I'm losing coolant somewhere & I can't figure out where. I've checked all of the hoses; heater, radiator & the little intake hose. The thermostat's good. The radiator is a fairly new double core & the fan's working fine. I'm having to add a half gallon about every 50 miles. Nothing coming out of the tailpipe. I'm not overheating, but of course it's running a little warmer than usual. What am I missing here. Any ideas?

what vehicle & engine?

 

did you check to see if it's wet under the passengers side carpeting in the footwell area?

 

any recent work or issues with the car other than radiator?

 

intake manifold gaskets are common issues with EA82's.

When I first got my Hatch, I had the same problem, loosing coolant, no white smoke in the exhaust, WTF? Well after trying everything else I did a compression check and sure enough the right bank of cylinders was at around 60 psi or less(left side normal). After I ran it a little more(bad) I got massive amounts of white smoke in the exhaust. The one thing I did notice before it fully went out was a slight smell of coolant in the exhaust.

grossgary has a point about the heater hoses and/or core leaking, I had that problem with one of my wagons.

I had a similar issue and I couldn't spot the leak. Mine was from a little tiny hose that goes from the thermostat housing to the intake manifold. By way of the water flow, I couldn't spot it until I had the car up to temp and pressure, kept it running and then I could see the pinhole spraying down. I had to push the MAF aside to see it, as it was directly below it.

The car is my wife's '86 gl sedan auto. One thing I noticed is after I turn the car off & let it sit for about 5 minutes there's no pressure in the hose. I'll check the floor well and check the hose on the thermostat housing. Dang, I can't get my wagon on the road & now my wife's car's going down (which I'm driving ) I've got a Ford f150 (not running) A '88 Conquest TSI (not running) an '88 ea82t wagon (not running) & an '86 gl sedan (limping)

Cash for clunkers.

 

Im teasing, man take some time this weekend and get those vehicles running. Its always good to have backups.

I've considered the cash for clunkers program , but I don't want the car payments. I've just got to get the time off work to fix them. I'm lucky to be working, so I'm not griping about work, but my rides are getting scarce. I feel like I've got a barn full of dead horses.

Apparently they "ran out of money" on the cash for clunkers program today. thats the word i got from a dealership in the area, pretty popular I suppose.

I had a similar issue and I couldn't spot the leak. Mine was from a little tiny hose that goes from the thermostat housing to the intake manifold. By way of the water flow, I couldn't spot it until I had the car up to temp and pressure, kept it running and then I could see the pinhole spraying down. I had to push the MAF aside to see it, as it was directly below it.

 

Hey, guess what? That's where the problem was. :banana: No head gasket problem, no PIA, just a little tiny hose & I'm up n runnin'! Thanks for the all the help, guys. Now I'm off to the '88 & the wheelbearing problems. Then the F150 4wd gets fixed & sold & the Conquest well....that just gets sold. I don't have the time to replace an engine. I just want to keep my Subies on the road. :grin: Man I'm so happy :lol:.

 

~Myles~

Congratulations. That was the first post for me where I was able to offer a little help to someone, instead of someone helping me. Glad to hear you are runninig cool!