RYS13

90 N/A
113k kms

I flushed and filled the coolant about 6-7 months ago and when I went to get an oil change yesterday, I discovered that the coolant was below the MIN level. Is this normal? There are no signs of coolant leak and the engine still runs strong; nothing indicating any problems. The winters do get pretty harsh here and I've been warming up the car prior to heading of to work in the mornings quite often for the past few months. Extended idling cause excessive coolant consumption? Any help is greatly apprectiated. Thanks.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Coolant should never be consumed. If it is, you have a leak somewhere. Probably a very tiny pinhole.

jjwalker

After replacing my radiator and hoses, I had tiny (seeping) leaks where the hoses met with the rad and water pump. A few turns on the screw clamp and problem solved. I was losing so little coolant I couldn't hardly tell. Once I noticed the overflow bottle level slowly going down, i check around the hoses and there where signs of dried coolant on the edges of the hose.

I'd give it a look. You could also be slowly losing coolant through the water pump weep hole. Give the engine bay a good look around and check for signs of dried coolant. Dried coolant looks like white, slightly discolored scale.

RYS13

Thanks for the help guys.

Go48

iTrader: (7)

Did you check the coolant level within a few days after flushing the system? If you didn't check it at all prior to your oil change, it may have had air in the system that bled out over time and that could account for the low level after 6-7 months. Fill the reservoir to the Full line and check it regularly with the engine at the same temperature to see if the level drops. Remember, due to expansion of the fluid in the engine as it heats up, the level in the overflow reservoir will be higher with a fully warmed up engine.

The coolant system is a closed system, so theoretically it should never lose any fluid. However, in my experience, small amounts of fluid do disappear over long periods of time, possibly due to evaporation. The amount of your loss seems a bit high, though, for that period of time (assuming the air-in-the-system postulation above is incorrect). As an example, for the first time I added fluid--about a pint--to the reservoir on my 3-year-old 4Runner. The level with a hot engine was halfway between the Full and Add lines.