wheres my coolant going?

[1FlyTsiVT]

soo on saturday i drove about a 40 mile drive... 5th gear interstate driving pretty much the whole time.. definately nothing out of the ordinary. so i get to my destination.. and before pulling into the lot i look at my gauges... temp gauge is past H off the meter!.. all other guages seem fairly normal... so i shut it down right there and coast it into the lot which happened to be autozone
so i get out pop the hood to see what the deal is... the whole coolant resovior (sp?) the white tub u can pour coolant in is vibrating and shaking like none other... boiling coolant inside.. but this isnt inside the radiator... why is it in here? where is the radiator fill cap? so anyways... i walk inside to check out some stuff and i come back out and the overflow drain tube is pouring out coolant... so i let it sit while i get food and come back out.. the tube has stopped dripping and the white resovior has stopped shaking but it is empty of coolant. i switch my car to accesories... temp is a little lower but still up there and my low coolant light is on.. right at 104,000 miles... so i shoot into AZ and get a jug of coolant fill up the white resovior and the light turned off.. i babied it around and back the 40 miles.. no problems... turned on the car this morn... coolant light is on... temp is low so i fill up the resovior with the coolant i had left and drove to school. after school i start it and there is no coolant light on... no puddles in any driveways and it hasnt been running hot or anyting since.. what happened?! and where did my coolant go? inside the engine??!

 

[1FlyTsiVT]

...

 

[1FlyTsiVT]

this was total dripped outta my overflow tube...

 

[Cesar]

The white container is the overflow tank. When coolant temp. rises the liquid expand and needs more space. the rad cap's function is to limit the build up of pressure (maintaining a certain pressure helps prevent overheating since it keeps the coolant from expanding, limiting the amount of heat energy it can absorb). you should fill the cooling system from the rad with the car shut off. Then start the car and let it run until it reaches operating temperature, with the heat on in the car(let's coolant flow into the heater core, eliminating air in the system) Air in the system is bad. all the air in the system should flow to the highest point in the system, usually the rad cap. shut off the car wait until it cools off and top off the rad again. do this until all air is expelled from the system.
fill the overflow once you are finished( when the car is cold.)
This should do it if your cooling system is working, but it most likely isn't, otherwise you would not have this problem to begin with.

 

[Sk8er07999]

How about pictures from the top? Is it running down the fire wall? Possibly the hoses to the heater core are leaking. If it's closer to the motor it could be at the other end of the heater hoses. Maybe where the upper and lower radiator hoses connect to the motor. Maybe around the thermostat housing. See if you can take a pic from the top. Remove some stuff if you have too.

 

[1FlyTsiVT]

thanks guys

 

[RoasT BeeF]

My guess is you blew the head gasket when it overheated and now coolant is leaking into the combusition chamber and burning off while you drive. Check for coolant in the oil, do a compression and leakdown test, check for white smoke comming out the exhaust, pull plugs and examine them for wetness whether its coolant or oil.

 

[Defiant]

Originally posted by Cesar
with the heat on in the car(let's coolant flow into the heater core, eliminating air in the system)

No need, the heater core in DSMs isn't valved. It runs all the time, temperature is controlled with doors.

 

[crankbender]

Yall are really getting ahead of yourselves here.


This really sounds like you just ahve a stuck thermostat to me. During highway driving the increased airflow mixed with conduction will keep the engine cool. Stop and bam it overheats realllly fast. If you are boiling coolant into the overflow tank the system is most likely full and not leaking into the head. or out of any other lines.

FIX:
pull the thermostat and put it in a pan on the stove. Turn the stove on and watch the thermostat. It should open fully long before the water boils. If it is slow acting or only opens like an 1/8th of an inch throw it away and get another (like 10 bucks or something). Alternatively if you live in the south and you don't drive in freezing weather you can leave it out. Just be really nice and give the engine time to warm up as it will take longer this way.