adreano17

I recently had my heat go out, saw the next morning all my coolant was gone. Went to the dealership to get the red coolant, and filled it up to the fill line. Worked great. Heat was back working and everything. about 45 min later, the reserve is empty again. My car isn't overheating, but the heat doesn't work again. I know something is wrong, what is it. I have a 1996 ES300 with almost 170k

rlx101

you are loosing coolant, there is a leak somewhere. have it checked out ASAP or you'll ruin your car.

hypervish

+1, do not drive without coolant and remember don't add "cold" coolant to a hot engine. Get it fixed!

Power6

OP you have a large coolant leak you need to fix!!

That is anachronistic advice, from the days when cars did not have coolant overflow tanks. Now that cars have had those for many decades, the coolant is added to the tank, and is sucked into the system only through cooling cycle contraction, so you can add coolant at any time.

They say adding a large amount of cold coolant to an overheating old car with no expansion tank was bad back in the day, but I'm not really old enough to have seen that actually cause a problem. Saw my late uncle put stone cold water in the radiator of his overheating 69 Firebird radiator without issue.

hypervish

Not if you are adding coolant straight to the engine block or even through the radiator. Engines are now made out of aluminum, so this actually applies more now then it did back in the day.

adreano17

My engine is not overheating. Also, my heat is still working with the tank empty.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

You should do a pressure test on the system, it will be really easy to spot any leaks.

Power6

Well I suppose if you are adding coolant incorrectly, though I still have not heard or seen of this happening in practice have you? That is academic though, the only prescribed way to add it is the expansion tank. The owners and service manuals do not have any language about when you can add coolant, you can add it at any time through the tank.

OP are you sure your car is not overheating? You are obviously losing so much coolant that you get no heat, typically this also affects the temp gauge as it is not submerged so you could overheat the motor but the temp gauge and overheat light will not indicate such.

adreano17

I'm pretty sure its not overheating. No difference, no smell, no smoke, and the temp gauge is still functioning. The car starts off cold, and then levels at the middle. I just saw a big leak today after I parked my car for a few hours. There is a leak by the crankshaft (thats the best I can explain) near the CV boot. Where would that be coming from exactly? I know for a fact it is a leak now..

DJPsystems

Water pump?

hypervish

You'd be surprised how many people are idiots. If someone loses enough coolant, they may start adding coolant to the radiator first till it is topped off, and then add to the expansion tank. I've seen dummies take the radiator cap off of a steaming hot engine, I told him to stop but he didn't take my advice, so then I told him to at least use a rag while opening it and cover the whole cap while doing so. Luckily the rag got most of it but his hand still got burnt from the coolant, at least he still had a face when he was done with his stupidity. lol

I haven't seen it happen personally, but my uncle who's a mechanic, has seen it plenty of times to know it's a real thing. It's not hard to imagine, with the aluminum head and block seen in many cars.

adreano17

Turned out to be my water pump. Got that, and timing belt replaced. $600 job =/ Thanks for the help guys.