My sister's car coolant reserve tank always empty when i check every weekend
Every weekend when i’m home i always check my sister’s car radiator coolant & reserve tank level. Everytime i check the reserve tank, it always empty. There is no leaks found at the hose. I tried to look at the water pump for any leak but the engine bay is too cramp & can’t see the water pump well. If the problem is not from the water pump, is there any probably the problem is not from the hoses & water pump?
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My mom had same problem. It turned out the head was cracked and coolant mixed with oil.
That thing can cause sludge in the oil right ?
Or a headgasket.
If head gasket you can see white smoke from the exhaust right?
Usually yeah, also white residue on the oil filler cap, if you use antifreeze you should smell it too.
Don’t make a big deal out of what could be a little problem. Have you checked the reserve tank itself for leaks?
Didn’t realize any leaks from there. Better check there tomorrow morning to double confirm
I had the same problem and i just poured a can of stopleak on the reservoir tank and after few drives, my problems stopped.. No leaks were visible anywhere.
My friend also talk to me about this. But i’m not sure if it will cause any side effect to other parts in the cooling system & i never seen that product in person yet. Maybe they did not sell at the hardware store that i always went
Get a tester to put on you radiator. It’ll tell you if you are getting combustion gasdes in the coolant (bad head gasket) or if there is too much preasure (which would mean it is just evaporating away bc of the heat)
Either buy a cylinder leakage tester or pay a (decent) mechanic to do a test, don’t just guess it might be this or that, diagnose properly and fix properly. I personally wouldn’t put any stop leak fluids in my car, they can cause more problems down the line.
My friend had the same problem and against my advice he just kept topping his coolant up more and more often and ignoring it. The engine is ruined now and he’s had to buy a new car because the cost to repair was more than it was worth. After flushing the system you could see it had some stop leak in the past before he bought it.
Fill it with coolant.. water.. whatever to the correct level..
Start car..
Let car run parked until the coolant fans kick in..
Once the thermostat opens and the coolant flows though, it will send the water, etc back into the radiator..
Check under the car for leaks..
If there is no leaks of any kind..
and you still are low on coolant.. i would start to suspect the head gasket is going..
I may be wrong here, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t need to be full, especially if it’s just an overflow tank, then it would not need any fluid in it. Ran my GMC Caballero like that for three years. It lived.
On Toyota’s the over flow tank is just an extension to the actual tank.. you are supposed to keep it at a certain level in the tank.. Honda is like this as well, and as is Nissan, MB, BMW, Ford, Mini.. Though i believe you are right.. In GM vehicles they are not there for anything other than to catch a possible spill..