Where's the Coolant Going?

Could be an internal leak from worn Intake manifold gaskets. or it could be an external leak. Even en external leak cold be burned off on the hot engine and you wouldn't notice it.

If you have a coolant level sensor it could have an air bubble traped around the sensor. Try tapping around its location. Sometimes just the coolant splashing around the bottle is enough to trip the light. Kind of a common problem.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE ~_~_~258,600 miles_~_~~_

Checked the oil and nothing obvious there. Can't see anything externally, and even if it burned right off, I'd think I would smell the coolant, which I don't.

Took another look at the overflow tank and it's well within the hot / cold lines so I don't think the level is actually low. Leading me to suspect a faulty sensor ... but ... do you have any idea where the sensor actually is located?

Thanks yet aga>Could be an internal leak from worn Intake manifold gaskets. or it could

I missed the original message but had the same problem. Losing coolant slowly and didn't know where it went. This on a Buick Lesabre '93, 3.8 engine. We changed the waterpump which definitely was showing leakage at the bearing hole, but still lost coolant. Then when the alternator went bad, we spotted a damp spot behind it and discovered the fitting for the very small coolant hose behind the alternator was cracked and leaking where it couldn't be seen. The fitting broke when we tried to remove the hose and the threaded plastic part stayed in the hole. We didn't have an 'easy out' big enough, but purchased a "Heater hose coupler remover" #62200 by Lisle

Unfortunately that didn't work either since there was lots ofcorrosion in the thread area and it just slipped and made the holebigger. Anyway it sorta proves that this is a common problem in GMcars. Mysterious loss of coolant in GM cars can be directly attributed to lousy engineering. The replacement fitting (metal) costs $13.00 for a problem that GM caused by putting a cheap plastic fitting into an aluminum block. What we finally did was get an old wood spade drill bit that measured

3/4" and heated it red hot. then inserted it in the hole where it melted a slot, top and bottom in the broken plastic piece right down to the top of the threads. With the piece cut in two, we were able to fish and hook it out without dropping it into the engine.

I bet it will soon have the leaking intake manifold gasket. I replaced the water pump on a 1999 Olds (seeping through the lower weephole) and about a month later, he thought I did the water pump job wrong because it was still "missing" coolant. Turns out it was going into the crankcase. Pay attention to the coolant and it may save you a costly engine replacement in the future.

John

"smoke" from the

engine? I guess

Is it not common that after replacement of a water pump have the alt. or pwr. steering unit go and vice versa once the tension on the belt has changed the effects snowball..

"Paul Walsh" wrote

No, not really. Changing any one of those items has nothing to do with the tension on the belt. The belt tensioner handles that job.

Ian