Hello All,

I am starting to think my car is out to get me. Over the last year or so I have had the coolant reservoir replaced, the Heater Control Valve, the thermostat and every possible hose hiding under the supercharger. It's been below freezing for about four days now but my car is garaged overnight. When I drove home last night I smelled a hint of radiator fluid and the car ran just a tick warm, only noticed because of the slight smell. I popped the hood when I got home and found the coolant reservoir completely full, I mean all the way. The first thing I was thinking was with that kind of pressure, a weaker hose may already have a small leak. Nothing on the garage floor. I had the coolant replaced after the last maintenance. (Safe to assume that it was flushed?) So, any ideas what disaster may have befallen me? The only thing I can think of now is the radiator. Having that replaced would cost the GNP of a small country.

Thanks for reading the rant.

 

I flushed my system last fall and while doing so I managed to spill some coolant which gets into a lot of places but doesn't evaporate. It does heat up and smell once you get the car hot. Perhaps this is what's going on with your situation?

I also had a slight trace of coolant around the plastic weld seam on my reservoir tank and asked the dealer to pressure check the thing but they couldn't detect any leak. That bleed screw on the tank is a suspect little bugger in my book. A weak design IMO.

I'm not losing coolant either.

So at this point in time I'm thinking it's due to my sloppy fill up technique and I'm keeping an eye on it. I'm barely driving the car these days due to the "wonderful" weather and wide summer tires on the car.

I'm at about 20K miles.

 

I had the same issue on my 04 STR and wasn't smart enough to bring it up under the warantee period. Smelled coolant for a few years. Turn out that I would loose about 1/4 cup of coolant every 5 to 7k miles. The cause was the Al. manifold that connects the two heads, the DCCV hose, contains the thermostat, and connects to the radiator. The Al. manifold has steel fittings that connect to the hose and the leak was between the Al. and steel. In my case, the port that goes to the DCCV leaked and can't be seen unless you look from under the car (orange candle wax like drippings on the hose) or with an inspection mirror from the top.

 

Thanks for posting. Another thing to watch.

There seem to be quite a few "stupid cooling system tricks" on these cars don't there? There was a a very similar failure on Chevy and GMC Suburbans from the late 1990s. I own one. Steel fitting in aluminum intake manifold. One one of the Suburban forums those guys blamed the Dex-Cool or as they referred to it "Death-Cool". I flushed my Suburban really well and went with conventional antifreeze but long-life. I still wonder about this coolant ...

 

I need to go back to the work order on that one since they did replace the thermostat in October. If the port that goes to the DCCV leaks then I have a gripe with the service center.

I had not heard about the "Death-Cool" problem; I'll check that out in a bit more detail. I tell you one thing though, this cooling system is costing me way to much $$. I'll post an update when I find out what it is.

I can only assume they would have flushed it at least once with the amount of work they had to do on it, twice, last year. I'll give the radiator an exterior once over and dig around with a flashlight to see if I can find evidence of a tiny leak.

 

When was it last flushed and or partially filled?
The belly pan will show signs of a leak but you have to get the car up on a lift or jacks stands to drop that.
It's not hard to do though.

Bob S.

 

Happened to me when I changed my reservoir too.

 

It was last filled in October. A coworker and I were thinking maybe some buildup got stuck in the radiator. I replaced the reservoir a couple of years ago so I think I am ok there. I'll put it on jacks tomorrow and poke around. The roads were icy today and my PS2's won't work on that! I drove, err slid to work in here car today.

 

the hose that connects to the bottom of the reservoir has a black oring in it that you take out with a pick. I replace with a green oring. the 1 I use is an ac compressor oring for the compressor to the lines. It's slightly larger and I coat the end of the reservoir nipple with lube like 3M silicone paste to ease reconnection, they never leak where even a new black 1 willl tend to occassionally dribble, so look there.
And if you meen the resservoir was filled ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP. the reservoir is overfull with no room for expansion and will push coolant out from under the cap when the engine temp rises and the coolant expands. It then goes down onto the belts and gives a nice coolant smell for you to worry about...

 

A lot of us really watch closely the tech posts you make and this one needs some english cleanup for me to feel confident about what you're trying to say here.

Bob S.

 

okay
"le tuyau qui relie le fond du réservoir a un joint torique noir dans lui et devrait être remplacé par un joint torique vert, le 1-je utiliser est et le compresseur alternatif oring avec du lubrifiant, ils n'ont jamais de fuite où même un nouveau noir 1 willl tendance à l'occasion dribble, alors regardez là-bas."
"Et si vous meen TOUS LES chemin vers le sommet. le réservoir est trop remplie d'aucune possibilité d'expansion et faire sortir du liquide de refroidissement sous le bouchon vers le bas sur les bandes et donner une bonne odeur de liquide de refroidissement pour que vous vous inquiétez au sujet


oh crap you said English not French, okay Ill just go back and edit how's that

 

LOL! But the French is impressive too!

 

I thought youde get a laugh out of it Bob, I speak many many languages
all with a little Google help

 

And just what need to fight demonic possession of a British car! French!!

 

Natürlich ist Deutsch auch ok!

 

Muy bueno Y muchas gracias ...

In my case it's properly filled to the top of that platform inside of the tank.
I haven't even looked at the hose at the bottom of the tank but then I'm not certain yet that mine is even leaking. Sloppy filler here ... That might be worth a look though.

I was getting and possibly still do get a residue along the seam of the tank.
Had my car out yesterday for super bowl party duty for the first time in over 2 months. I'll take another look today. It's due for an appointment at the dealership so maybe they can see if there's something wrong with the tank.

Update: I just checked it again and the level is down so I have a leak somewhere unless it's an issue with my driveway being out of level.

 

Brutal:
Great information! I have had that connection off and on several times with no leak. It is a pain to get on properly for sure.

Can you post a size or part number? I am changing some hoses now so it will be a good time. Can I just remove the black o-ring and match the size? Sounds like you used a slightly bigger o-ring??
Thanks!
.
.
.

 

I may try that as well before I go into the dealer. I have two hole display tays of O-rings metric and inch so something should work?

 

The oring is the one for the low and high dshcharge pports on the ac compressor. Theyre slightly fatter and Ive never had 1 leak after repair. And fo me you know its all about trying to not have a repeat or additional issue because of a repair...Thats not to say that many times you fix 1 coolant leak, the next weakest begins to leak shortly there after

 

Hello,
Had a mystery leak off coolant also.
It it's a V6 3.0 but could be a similar problem.
Smelling and loosing some coolant all the time.
The waterpump was looking somewhat corroded, but looked dry.
Replaced it anyway, and now it seems resolved, no leaking and no smell anymore.

Regards,
Peter Jan
S-type ( 1999 + 1967 )