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saab 9000 coolant loss

My wife has been driving 96 saab 9000 for last couple of weeks while I've been away... I've noticed a coolant wet patch under car where she has been parking... but also inside front footwells some coolant (and some smell ). on mats .. I refilled with about 1.5 litres of coolant... Does this sound like the matrix? ... would that also dump coolant underneath the car rather than just inside as there is definately more under the car than inside?

Does it sound a serious (expensive?) leak((she has driven at least a few 100 miles while this leak has been going on without overheating at all- I suspect it 1.5 litres over a week or so)... Should I try adding some radiator seal - or just take to garage?

Only wet I can see under car is coming from rubber flap lower down at back of engine compartment ... I though this was jsut the drain for the grille below the windscreen... but cound collant leak into that?

thanks AJ

Reply to
aj
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Nah, get a new matrix installed, you will need sooner or later. Radiator seal might clog up the cooling pathways.

Reply to
johannes

Could be both the radiator and the heater core. If it's just the latter, in my experience there's no sign of wetted ground underneath the car at all.

Reply to
ngu

There are two rubber flaps on the firewall. The upper, and larger one, is a drain for the area below the windscreen, as you said.

The lower, and smaller one, is the evaporator drain. It's where the condensate from the A/C unit should discharge. Since the A/C evap and the heater core are essentially in the same housing, it would be logical to conclude that a leaky heater core would result in coolant coming out of that drain also. I'd go with the core replacement and fix it right; the stop-leak stuff could cause more problems than it fixes.

Reply to
Jim M

Both rubber spouts are for the same purpose, to drain the fish tank (aquarium). Water collect sin it from the sunroof (the front two drains of the sunroof), from water dripiing down the windshield and from the evaporator. Frequently they are clogged by leaves. If you have a leaking heater core, coolant could come out of there too but the more likely place is inside the cabin and you can smell it.

Reply to
yaofeng

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