Ok here's the deal. The other night I was driving my 2.4L and my "check coolant" light came on. It came on and my temp gauge jumped about halfway between the 195 degree mark and the next level of temp. then the light shut off and the temp went back to a hair above 195 degree. This happened off and on til I got home. I waited til the next morning to check the coolant resevoir (sp?). I figured that it might be low because I had drained a little bit accidently when removing a coolant hose line to check something, but that was only about 2-3 tablespoons at most. So anyways when I went to check the resevoir, it was totally drained.
I filled the resevoir back up that morning and put some cardboard down under the car to check for leaks in the possible hosing. There were none, even after running the car for 15 minutes.
Ok so I can only think of a few possibilities.
A) A hose is cracked and the coolant that got expelled evaporated. But that doesn't work cuz I didn't have any leak marks.
so.....
B) I am using Prestone 50/50 dexcool coolant. Could this be a result of the buildup blockage I've heard about on the forums? And that would be why the gauge and temp light kept fluctuating as the blockage was constricting flow?
or....
C) The coolant is going somewhere else...possibly a blown head gasket. I need to change my oil tonight to check if that is the case with the murky oil. If that is the case, well awesome. this will just jumpstart my rebuild on my block and internals. But I just want to make sure that there are no other possibilities of where this coolant is going.
Thanks guys!!!
ShiftyCav wrote:thats probably the dumbest thing i have ever heard. you should take that serpentine belt and wrap it around your neck.
Do a presure check its the only way to be sure.
Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.
My Sunfire was losing coolant as well and I could not figure out why it actually was for me that the coolant resorvoir cover was leaking from time to time sometimes it would other times it wouldnt . I changed the cover and now its perfect.
