t u n e

iTrader: (1)

Somebody please help me figure out what is going on here. The problem is low coolant in the radiator. Here is a detailed description of my problem:

- In the morning, I check the coolant level in the radiator and overflow tank, both are full.

- I drive to work, and coolant levels are good when I arrive.

- After work, when the car has been sitting for 8 hours, the low coolant light comes on. The level in the radiator is really low (can't even see the coolant when i look in), but the level in the overflow bottle is ALL the way to the top??

What's going on here? I recently removed and replaced the water pump to change the gaskets. I then pressure tested the system and there are NO leaks. Why is the coolant not moving from the bottle to the radiator when the level drops??

Any insight is appreciated.

motrhd

This just happened to me. The hoses that exit the radiator by the cap were reversed. The head return hose was on the overflow nipple and vice versa. My car finally overheated because A. the system never pressurized because the overflow hose was below the cap, and B. the car always pinged at full throttle because the return from the heads was above the cap and therefore only dribbled into the overflow causing it to fill up. I can't believe how long it was that way about 30 K before i looked long and hard at the routing. This may not be the problem but its worth a look, i consider myself to be a fairly good backyard mechanic. I bought the car used, someone reversed those hoses and i never caught it. LOL!!!!

300bhp/ton

You may have the system air locked. Hence the water isn't flowing around the system porperly. You need to make sure the heater is set to heat when you fill up pthe system, sometimes it can be a bugger to get the air out though, ever tried filling the water system up on a V12 Jaguar!!!!

Apart from that, the news only looks bad. If it's loosing coolant then it must be going somewhere. It might just be a leak that only shows itself after 'x' amount of time.

I had this on my DD, the rad leaked but only after half an hour ticking over. It evidently built up enough heat that the metal expanded and leaked, once it cooled down abit or on the move when the water flow was greater it didn't leak at all. Took me months to track it down because it just didn't leak all of the time.

Lastly if you have a cylinder head casket or cracked water jacket this could be the cause.

t u n e

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the input guys, I got it figured out. There was air in the system; getting it all out is a major pain in the ***!!!

I initially spent about 15-20 minutes filling the system and burping the air. I thought I got all of it at first, but I guess not. Must have been a major air pocket because the coolant in my radiator was way low.