I have an '86 XT Turbo that is drinking coolant like there's no tomorrow. It doesn't look like its leaking... any ideas on what it's doing and how it can be fixed?

Ouch if its not leaking that could very well be a head gasket. Did this car overheat at some point?

open your oil cap and your rad cap and describe what you see.is it milky?is the car smoking at all?any liquid coming out the exhaust?is there alot of pressure on the large hose going to the radiator when warm?

Any white smoke coming out of the exhaust even after it's warmed up? If so, you might have a head gasket problem. Other than that, check the water hoses for small pinhole leaks especially that nasty one in the center just below the manifold (tiny little bugger). Look for tell-tale coolent residue to help locate the leak; turbos run hot enough so that a pinhole leak often dries up faster than you can spot the leak.

I have an '86 XT Turbo that is drinking coolant like there's no tomorrow. It doesn't look like its leaking... any ideas on what it's doing and how it can be fixed?

I guess I should've mentioned this before... I do not have a blown head gasket. The engine doesn't overheat, and everything checks out fine.

the coolant has to be going somewhere.are you sure its not leaking?how much is in the overflow tank?

 

Ed's theory may be right about the hoses

Nothing in the overflow tank. Its bone dry. I'll have to take a look at the hoses, I guess.

when the engin e is cold take off the radiator cap and see how low the coolant is

 

its possible you could be using coolant thru a bad intake gasket

 

not to scare you, but a cracked head can leak coolant into the exhaust pipe but the head would be fine otherwise(compression and gasket) and could be leaking into the exhaust and burning away. this problem would usually have a little steam when warming up and would go away after warm up

 

may want to check or replace the intake gasket to start with and might as well replace any of the small coolant hoses as well