Wife's car is making me angry!

[A5]

Car is a 2004 Suzuki (Daewoo) Forenza. Yeah I know it sucks, but it was free - anyway, on to the story:

About a month ago, CEL comes on and temp gauge is pegged at high. Pop the hood and see that the reserve coolant tank is empty...dump a gallon of distilled water into it and carefully limp it to the shop.

At the shop, they drain/fill the coolant system and pressure check for leaks. No leaks found and the car didn't overheat again, so they send me on my way. Their guess was that it vented the coolant for some reason?

Fast forward to tonight - wife is driving to work, and she says the temp gauge is pegged at H again (but no CEL this time) and the engine is running rough. I swing by her work and pop the hood - the reserve tank is empty again! She doesn't recall seeing any steam coming out from under the hood or wet spots under the car, though. I dumped another gallon of water in and told her to meet me at the shop tomorrow morning after her shift.

What do you guys think the problem could be? At a minimum, I think I'm going to push to have the temp sensors and thermometer replaced - hopefully it's not the water pump, though.

 

[Ronstang]

Your coolant is disappearing. Either it is a very slow leak onto a hot enough surface to evaporate it without you actually seeing evidence of the leak or it is internal...head gasket. And yes, it is very possible for a head gasket to have such a small leak that the coolant just seems to vanish yet there is no steam out the tailpipe.

 

[ShawnD1]

She doesn't recall seeing any steam coming out from under the hood or wet spots under the car, though.

Maybe she's expecting something a lot more dramatic like an explosion or a huge steam cloud that obstructs your view. It might also be hard to see steam if she's on the highway doing 80mph.

My uneducated opinion is that you could fill the car with water again then go for a gentle cruise around town at low speeds so you can see steam. Maybe drive around some hills and keep the AC blasting. Take 3 of your fattest friends so the engine makes a lot more heat while still moving at low speeds.

 

[HarryLui]

Does it uses a radiator cap or just reserve tank cap?

 

[LTC8K6]

Yes, fill it with water, get it warmed up, and then look for a leak. Once it's warmed up. you can park it and let it idle while you check.

Make sure the rad fan is working, when it's idling after warm up, you should have the fan cycling on and off.

Try to find the water pump weep hole area and see if the leak is from there.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Maybe drive around some hills and keep the AC blasting. Take 3 of your fattest friends so the engine makes a lot more heat while still moving at low speeds.

None of that will make the engine get hotter. It will bring the engine to operating temp faster but the engine will not get any hotter than normal. Only a loss of coolant, or a malfunctioning radiator/water pump/thermostat/radiator fan will make the engine get hotter.

In fact, since in most modern cars turning on the A/C forces the radiator fan(s) to "high", turning on the A/C will actually cause the coolant temperature to go down, not up.

OP: Get the car up to operating temp, then let it sit still while idling, just as LTC8K6 described. Leave the A/C OFF since it will force the radiator fan on and won't let you see if the fan is cycling as it should under normal situations.

ZV

 

[A5]

Ok, thanks all.

 

[A5]

Quick update:
Took it to the shop again - they still can't find any external leaks (I didn't find any either). They're checking the head gasket now (woo worst-case scenario) and are going to get back to me by lunch. People online say it's a $1200-$1800 job (doing it myself is not an option - don't have any of the tools, experience, or space to do it), which really sucks because the whole car is only worth about $3600 when it runs

 

[alexruiz]

Car is a 2004 Suzuki (Daewoo) Forenza. Yeah I know it sucks, but it was free - anyway, on to the story:

About a month ago, CEL comes on and temp gauge is pegged at high. Pop the hood and see that the reserve coolant tank is empty...dump a gallon of distilled water into it and carefully limp it to the shop.

At the shop, they drain/fill the coolant system and pressure check for leaks. No leaks found and the car didn't overheat again, so they send me on my way. Their guess was that it vented the coolant for some reason?

Fast forward to tonight - wife is driving to work, and she says the temp gauge is pegged at H again (but no CEL this time) and the engine is running rough. I swing by her work and pop the hood - the reserve tank is empty again! She doesn't recall seeing any steam coming out from under the hood or wet spots under the car, though. I dumped another gallon of water in and told her to meet me at the shop tomorrow morning after her shift.

What do you guys think the problem could be? At a minimum, I think I'm going to push to have the temp sensors and thermometer replaced - hopefully it's not the water pump, though.

Interesting story. I had that car, a 2004 MT. 130k of trouble free miles, but I guess I was in the minority. The car was decent to be honest, and most important, it always always ran fine and rode nicely.... but I always kept it in top shape

Was the coolant ever flushed before? I am suspecting coolant pump. I should still have the service manual for the car, let me look for it.

Some pics of when it was listed for sale (click to see them bigger)

 

[A5]

Interesting story. I had that car, a 2004 MT. 130k of trouble free miles, but I guess I was in the minority. The car was decent to be honest, and most important, it always always ran fine and rode nicely.... but I always kept it in top shape

Was the coolant ever flushed before? I am suspecting coolant pump. I should still have the service manual for the car, let me look for it.

I don't know if the coolant has been flushed (wife's dad took care of it for ~5 years before we got married), but it was definitely refilled after it emptied out the first time. If it was a leak in/near the pump, the shop would have found it, right? A lot of descriptions I've been reading online of people with the same issue (coolant going away with no obvious leak) ended up with a blown head gasket...

Also, your interior plastic has stayed in way better shape than my wife's. Her dash is all faded and the steering wheel looks really bad.

 

[skyking]

I had a slow steam leak that was hard to find, it was the water pump bleed hole. It did not drip enough to get off the engine and form a puddle, but it would run low over time.
The pump was behind the timing belt cover so it sat back there and evaporated.

 

[A5]

I had a slow steam leak that was hard to find, it was the water pump bleed hole. It did not drip enough to get off the engine and form a puddle, but it would run low over time.
The pump was behind the timing belt cover so it sat back there and evaporated.

Was "over time" emptying out the reserve tank in under a month, though? My wife doesn't really drive much, so it seems like it would have to be something that's happening even when the car isn't running...

 

[skyking]

took a couple of weeks IIRC.

 

[Arkaign]

Interesting story. I had that car, a 2004 MT. 130k of trouble free miles, but I guess I was in the minority. The car was decent to be honest, and most important, it always always ran fine and rode nicely.... but I always kept it in top shape

Was the coolant ever flushed before? I am suspecting coolant pump. I should still have the service manual for the car, let me look for it.

Some pics of when it was listed for sale (click to see them bigger)

Ooooof. My brother's brother-in-law (I guess he's technically my brother in law as well?) has one of those, a 2005. What a pile. Admittedly though, yours looks much better maintained, good job! I applaud those who respect and take good care of their cars, no matter if it's just a cheapie or a real gem.

Thankfully Suzuki finally shit-canned the korean pretend-japanese car deal and replaced that model with the properly Japanese-built Kizashi, which is 10,000 times better. Of course it's more expensive by a good bit than the Forenza was, but small steps. Also the Koreans are making vastly better cars than they were making even 5 years ago. The new and overall well-reviewed Chevy Cruze is some kind of Daewoo joint venture.

 

[marvdmartian]

My uneducated opinion is that you could fill the car with water again then go for a gentle cruise around town at low speeds so you can see steam. Maybe drive around some hills and keep the AC blasting. Take 3 of your fattest friends so the engine makes a lot more heat while still moving at low speeds.

Yep. Had a heater hose leak one time, that was bleeding my coolant system dry, but never saw any steam from under the hood until I stopped for a red light. Good thing, as I shortly would have been up on the highway, where a parts store would have been much further away!

 

[A5]

So I went and bought one of these, and the fluid turned yellow after like 3 squeezes