corvette90

Hi all out there..

i´m posting this question for a friend of mine...

his engine -L98- eats coolant..

the facts..

he have to add coolant every week, about a 1,5 litres
there are no bubbles in the coolant, no smell of coolant at the tailpipes, compression in each cylinder is fine, no coolant in the oil, no visible leaks...

he went to a mechanic, a real good man, they searched and searched, and couldn´t find the issue

what could this be?????

any help would be nice..

thanks

GlockLT4

How hot is the engine getting? Sounds like it might be overheating possibly and overflowing out the overflow tank.

corvette1990

My 1990 did the same thing 3 different ways. At 60k miles it was a slow leak on the passenger intake manifold around cylinder number 4. Fix was replacing the intake gaskets. At 65K it was the waterpumps turn, but this was a visible leak dripping onto garage floor from weep hole of pump. The third and final straw at 108k miles was a head gasket leak on cylinder number 7. I was loosing antifreeze and not seeing it go anywhere. I was burnin it. There were no bubbles in top overflow tank. No oil in antifreeze and no antifreeze in oil. only when car was heated up by normal driving did this occur. I drove it like that for a year (10k miles) and finally had a compression check done as it started drinking more and more. WAt that point it was drinkin like a quarter gallon per 100 miles, it showed up on the spark plug real well. The expensive fix could have been just replace the head gasket, or rebuild the motor. I chose to replace the motor and everything else. Let us know what you find.
chris ;)

lowflyer

Have your mechanic put the cooling system under pressure when the motor is at operating temps. That'll tell you where its leaking at. Good luck.

Ricks1989Roadster

Hi Corvette90,
I had a similar problem with mine. It turned out to be the gasket/washer on the overflow tank dipstick and the radiator cap. After I replaced both, no more leakage. Hope this helps...


[Modified by Ricks1989Roadster, 9:09 PM 3/31/2002]

Alex D

I would first try to put 6 Coolant System sealant pellets in the radiator. Crush the pallets in the pack, remove one radiator hose, pre-mix the pellets with coolant/water mix and pour directly into the hose.....they sometimes fix pretty substantial leaks...

corvette90

oh yes...

i forget to mention, that the enigine runs very hot in a short time, lets say 10-15minutes..

thanks

Sharky Guam

Sounds like a leaky head gasket. It probably is leaking just enough to burn a sligh amount of coolant in one or more of the cylinders. And also just enough to make the car run hot. :chevy