OK, where's my coolant going?

[Phil Rose]

At 3:02 PM -0500 10/12/04, mallick at mail.utexas.edu wrote:
>Quoting Kneale Brownson <knotnook at traverse.com>:
>
>>  Have you tried letting the car idle after it's warmed up to see if it
>>  creates a puddle?  Neighbor had regular coolant loss but no puddles until
>>  he let it sit and idle after a trip.  He was losing coolant from the water
>>  pump only when the car was warmed up and the pump was pumping.  
>>
>
>I'll give it another try when I get home.   I've done it before and seen
>nothing.  Mike Miller mentions a possible cracked overflow tank, so 
>I'll have a
>look, although if I recall the system seems to pressurize well and I have no
>evidence of overheating, even down here in the Texas summer.  Not sure if I'll
>try the Bar's Leaks stuff though...

Another place to look for  acoolant leak is the coolant 
"flange"--that pipe running alongside (underneath) the intake 
manifold. The triangular flange bolted to the head at the center of 
this pipe can seep coolant; this seepage tends to collect at the 
lower edge of the block, but it can be slow enough to never leave any 
puddle below the car. On my car, the source of this seepage( i.e., 
visible drips) became obvious only after  allowing the  engine  to 
cool down for a few hours.

Phil
-- 

Phil Rose
Rochester, NY USA
mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net