Im loosing my coolant.

[Deussne]

Well, just bought this car. Day after I got it I checked the coolant level and it was at the bottom of the evap canister.. So i topped it off to the full mark.. Drove for a week, checked it today and its back to the same level ( about 1/2" of an inch on the bottom of the evap canister) How am I loosing it? What are some of the areas I can start checking this leak? I did notice a smell of coolant a few times after I got out of the car from a 30 min trips. My heater seem to work, so is my AC my niddle is one niddle width past middle mark.
Can you guys give me some ideas on what I should check and what I could do to fix this. I can't keep on adding coolant all the time its not economical.
Help?
Thank you

[lazoh]

It can be your radiator, it usually craks around the area where the hoses connect. I just replaced my radiator due to this issue.

[CirrusSR22]

First start with a very thorough inspection of the engine, radiator, hoses, connections, etc. Take a flashlight and search everywhere. Put the car on ramps and check the underside as well.

Hopefully that will reveal something. If not, there's a possibility of a head gasket leak, but that doesn't seem too common on these engine.

[Will'sBimmer]

Originally Posted by CirrusSR22

First start with a very thorough inspection of the engine, radiator, hoses, connections, etc. Take a flashlight and search everywhere. Put the car on ramps and check the underside as well.

Hopefully that will reveal something. If not, there's a possibility of a head gasket leak, but that doesn't seem too common on these engine.

Plus 1

My radiator was leaking the same way you are talking about right now just a week ago. I put my car on ramps and found the source of the leak to be somewhere near the radiator's blue screw plug on the bottom. To fix the problem I bought some radiator stop leak from Autozone. I used Bar's Leaks. It is in a gray bottle for like 4 bucks. Pour half a bottle in your radiator and then run your car for 15-30 mins either idle or drive. This should fix the problem. Like I said , same thing happened to me and this fixed my problem for only 4 bucks. Good luck and let me know how it works out.

[3DGE]

Hey man, I had this issue when i first bought my Convertible.

I overheated twice, luckly I cut the enigne fast.

Any who, I would fill your radiator up, keep the cap off then start the car. If I am right you should get burps of air. You might have pockets of air in the radiator that need to be worked out.

If you have a leak it could be one of many things, cracked hoses, loose hoses, seal around water pump and thermostat are loose, head gasket warped or cracked. For the latter check your oil, if its milky you will have to replace the head gasket ASAP!

IDK where the water could have gone, but for me this is what solved it.


Ow and for the temperate being a bit over normal, i believe that's normal. Just don't let it go over the last white like just before red zone.

[Will'sBimmer]

Originally Posted by 3DGE

Hey man, I had this issue when i first bought my Convertible.

I overheated twice, luckly I cut the enigne fast.

Any who, I would fill your radiator up, keep the cap off then start the car. If I am right you should get burps of air. You might have pockets of air in the radiator that need to be worked out.

If you have a leak it could be one of many things, cracked hoses, loose hoses, seal around water pump and thermostat are loose, head gasket warped or cracked. For the latter check your oil, if its milky you will have to replace the head gasket ASAP!

IDK where the water could have gone, but for me this is what solved it.


Ow and for the temperate being a bit over normal, i believe that's normal. Just don't let it go over the last white like just before red zone.

No way! If he did have air in his system he doesn't need to take off the cap to get it out. In fact running the car with the cap off will more than likely splash coolant everywhere and that would be a waste. Plus not to mention that there is a "BLEED SCREW" right next to the radiator cap. That is how you are supposed to bleed air out of the system. And second the temp. needle being over normal "is not normal". When the needle is in the middle it is normal and anything over that towards red is overheating.

[Deussne]

Ok someone explain how to properly use the bleed screw next to the cap I will try that first. I got extra coolant i can add in case i loose some.

[Will'sBimmer]

With the car running, loosen the bleed screw but don't take it out. You should see bubbles and a little bit of coolant run out. Wait until all the bubbles are gone and only coolant runs out. Then tighten it down and replace coolant as you need to. That should be it.

[3DGE]

Originally Posted by Will'sBimmer

No way! If he did have air in his system he doesn't need to take off the cap to get it out. In fact running the car with the cap off will more than likely splash coolant everywhere and that would be a waste. Plus not to mention that there is a "BLEED SCREW" right next to the radiator cap. That is how you are supposed to bleed air out of the system. And second the temp. needle being over normal "is not normal". When the needle is in the middle it is normal and anything over that towards red is overheating.

Ya you can use the screw to get the air out but I decided to keep the cap off to check the level and add more fluid.
With my two bmw's I have never had coolant burp out unless I overfill, if your fluid is doing that you might have an engine problem.

my needle is just a hair to the right, I noticed my buddies M3 Convertible does the same aswell as a number of other local 325-M3 buddies. My 318TI runs normal though, could just be the m42 engine.

[cooljess76]

It amazes me how many people don't know the difference between loose and lose. For the record, LOOSE is the opposite of tight and LOSE is the opposite of gain. FWIW, if your car is losing coolant, make sure none of the hose clamps have loosened. When you add coolant/water, you should bleed the system of air by loosening the bleed screw and removing it(but keep it in a safe place as not to lose it), while slowly adding coolant to make up for the coolant that was lost. BTW, I had a similar problem with my '97. There was a very small leak next to the expansion tank on the radiator. The leak was so small that the coolant would evaporate immediately, leaving no signs of coolant loss. I was finally able to detect the leak by pressurizing the system with a special fitting that threads onto the radiator fill hole and pumping it it up to about 20psi. I heard a slight hiss where the coolant was leaking from. Bought a Behr radiator on ebay for $125, problem solved. Also, before you call me a loser, please understand that I am by no means a scholar, I just happen to know a little about cars

[Deussne]

Thank you for the clarification on my spelling. Just FYI Im russian and only learned to speak English a few years ago. Once again I appologise I will try to spell check it more often for you guys.
Here are some pictures that I took earlier today.

in this one you can see the coolant is seeping on the bottom. I guess this is my major leak.

Here you can see I have some coolant resedue below the two outlined bolts. Also I have some hint of it by the thermostat housing if you look closely at it. The bolt on the left does not have much resedue because I accidently tried to wipe it off before taking the picture to see if any more of it appears.
My guess Is I have a seal b/w expansion tank and radiator leaking.
Thats just a guess though.
Oh forgot to add I checked my oil and it does not seem to be contaminated. I also tried to run the hear in the car. It does not seem to get very hot. And I bled the radiator for a while and it still seem to have air coming from the bleed screw. I thought I will wait another day to do this again. (bleeding)
p.s. Where is that spell check button?

[tiFreak]

lol @ Jesse

[rendoll911]

lol at the russian bashing... Dont worry about spell check, your grammar is better than most primary speaking people!


edit: by looking at the picture.. it looks like you might need a new valve cover gasket