Where's my coolant going?

[SIMON HOLTBY]

Alexander,

I'm sorry to say this but it does sound like either the head gasket has
failed or that the head is cracked. I would guess that the head gasket has
failed between a cylinder and a waterway.
I had a friend whos car failed in the same way and the cylinder
overpressurised the cooling system causing his radiator to fail. I wonder
if this is why your heater coil failed.
You can check this by running the engine with the coolant filler cap
removed and checking for air bubbles  in the expansion resevoir. An engine
compression test may also show low compression on one or more cylinders.

Regards

Simon Holtby


--- Alexander van Gerbig <Audi_80 at email.msn.com> wrote: >     Now that I
have replaced the heater core I still seem to loose
> coolant,
> just as badly as before.  Though sometimes I pop the hood in the morning
> and
> the coolant level is at MIN, other days it's below MIN by enough to
> trigger
> the level sensor when I accelerate hard while cornering.  I longer smell
> coolant in the car, so the heater core ain't leaking anymore.  My
> mechanic
> did a pressure test and he said the coolant system lost pressure pretty
> quickly, but he didn't see any leaking, anywhere, and for that matter I
> don't see coolant leaking anywhere myself.  For the past year or so I've
> noticed lots of water dripping from the downpipe / catalytic junction. 
> It
> doesn't smell like coolant when I sniff it.  Lately the car has been
> making
> water evap clouds out the rear for longer than usual, but it is pretty
> cold
> here.  I can go for a 20 mile drive and still have an evap cloud behind
> me
> when I jam on the gas, but it usually goes away after 20 miles or so.  I
> am
> deathly afraid this might be a headgasket problem.  What else could be
> happening?  The system loses pressure, no visible leaking or spotting
> anywhere, no foamy white stuff in the oil, no oil in the expansion tank,
> new
> heater core, cloud tailpipe for longer than usual, and I think that's
> it...
> 
> TIA!
> 
> Alexander van Gerbig -- '88 80
> 
> The Audi  80 Pages-----------------
> http://surf.to/the80pages.com
> 
> North Ferrisburg, VT 05473
> 
> 
> 


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