Hey i got a pretty serious problem i keep loosing water out of my radiator. there is no leaks any where all are good it blows no smoke and runs perfectly. i rang up the rotary experts that are 5 hrs away from me and told them and they ruled out coolant seal as the said that the car will instantly ran hot and would run rough if they where blown so i have no idea of where the water is going any ideas would be great

 

after you stop driving can you hear boiling water from under the hood?

 

I recently had the same problem... The best you can do is scour under the hood looking for dripping while the car is running or just shut off. I finally found my leak at the thermostat. Was just a small stream, but it added up quickly.
All that coolant is going somewhere. Must be leaking if it isn't getting burned up.

 

Yeah that what i reakon left the car running today when i got home from work and looked everywhere for a leak couldnt find it i took the cap off and left it off while doing this and watched the water it dropped a bit but not much i think it goes while i drive which makes sense as there is more circulation when u drive compaired to just idleing

 

you could try having someone give it a little gas while you look. Thus the more circulation.

 

Bubbles in the coolant would mean compression is leaking from the rotor housings through the coolant seals, so if you don't see bubbles the seals should be fine. I know you said it was ruled out, but that's just for future reference.

I had a problem with a leak down which I traced back to two different sources. I have a leaky heater hose and the o-ring on the LIM was kinked and would leak out coolant under pressure. The coolant actually bubbled upwards and formed some puddles under the oil injectors. Replacing that o-ring isn't too terribly difficult and you can also replace the LIM gasket at the same time. If the o-ring is leaking, then the gasket is probably soaked in coolant and need replacing anyways.

I fixed both of these things and I don't have an issue anymore.

 

You can have a small o-ring failure that could run for years, the only symptom being some missing coolant with no external leaks.

By far I've found the best way to locate small leaks is with a dye kit. They're about $65 at the auto parts store. Put the dye in the coolant, drive around, then examine the engine in the dark with a UV light (usually included in the kit).

 

Holly crap that's brilliant!

 

is the coolant loss noticable? or is it just your alarm goes off? does your car run hot? maybe just a faulty sensor?

 

ok the buzzer comes on and its not faulty as everytime it goes off there is loss of water in the radiator, there are no visable leaks anywhere no puddles of water you can park it on concret and there is no puddles from drips or anything the car doesn't run hot and doesnt miss a beat

 

sorry if this is a noob question but the more questions you ask the more you learn what is LIM and where is it located so i can check it

 

can u borrow a cooling system pressure tester?? thats how i found my leak- small split in heater hose right where it comes off block.. couldnt find it till i used pressure tester

 

yeah im thinking of getting it pressure tested when i get some spare time

 

I was going nuts with a similar problem...no evidence of coolant in the engine or anything but I was losing it. Could not find it leaking anywhere.

1) Waited until the car cooled down and applied pressure to the top radiator hose. After doing this for a minute or so, I finally found some small drops on the drive way and was able to gain a good idea where it was coming from.

2) I then used the dye and actually found a 2nd, very small crack in a hose.

Dye is the way to go but quick can be the "hose squeeze".

 

The LIM is the lower intake manifold. The intake is split up into an upper and lower portion, the lower is, well, the bottom one that bolts to the block. It's quite a chore to remove, but not impossible by any means. You do have to remove the stock turbo to get to it. Peep under your upper intake manifold and look for any coolant puddles. I've read a few people posts that have had similar symptoms which end up being the o-ring, so if there isn't a puddle, don't bother taking everything apart to try to fix something that isn't broken. I had some puddles, so I decided to take the time to check it out, and I found a kinked o-ring.

You can kinda listen around your engine bay for leaks if you grab the lower radiator hose and give it a few squeezes. I found the leaky heater hose that way. Just make sure your car isn't on, haha.

 

thanks for the help still havent found it but will definately look into it this weekend. so is it possible to check the LIM leak without pullin it off or not