with coolant because the leaks are so bad. In the meantime, keep an eye on your coolant level and notice that the white smoke and steam you're getting is your coolant being 'burned' in the engine.

As to your original question - a low coolant level will NOT prevent your car from starting. In fact, until the engine warms up, the block doesn't even know that a radiator exists because the thermostat isn't open yet. The only coolant is in the block (or in your combustion chambers!).

Point being, what WILL cause hard starting is coolant from the block in your combustion chambers, as water is both incompressible and non-flammable.

Good luck,

 

I am pretty certain that the white smoke in the exhaust is probably from a coolant seal going.

Ughhhhhh.

This could get expensive really fast.

Just wasn`t sure if a low coolant level would cause a no start condition due to a sensor telling the fuel pump not to engage.

I have 365K on the chassis. Had the car since 179K. Never replaced the fuel pump. Replaced the engine though at 280K with a used one with 115K on it. Beginning to wonder if the pump isn`t going out.............among other things.

 

bar's stop leak, the two component one, or use alumi-seal----> about $10
or
pull engine and rebuild (it is about due)-----> about $1000 to $3000

yes, when the weather changes, my rotary gets cantankerous.

also when I replaced the dist cap and rotor (arcing), and the plugs (rusted) , it really helped.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

nope. low coolant level will only turn on the light/buzzer

if the coolant is leaking into the engine then, it will be hard to start, but the plugs wont be dry if they are covered with water.

i would suggest having the cooling system pressure tested, that way you can find the leak

 

I was scratching my head here too. Car wont start, suspects coolant leak... Plugs dry?

I would would agree with a pressure test, and my SE had similar issues when it was overheating. Mine turned out to be a POS radiator that had been repaired in a few places in the past. It wasnt like dripping coolant out on to the ground, but seeping and drying up on the bottom of the front end. I lost a good bit of coolant to this over time before catching a drip of alumaseal at the gas station.


and +1 on the alumaseal.