Car Coolant Level Goes Down Frequently

[ThilakR]

Dear Experts,

The coolent level always drops down in my Mazda BJ5P. Everytime I used to re-fill the coolent. When I serviced the car I checked for possible leackages but did not find any. No indication of any over heating so far.

What would be the possible reason?

Thankx

Thilak

[Ripper]

  ThilakR said:

Dear Experts,

The coolent level always drops down in my Mazda BJ5P. Everytime I used to re-fill the coolent. When I serviced the car I checked for possible leackages but did not find any. No indication of any over heating so far.

What would be the possible reason?

Thankx

Thilak

well the level will slightly drop over sometime... so it really depends how bad this "drop" really is...

if you notice a dip say after a day or two's driving....there must be a leak!

or even the radiator cap spring having lost a bit of tension and leaking out water vapor way before it should be doing that...

you wont have heating issues as long as your fan is working, water pump working with enough water to circulate and cool the motor...

another possibility is that...the water is leaking out of the water jacket through a bad engine gasket...

but this is somewhat easy to during a service cos your oil tend to get busted up...

imo it all depends on how much of coolant you're loosing...

[jaga]

also You may not find visible leaks and evoporate at the heigh temperature through a hair cracks of the hoses or through radiater body.

[gunat]

Check your oil- there will be definite indicators if its leaking internally...else:

http://www.aa1car.com/library/coolant_leaks.htm

good luck!

[ThilakR]

  jaga said:

also You may not find visible leaks and evoporate at the heigh temperature through a hair cracks of the hoses or through radiater body.

Thanks mate. Is there any way to find this tiny cracks?

I carefully check the hoses and other parts in the service centre. But nothing found.

Best

Thilak

[Ripper]

  ThilakR said:

Thanks mate. Is there any way to find this tiny cracks?

I carefully check the hoses and other parts in the service centre. But nothing found.

Best

Thilak

how much of coolant do you loose roughly and at what intervals???

you can spot leaks in the radiator by taking it to a radiator shop and pressure testing it in a water tank!

costs about 100 bucks if you have the radiator removed...

[ThilakR]

  Ripper said:

well the level will slightly drop over sometime... so it really depends how bad this "drop" really is...

if you notice a dip say after a day or two's driving....there must be a leak!

or even the radiator cap spring having lost a bit of tension and leaking out water vapor way before it should be doing that...

you wont have heating issues as long as your fan is working, water pump working with enough water to circulate and cool the motor...

another possibility is that...the water is leaking out of the water jacket through a bad engine gasket...

but this is somewhat easy to during a service cos your oil tend to get busted up...

imo it all depends on how much of coolant you're loosing...

Thanks mate. I will check the Radiator Cap too and replace.

Best

Thilak

[ThilakR]

  gunat said:

Check your oil- there will be definite indicators if its leaking internally...else:

http://www.aa1car.com/library/coolant_leaks.htm

good luck!

Thanks mate. Really valuable info in this URL.

I will see whether I could find something.

Best

Thilak

[ThilakR]

  Ripper said:

how much of coolant do you loose roughly and at what intervals???

you can spot leaks in the radiator by taking it to a radiator shop and pressure testing it in a water tank!

costs about 100 bucks if you have the radiator removed...

Thankx mate. Is their any good place?

BTW I am in Katunayaka. But I could come to colombo.

Best

Thilak

[Sumiya]

Hi Thilak

Check your engine oil, if it is clear(not milky) you may definitely have a leak in the system, just keep the car in a clean place and let it to cool down

and start it and carefully check any leaks.some leaks start when you engine is hot if not it is not seen to the eye,or else the reason might be your engine overheating and coolant evaporates by it.

Thanks

Regards

sumith

[MasterDon]

also check the radiator coolant reservoir tank...my strada kept loosing coolant level about 1/4 of a coke mega bottle per week,the problem was the outlet from the resovoir tank was cracked and was loose...I had to replace the tank cap and hose because the crack was somewhat severe,but if it's a minor one a bit of araldite paste should do the trick.

[6208]

The life span of the radiator is around 100K Km I heard. My BJ5P had a replacement radiator when it was around 80K Km. It started leaking from the gasket between the top tank and the core. Papiliyana joint had reconditioned radiators (alluminium tanks attached). Check with him.

[ThilakR]

  Sumiya said:

Hi Thilak

Check your engine oil, if it is clear(not milky) you may definitely have a leak in the system, just keep the car in a clean place and let it to cool down

and start it and carefully check any leaks.some leaks start when you engine is hot if not it is not seen to the eye,or else the reason might be your engine overheating and coolant evaporates by it.

Thanks

Regards

sumith

Thanks Sumith,

May be the engine overheating but nothing is dosplayed on the dashboard. Car operates smoothly.

I always find the reserver box empty.

Best

Thilak

[ThilakR]

  6208 said:

The life span of the radiator is around 100K Km I heard. My BJ5P had a replacement radiator when it was around 80K Km. It started leaking from the gasket between the top tank and the core. Papiliyana joint had reconditioned radiators (alluminium tanks attached). Check with him.

Thanks mate. Kindly send me the contact on my email thilakrk@gmail.com

Best

Thilak

[ThilakR]

  MasterDon said:

also check the radiator coolant reservoir tank...my strada kept loosing coolant level about 1/4 of a coke mega bottle per week,the problem was the outlet from the resovoir tank was cracked and was loose...I had to replace the tank cap and hose because the crack was somewhat severe,but if it's a minor one a bit of araldite paste should do the trick.

Hi Mate,

Me too find always the radiator coolent reservoir tank is empty.

Let me check as you mentioned.

Thankx

Thilak

[Sumiya]

Hi ThilakR

If you can find some empty cement bags ,just put them under the car engine bay and keep it start and check it, any

liquid dropped can be very clearly visible on those papers.make sure you will take cover inside surface(without any kind of letter printed)

Thanks

Regards

sumith

[SeanD]

What sort of car is it? Your profile says you have a Toyota? I believe Toyotas like Hondas are very fussy about certain fluids, make sure you only use genuine coolant. If the fluid level in your reservoir is going up and down, that's normal. But if it's empty like you say, then there's a leak somewhere. That link someone gave above is what I used a few years back for a similar problem on a friend's car as well - it's good. If you're not using genuine coolant then I hope all owners of the car have not just being putting pure water, as that could have destroyed some of the internals as well. Best thing is to take it to the agents (or a shop that has such a system, most mechanics do not) and get them to do a pressure test of the entire system, that will reveal any leaks that you can't find through normal methods. Although, since you're losing so much, you've either got a severe internal leak, or there is some SERIOUS evaporation happening somewhere if you're not noticing spilled coolant.

Edited March 10, 2010 by SeanD

[ThilakR]

  SeanD said:

What sort of car is it? Your profile says you have a Toyota? I believe Toyotas like Hondas are very fussy about certain fluids, make sure you only use genuine coolant. If the fluid level in your reservoir is going up and down, that's normal. But if it's empty like you say, then there's a leak somewhere. That link someone gave above is what I used a few years back for a similar problem on a friend's car as well - it's good. If you're not using genuine coolant then I hope all owners of the car have not just being putting pure water, as that could have destroyed some of the internals as well. Best thing is to take it to the agents (or a shop that has such a system, most mechanics do not) and get them to do a pressure test of the entire system, that will reveal any leaks that you can't find through normal methods. Although, since you're losing so much, you've either got a severe internal leak, or there is some SERIOUS evaporation happening somewhere if you're not noticing spilled coolant.

Hi SeanD,

My car is Mazda BJ5p 2001.

Thanks

Thilak

Edited March 12, 2010 by ThilakR

[tombo]

my car Toyota corolla ee96 (1991) i had a same problem mysteriously reduce coolant level about 1ltr

finally i found leak in water fan . The fan fixed in timing belt side please care about that also