Ok, this morning coolant alarm went off, I promptly turned the car off and coasted off the freeway, waited for it to cool down the popped the Radiator cap, the fluid was down about 6"in the pipe, so I filled with some fluid and all seemed well.

Now, today on my lunch, Beeeeeeeeeep, alarm went off, same jazz, but this time when I looked down the radiator could see anything! filled it up with about 1 qt of coolant.

My car is all stock, including the AST, but I checked it out and its still in great shape, no cracks or anything. Anyone got any pointers on where I can check next? Its Friday night man I gotta cruse but want to fix this before I go burning rubber.
Thanks.

 

That just happened to me and i'm having a Fluidyne radiator installed. I thought it was the overflow tank or the hoses but it's the radiator. $500 is better that $5,000...replace it!

 

Any visible leaks on the ground? How many miles on the engine?

 

Yeah dude definitely don't drive that thing hard (if at all) if you are having these sort of coolant problems. Friday night would suck pretty bad if you were crusing and popped your motor due to overheat.

 

take off the front cowling under the hood (the thing that tunnels air through to the air box and IC) and move the little fuse box out of the way (fuse box or relay box or something - the thing that prevents you from seeing the radiator after you've taken off the cowling). shine a flashlight down in there and look at the plastic end tanks on the radiator. See any liquid (or signs of liquid) anywhere around the tanks (on the tank, on the core, etc.)?
Run your finger along the tank where it meets the core. Any sign of coolant?
Stick your hand in through the front air intake andtry to feel for the bottom tank on the radiator for the same thing. You may also be able to get the to front of the top tank from here too (tho, I've never tried).

The plastic end tanks on the FD's radiator are notorious for cracking. Almost all radiator failures are due to the plastic tanks.

Fluidynes and Koyos are around $400 and work better than stock anyway - looks like you might want to look into an upgrade.

hope that helps!

edit: Is there any sign of coolant on the ground? If your tanks are cracked, you will most likely see a coolant leak after the car has warmed up, but not necessarily after it's been sitting. If there's NO sign of coolant leak, you may have a much more serious problem.

 

Don't warp your housings!

 

Thanks for all the help,

80k on the engine so far. I havnt noticed any collant on the ground, I'm going to give the radiator a good look around tomarrow then.

So if my radiator is tip top shape, then I'm getting coolant into the oil? my oil looks fine, no sign of water. Could I have a bad cap or leak under high temp? Whats the best way to find it?

And damn my car has been running so good these past few months.

Thanks again.

 

Thanks for all the help,

80k on the engine so far. I havnt noticed any collant on the ground, I'm going to give the radiator a good look around tomarrow then.

So if my radiator is tip top shape, then I'm getting coolant into the oil? my oil looks fine, no sign of water. Could I have a bad cap or leak under high temp? Whats the best way to find it?

And damn my car has been running so good these past few months.

Thanks again.

 

Have your coolant system pressure tested. This will show you definately where the leak is. I'd first check your AST again, then your turbo coolant hoses, they are the first hoses to go. After those, it could be any of the coolant hoses, or like others have said your radiator. I would think it would be a hose though, just because you haven't stated you've seen any coolant on the ground. If you don't have any puddles, but your losing enough coolant to trip your alarm, then I would think the leak is near the block. let us know the culprit.

eric

 

Ok, Whew, it looks like it is my AST, I popped the cap and poured some water in it this morning, and heard leaking from under the car, It didn't leak like that before (last time I tried) so it must of just gotten worse.

To safely double check, AST is plastic tank to the left of radiator behind passenger side head lamp, has a dip stick connected to the cap. this is what was leaking and I have always assumed it was the AST. Correct me if I'm wrong.

So, if it is what is best to do, replace or eliminate? I don't mind spending the extra cash to replace it with the Pettit tank, would just like some pro's and con's on it.

thanks

 

Ast is located close to the inter cooler it is blackish gray in color. You are refering to the over flow tank.

 

Ahh ok, I thought they were connected, So I need to replace the overflow tank, it is defenetly leaking.
Thanks all.

 

that's what I thought, but it's designed to leak when it has too much fluid ("overflow" tank). I had the radiator pressure tested when I changed my hoses and then it really leaked out.

I used a bottle of stop leak stuff from the auto parts store as a temporary fix untill the new radiator is installed.

My friends AST is bad. That one is easy to notice because the coolant seeps out of the crack between the top piece and the can and you can see a green line around it.

 

Do not add coolant/water to the overflow tank, it will just pour out onto the ground. Add coolant/water to the filler opening (pressurized cap by the y-pipe crossover tube).