Question regarding engine coolant in hot summer

[digitalbuda]

Is it normal for engine coolant levels to lower in the hot summer? Basically about a month ago I checked its levels and it was near empty. I filled it up, checked it again a month later and now its near empty again.

Any suggestions is greatly appreciated

 

[Demo24]

You should not be losing coolant, especially not that fast. You either have a leak somewhere(which can usually be easily fixed) or it's somewhere in the engine and its burning off. You can tell if its the engine because there would be white 'smoke' coming from the exhaust.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

You could also have a busted overflow tank..

 

[Evadman]

You could also have a busted overflow tank..

Or the line between the tank and the radiator. It's possible it only leaks when the engine is hot and pressurized, thus no leak is visible in a parking spot.

 

[desy]

Or his radiator cap is releasing at too low a pressure

 

[KIAman]

...or someone could be stealing your coolant.

The point is, no, summer/winter makes no different on your coolant levels on your scale.

 

[T2urtle]

try looking at it always in the same conditions. As mentioned above pending on how hot/cold the engine is the overflow tank might flux a little bit, not full and empty bottle but a little bit.

but yea weather has no effect on coolant level, the engine temp could but not by much.

 

[digitalbuda]

I just got back from Meineke, the guys that fixed the leak in february of this year. They did a pressure test and said they could not find any leaks and said everything is good.

 

[digitalbuda]

I know its not leaking into the engine oil, cause the engine oil is not "milky" color. There is no white smoke coming from the exhaust. Could it be the radiator cap? when I open the hood and look at the cap before and after driving I dont see any visible liquid sprayed anywhere

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Maybe they didn't burp the air out properly and you're merely filling it to full?

 

[digitalbuda]

Thats what he told me, but they topped it off in february. I checked it a month ago it was low and topped it off myself. Now a month later its low again?

 

[digitalbuda]

How many gallons of coolant do you think it requires? Its a 2001 GMC Savana Passenger van, 1/2ton V8.

 

[Doppel]

Check the welds on your intake, it's possible you blew them.

 

[Meghan54]

First, what car/engine do you have?

Second, is the coolant tank a simple recovery tank or is it a pressurized tank?

(Just some trivial info. needed.....there are some vehicles with certain engines that have a habit of leaking developing in some engine gaskets that allow coolant to slowly leak but not show much outward signs--at first--and not put the coolant into the oil passages.)

 

[hanoverphist]

my old civic did this until i finally ended up replacing everything. it was a mixture of a bunch of reasons, but the reservoir hose had been clogged up, which made it spew out of the cap instead. cleared the hose, found that the reservoir entry was clogged also, which made it bubble out of the hose and cap. fixed that, then found that the reservoir lid was not sealing, causing it to bubble out of the reservoir lid. once i got that settled, it worked perfectly for a day until the old (230k miles on it) water pump finally showed its weakness. just replaced that this past weekend, and its running like a champ, no leaks at all. now if i had remembered to get the harmonic balancer on all the way, it wouldnt have fallen off on the freeway last nite.

my point is, the only leaks that really left a visible mark under the hood were the radiator cap and reservoir cap. even the reservoir cap was hard to find, it was dripping and drying pretty much before it hit the bottom of the reservoir. take a really good look at the bottom side of stuff, see if you can see water marks on anything at all around that area.

 

[digitalbuda]

I'm not too sure if its a recovery or pressurized tank. They did mention that the radiator cap was a little rusty so I just got a new one at autozone. It is a very old vehicle with a lot of miles on it, almost 200K. So Hanoverphist I think I'm in the same boat as you, when I fix one thing, a problem pops up somewhere else.

I'm just gonna give it a go for the next month and see how it goes and just move on from there.