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Wierd problem; coolant loss, but not coolant seals.

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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 04:08 PM
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Wierd problem; coolant loss, but not coolant seals.

ok, here's my problem:

sometimes i get coolant leaking out of the overflow when i've stopped. i thought it might be the coolant seals, so the next morning i check the coolant level, it is the same, i start her up, NO BUBBLES coming out of the neck, no excessive white smoke out of the exhaust either. so i figure hey, maybe it's just a fluke.

two days later, i get coolant out of the overflow again. i wait about 3 hours, open up the filler neck, the coolant went down a bit so i filled it up. i put the cap back on, started the car up, revved to 4k rpm about 6 times in 3 minutes. i shut her off.

i open the filler neck, and i see coolant bobbing up and down and there are lots of bubbles coming out.

about 2 weeks ago i completed the blockweld procedure and right now im running on full water. i plan to add antifreeze soon. after i solve this problem that is.

any tips appreciated, thanks.
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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 04:14 PM
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From: The Houston Club's Resident Lush.
Its your coolant seals. Time for a new engine. Start saving your pennies.
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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 04:22 PM
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It sounds like you have some air in your system. When the engine gets hot, it expands, forcing coolant into the overflow tank, which then overflows.

Jack up the drivers side (front) of the car about 4". It does not need to be off the ground. Remove the throttle body coolant line on the rear of the throttle body, and both filler caps. Fill the AST, and wait to see if it goes down. When it won't take any more fluid, cap it. Fill the filler neck and cap it. Replace the TB coolant line.

By removing the TB line, you will allow air in the system to escape thru another avenue. Keep an eye on the TB line while you are filling the AST and filler neck. If fluid comes out, put the line back in place.

You may get some fluid overflowing once or twice when the car gets hot, but his should remove nearly all the air from the system.

Drive the car a bit and check again. It will probably need a tiny bit more fluid.

Last edited by adam c; Mar 6, 2004 at 04:29 PM.
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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 04:24 PM
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From: Houston
i don't have an ast adam... how can i do that procedure without one?
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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 04:27 PM
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From: San Luis Obispo, Ca
The same procedure should work without the ast. Just fill at the filler neck.

Let us know how it works

Last edited by adam c; Mar 6, 2004 at 04:30 PM.
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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 04:47 PM
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Dude, the same thing happend to me. Turns out the radiator cap wasn't tight. When the engine would build up pressure it would overflow. I just added some coolant and everything was fine.
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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 05:46 PM
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From: tampa
or the cap is bad letting the vac out after the car cools down instead of pulling coolant back from the overflow resv.
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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 05:53 PM
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From: Pulling you over
Pressure test the system and see if you have any pin size holes anywhere. Could be losing pressure that way.
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Old Mar 6, 2004 | 05:54 PM
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From: Virginia Beach
mine overflowed a few times but it was because i put to much fluid in. it did it twice and has not done it since. Temps are all normal.
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Old Mar 7, 2004 | 03:12 PM
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From: Houston
ok, i'm having a problem locating the tb line, i looked in the fsm, but don't see it anywhere. is there any pictures or can you describe the area it's in?
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Old Mar 7, 2004 | 05:51 PM
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From: new york city
it might be ur seals. flush ur system and see what happens.
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Old Mar 7, 2004 | 05:53 PM
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From: Gaithersburg, MD / WVU
why dont you just pressure test the system?

edit: just noticed somone already said that... but still that is gonna do you much better than all this speculation
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Old Mar 8, 2004 | 12:13 PM
  #13  
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From: Houston
do i have to go to a rotary mechanic for a pressure test? or will any mechanic with a pressure tester do?
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Old Mar 9, 2004 | 07:01 PM
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From: California
ok, well i did something yesterday maybe this will give a clearer answer:

still no champagne bubbles on startup, but when i drive her around for a while then park, sometimes i leak still.

2 hours or so later when i check the neck, it's lost a bit of coolant, but i used a flashlight to look down there and i saw bubbles attached to the sides of the neck and they were fairly large. i filled the neck back up and the same process keeps happening.
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