[R259]

Happy New Year to all. Over the past three weeks I have had to add distilled water to keep the coolant tank at the minimum cold level; almost a gallon so far. I checked the oil and there does not appear to be any intermix (the oil level was also low-I mention this as it may be related??). There are no big plumes of heavy white smoke at start up. I am not a technician but I have traced everything I can see from the reservoir and cannot find a leak. No coolant on the ground, just the usual oil spots you would expect

Purchased it with 176K and it now has 187K and running strong. Went through all the fluids after purchase to bring it current and regular oil changes every 3,000 miles since the initial post-purchase service. And I'm sure I will get a little flak for this but I am using the red coolant specified in the owner's manual!

What is the opinion? Expensive fix?

Thanks

 

[Jagfixer]

You need to make sure you have some antifreeze in the distilled water as you add some as pure water in coolant tank does not get mixed as quickly as in radiator. One gallon of pure water can dilute system by 20%. Pressure test system. Look under passenger floor mats for wet, and under dash near console for wet. Get a coolant dye from auto parts store and run for a while and take a black light and look for external leaks and pull dipstick to see if dye is in oil. System might not have been completely bled before by PO and you are still topping off. Tighten all screw type hose clamps. Look under waterpump for signs of weeping from bleed hole behind pulley.

 

[helievacpilot]

You need to make sure you have some antifreeze in the distilled water as you add some as pure water in coolant tank does not get mixed as quickly as in radiator. One gallon of pure water can dilute system by 20%. Pressure test system. Look under passenger floor mats for wet, and under dash near console for wet. Get a coolant dye from auto parts store and run for a while and take a black light and look for external leaks and pull dipstick to see if dye is in oil. System might not have been completely bled before by PO and you are still topping off. Tighten all screw type hose clamps. Look under waterpump for signs of weeping from bleed hole behind pulley.

X2 on all of that. BTW, on the water pump. Weeping OK, dripping, not so much. They don't call it a "weep" hole for nothing. To do it's job, the water pump seal must remain wet, so a very small amount of fluid is allowed to pass the seal and out the weep hole. It's also there to relieve pressure, so the seal doesn't get blown out.
I say all this so you don't immediately go out and buy a new water pump if you notice a very small amount of fluid or dry residual antifreeze around the weep hole.
If your using that much coolant, and it's the water pump, you'll know it.

 

[R259]

Thank you both.

 

[mannywdc]

I just went through something similar but after a while of no noticeable amount of coolant mixed in the oil I finally must have poured enough in there that I was able to notice the oil level had risen and the oil took on more of a chocolate milk look.

I couldnt find an external leak that was large enough to account for the quantity of coolant I was placing into the reservoir. This started off as a slow leak over the years that I always attributed to an external leak, like the one at the throttle body heater plate, but recently progressed to a large volume of coolant disappearing. In my case it was the Front Engine Cover gasket, behind which lives the oil pump.

Hope this isn't it but it's a place to consider.

 

[columbiar]

I just went through something similar but after a while of no noticeable amount of coolant mixed in the oil I finally must have poured enough in there that I was able to notice the oil level had risen and the oil took on more of a chocolate milk look.

I couldnt find an external leak that was large enough to account for the quantity of coolant I was placing into the reservoir. This started off as a slow leak over the years that I always attributed to an external leak, like the one at the throttle body heater plate, but recently progressed to a large volume of coolant disappearing. In my case it was the Front Engine Cover gasket, behind which lives the oil pump.

Hope this isn't it but it's a place to consider.

Replaced mine last winter for same reason. Had to take it to the shop to get a pressure test to find it though.