Ryde _Or_Die

Well my new TII loses coolant somewhere. I have been told a few times it might be a pinched water seal and that its going into the engine. I took my car to the local rotary specialist and they said the water pump was bad and changed it and that was the leak. I drive my car home from there and about 20 or 30 minutes into the drive the add coolant buzzer comes on and I notice I am running a little hotter than I should. Now another symptom is that the car smokes, or at least did. The repair shop said that they might have fixed that though, but I didn't really care about that at the time. Does this seem to be needing a rebuild?

Grimlock

if your coolant resevoir bubbles up while the motor is runnin then its a gonner! my 88TII lost coolant too but in my case the thermostat hosing had a leak in the seal. take a look at yours and see if its got that green stuff running down. i changed mine and bingo! all better.

when you start your car after its been cold for a while pop open the radiator cap and see if its bubbling as well, i believe thats a sign that the seals are bad.

cymfc3s

have your cooling system pressure tested. Best way to find the leak.

Ryde _Or_Die

Thats what they are doing right now at Maztech. I'll find out tomorrow.

Funklord

same thing with my car.... coolant just dissapears, but theres no smell, and the engine doesnt run hot

Ryde _Or_Die

Oh no, my engine will run hot. I hope its an easy fix, well just not having to get a rebuild would be nice on the wallet.

Wankel7

You can rent a coolant pressure tester for, "Free", at Advanced Auto. You go there and you basicly buy the thing. $85. Then when you return it you get all your money back. Good deal.

JAmes

The Ace

Since I was in the same spot -more or less- just a month ago, maybe I can be of some help:

- if you are losing coolant (i.e the total level of coolant in your engine drops constantly), then there are only two possibilities: coolant leaks into the engine, or coolant is lost through a leak in the cooling system. The first is of course painful, but very easy to diagnose (bubbles in the coolant). This requires (after some time) a rebuilt The second is very cheap to fix, but requires a lot of work. And pressure-checking the system might NOT reveal the leak (i.e if you have a bad heater hose, thermostat, rad cap etc). In this case, just replace all hoses, thermostat, housing, cap, pump belt (important), and you are set.

- if you are not losing coolant, but the coolant just moves to the overflow and stays there, or you overheat for no apparent reason, then the solution could be easier/cheaper, but again requires a lot of work. In this case, thermostat, housing, hoses, pump and belt must be inspected. You might have some leak, but you also might be facing a problem with the pump (maybe the belt slips at certain RPM, or the pump is no longer water-proof).

Just do what I -finally- did: replace all the cheap little things with brand new ones (hoses, cap, thermostat, housing, belt(s), perform a radiator flush, and check for blockages in the radiator core. If, after all that, you are still facing the problem, then move on to the pump itself, and of course the engine