Coolant Seal Failure Worries
 

Car has always run like a champ...coolant system has always been top notch but now im worried

- every since I have owned the car I have always noticed black gunk build up around the top of the filler neck and on the dip stick in the overflow

I had replaced all the hoses this summer and always keep the car around 200F or less

Decided to check the overflow level the other day....it was at the very end of L mark......weird...look around now coolant dripping anywhere and wondered y I would see low coolant level....fill it up with a few cups of water

2. check it again 2 weeks later.....back to the L again!

3. this morning I pop the hood right after startup and notice some coolant drops around the overflow container under the hood on the frame next to radiator? where could those come from? And I notice a puddle under the radiator...dont know if it was from my car or not...but nothing leaking while engine running and temps do not climb

4. no anti freeze smell or anything abnormal.......

So i remove the coolant filller cap and notice SUPER TINY WHITE BUBBLES....almost like foam in the filler neck floating on the top....not air pocket bubbles but super tiny smaller then a grain of salt bubbles like the head of a beer.....whenever I rev the engine the coolant level drops down into the engine and when i release throttle it comes back up to the top with tons of foam and slowly tapers back to a small coating of white bubbles? These bubbles are so small I cant stress enough

Indication of exhaust gases in the coolant?

the bubbles are definately not excessive by any means like videos seen on here..if i dab the water surface with a cloth the bubbles temporarily dissappear...i cant really see a stream rising...its only noticeable when revving the engine...could this just be the water pump churing up bubbles in the system from pulling the water down

also i did at a small drop of soap to the water a month ago to break surface tension

i have black gunk in my overflow tank as well so i would like to know what that is??

and they puddle could be from the coolant pushing back into the overflow taking and coming out the hole on the top of it. Just something to consider.

randy

well did not witness the puddle occuring and I have never seen the car piss coolant ever

I just got home and parked it...

- did not drip or spill coolant from anywhere on the car....no leaks that I could see unless I jack up the car maybe....but no pissing from the overflow and the overflow is definately at the same Level - L it was at earlier this week

- Coolant level in the engine is NOT low...light has NEVER come on

- Let the car cool down for 20 mins and came back..no coolant pissed, same OF level....removed the rad cap....level sat appropriately

- started car with cap off....coolant level slowly rises until it pours over but very slowly.....small circle abou the size of a nickel of microscopic bubbles SLOWLY forms...if i hold engine at 3k the coolant drops and stays down until i release, then comes back up quickly with lots of foam and then dissapates back to the nickel spot of bubbles

If your coolant level in the engine doesnt get low I am going to have to say it is quite unlikely a coolant seal failure. Seal failures push your coolant into the overflow and the engine ends up with lots of air in it. I would check for a cracked overflow tank

Agree w/Tom. My car has coolant seal issues and the overflow tends to get overfilled rather than low. I assume that's because the system loses vacuum as everything cools and it doesn't pull the coolant back from the overflow as it should.

how about this?

I moved my AST to the driver side of the car and mounted it where the battery used to be...i then ran fuel pressure hose to the radiator from the ast, hose to the filler neck..and a hose across the engine bay to the overfill

Is it possible that if there is a small split anywhere on this hose...it could allow water to move from the overfill into the engine but not return and exit through the hose onto the ground?

since the system is pressurized when it heats up it would leak from the split every time the car warmed up, so I don't think this would be the issue if it only happened intermittently.

best thing to do would be to watch the car when its warm and look to see where its coming from.

well ill jack it up tomorrow and pull off the undercover to see everything...its just i replaced everything not 3 months ago

I have this awful feeling that my engine is just burning up half the overfill tank each week

just ran the car up to operating temp...let it idle and rev up to 3k on/off for 10 mins....cant find any leaks anywhere...overfill tank remains at exactly the same level i topped it off at...WTF

where is my coolant disappearing to throughout the week?

engine does run rough until it hits 140F...but i think its fuel...if i subtract out 10% from the idle until its warm the car runs perfect

Did you take off the undertray when you did that? It's very easy for a small leak to be hidden by the undertray.

havent looked yet...will look when i get home and have access to driveway and jack stands...i hope to god i have very small leak

If you are able to pressure test the system, that would help to find a possible leak.