Antifreeze leak?

[2000ForrestGrnCatty]

I just put some antifreeze in the plastic tank under the hood, then about 5
days later, the low fluid light for the antifreeze came on the dash.It was almost empty. I poured in some more and about a week later the same thing occured. Is this the sign of a possible leak?

[contourbs]

i would say YES, pressure test and see where its leaking its a no brainer that its leaking

[2000ForrestGrnCatty]

Originally Posted by contourbs

i would say YES, pressure test and see where its leaking its a no brainer that its leaking

Thanks for your astute observation. Smartass.

[contourbs]

well you car keeps losing coolant, what do you think is happening

[guardian]

Originally Posted by 2000ForrestGrnCatty

Thanks for your astute observation. Smartass.

Hey cool it with the name calling. That doesn't fly in this group.

It does seem as if you could have a leak. I assume you are not seeing coolant on the floor, or you would have told us. This leaves two possibilities - neither one is good sorry to tell you:

You need to look for any signs of coolant in your oil. Hope you do not find any, but it has happened with other Cats. You might have a leaky heat exchanger, aka "oil cooler".

The other possibility, and I hate even having to mention it, is that coolant is being blown out your tail pipe. This could come as a result of possible problems - a leak - with one of your head gaskets.

Either way above, or even if it is something else, you are correct to be concerned about something like coolant loss. At this point you need the help of a competent diagnostician.

Wishing you good luck. I hope you can find the problem, get it fixed, and still have something left in the piggy bank for Christmas!

[Marks DTM Calib]

Assuming this is the Catera with the X30XE engine then the most common coolant leak problems, in the following order, are:

1) Heater bypass valve - rear of engine near bulk head (fire wall)
2) Thermostat to lock seal
3) Oil cooler plate to block seal

Remember, if you have an oil cooler failure you get more coolant (although its a thick mayo) as the oil gets into the coolant system.........not less.

[2000ForrestGrnCatty]

Originally Posted by guardian

Hey cool it with the name calling. That doesn't fly in this group.

It does seem as if you could have a leak. I assume you are not seeing coolant on the floor, or you would have told us. This leaves two possibilities - neither one is good sorry to tell you:

You need to look for any signs of coolant in your oil. Hope you do not find any, but it has happened with other Cats. You might have a leaky heat exchanger, aka "oil cooler".

The other possibility, and I hate even having to mention it, is that coolant is being blown out your tail pipe. This could come as a result of possible problems - a leak - with one of your head gaskets.

Either way above, or even if it is something else, you are correct to be concerned about something like coolant loss. At this point you need the help of a competent diagnostician.

Wishing you good luck. I hope you can find the problem, get it fixed, and still have something left in the piggy bank for Christmas!

Look Man, this guy didn't have to get flippant with me because I asked a question. What
goes around comes around.

[lakesidepark]

I am a frequent visitor to this and other technical forums. I did not see contorbs' remarks as flippant. He was merely pointing out that the symptom was obvious (coolant is there then it's low, so therefore must be losing coolant).
Therefore "it's a no-brainer". That is not flippant. It is kinda a technician attitude.

The proper response would have been "duh, stupid me...yeah I guess I am losing coolant...got any ideas why??" instead of the aggressive grammatic approach. This would have pointed to us that you were competant enough to understand the next suggestion and were simply too distracted to notice you said "I have symptoms of a leak...is it possibly a leak?". You would have noted to the audience that you understand technical concepts and therefore would not be wasting their time trying to help you. And you would have shown the readers here that you could take some fun having such obvious things pointed out.

But you showed a bit of arrogance and some denial of your own fallibles. You did not thank him for answering your question (you asked if it was a possible leak, he said YES), and you showed no appreciation that he even suggested a course of action (pressure-test and see where).

It could be difficult to expect good assistance unless you are able to loosen up a bit and go with the flow. It could be said that contorbs is a "smartass", but in my experience as a technician that skill is required to be able to smile when someone hands you a broken part and asks if the two individual pieces means it is a broken part.


intelligence does NOT negate stupidity

[tmkktm]

Originally Posted by 2000ForrestGrnCatty

Thanks for your astute observation. Smartass.

Absolutely inadmissible! Contourbs has always been helpful and as well as the rest of the group. If you don't like the advice, don't take it and go away.People are here to help each other!!! Even your second comment was unecessary.Don't get mad at people because your car is broken. So, do you have water in the oil or any in the exhaust?

[contourbs]

its hard enough to try and fix these cars in person and makes it 10 times harder over the internet. so when you ask a question know what your talking about