[slydin miata 619]

about 7 months ago i've noticed i would lose coolant and have to refill it with water..and i was wondering whats wrong wiht my car...right now my radiator is about 2 inches away from being full and i just filled it with water and radiator fluid about 4 months ago..anybody got this problem? also i have 140k miles on my car..bought it when it had 119.. runs great too

 

[Matt [exz3owner]]

if you aren't overflowing,and don't have any leaks, then you probably have a bad head gasket.

 

[slydin miata 619]

hmm yeah i was thinking that too..should i do a compression test? any other suggestions?

 

[freedomgli]

It can only go so many places. It's either leaking out of your coolant overflow expansion tank, the radiator, a radiator hose, the heater core, a heater core hose, t-stat housing, water pump, intake manifold/tb, or it's leaking from a coolant passageway inside the head or block into a cylinder and out the tail pipe. Do you smell burning coolant? Any smoke out the tail pipe? Condensation or strange residue on the underside of your oil fill cap? Oil in your radiator?

 

[renesisdrms]

first: do a radiator pressure test. kit goes on where rad. cap is. available in auto stores i assume.( note: never pass 30 psi during testing to find leak! never! well...u can if u like blown hoses etc.z0

second: this test is easier than comp. testing...and also accurately tells tell tale signs of blown head gasket...forgot what its called, but its also a kit that hooks up where radiator cap is. and is activated by changing dye color on ur coolant if exhaust gasses are present... exhaust gas tester??? **** if i remember the name to that kit.

 

[renesisdrms]

loss of coolant can be a bitch sometimes. i have lost very little coolant(bout 2 water bottles) on my previous car. always find small traces where i park until one day i decided to just drive the car hard, than idle the car and wait while checking all the small coolant hoses. turns out i did trace the pin sized hole on one...but its time consuming so not what i recommend.