I have an 95 Saturn SL1 manual with 150K. Last week, every morning, there was about a half cup of coolant behind the passenger's front tire. I would drive 10 miles to work, it sat in the parking lot all day, no dump. Then, I drive it home. About 2 hours later, it dumps a half cup again. After a few days, the entire expansion tank was emptied a few hours after I parked it, day or night. I took it to the garage and they pressurized the cooling system, and found no leaks. They also said there were no head gasket leaks. All they offered was a possible thermostat that was starting to fail. Where could this be coming from if there are no leaks in the cooling system? Thanks
95 Saturn dumping coolant
Aug 18, 2009
4 Replies
Did they check the radiator cap? Why don't you want to believe them about the thermostat? Certainly if there's something in there acting like a one-way valve to make coolant bypass or overflow the expansion tank it'd boil down* to the cap or thermostat.
Unless you have bizarre problems with the hose(s) to the expansion tank, or prankster neighbors.
- Pardon the expression...
All kinds of places, including the cap. Park it, wait a half hour, then stick your head under it and listen and look. Find out precisely where it is leaking from, and then you'll know what to do.
Change the thermostat too.
--scott
Not all leaks dump on command with pressure... Can you see the heater box drain tube on the car? If it's the heater core you should see coolant residue in the tube.. and isnt the water pump on the passenger side?
HTH Ben
Heater. Summer. Afternoon. Oh!
Are you sure that 1/2 cup of liquid is radiator water and not condensation from your air conditioner (clearly not if you don't have one, but...). If it didn't usta happen but does now, perhaps your air conditioner drain is partially plugged, leading the condensation to take some time to drain out.
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