My old van seem to use anti-freeze like it's soda pop. I even had my mechanic check to see if there's a leak somewhere, and he didn't find a leak. So, does it just get used up and evaporate, or some other explanation?
Today, I filled up the radiator, plus I added more to the overflow container. It took it quite a while before it finally put out any heat from the vents, so at least my heat is working again.
Could be boiling over (stuck thermostat). Or, could have a bad gasket. Any signs of it in your motor oil??
I just checked the oil and it looked like oil should look, so I don't think so.
My mechanic said he checked everything because I put it in the shop specifically because I thought it had a radiator leak somewhere.
The thermostat gauge moves from cold to warm(er) as the engine warms up, so that appears to be working as far as I can tell. The mechanic checked that thing, too.
You need to look at the *drained* oil to see what sorts of stuff puddles on top. Looking at the dip stick is like trying to decide how many people are at a party by looking through the keyhole.
[OTOH, there's some stuff you can use to check for water in *fuel* -- by running a dipstick into the tank. Not sure if it works for oil, though]It's not the *gauge* but the actual thermostatic VALVE. Usually located at the top of the block.
If an external leak is not obvious, and the oil is normal, then most likely coolant is leaking into a cylinder and being burned out the exhaust.
Have your mechanic do a compression test to look for a blown head gasket.
and pressure test the cooling system.
replacce radiator cap with one that caan be pumped with pressure. pump to say 30 pounds, then let it sit and see if pressure drops
had a van once that lost coolant, it was perfect when checked, but lost coolant when hot
or it is leaking onto an exhaust pipe and evaporating. Had a Taurus that did that, and you could smell it easily.
Mark
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I'll bet you do have a gasket leak; probably intake manifold. Had identical symptoms on '98 Chebby pick'em-up V8. Let it go for several years and never got large enough to ever see the actual leak as it evaporated from engine heat as fast as it seeped but finally took it to the guy in town before a road trip to even more remote ground in NM for a fence-building weekend last July 4 weekend--figured if it were to fail catastrophically that'd be the time and that would _NOT_ be the place!!!! :)
Anyway, he did discover it was the intake manifold gasket leaking an there was no leaking into the crankcase, it was all external (not that it always is, just that it _can_ be).
OBTW, if this fits your case, don't use the standard GM replacement gaskets; use the "upgraded" of "heavy duty" ones from Felpro or another quality 3d-party vendor; they have a metal interface shim whereas the originals don't...
Nope , if there's coolant in the oil it will form an emulsion that closely resembles grease . Other than that , antifreeze has some serious corrosion problems with main and rod bearing inserts . Doesn't take a whole long time to blow up the motor .
Muggles laid this down on his screen :
Pull and check the spark plugs for contamination. If you find a sign of coolant, you prolly have a blown head gasket. There are several other places to check, so start with the hoses or signs of a leak anywhere in the engine compartment. Do you get a sound like a leak in the exhast?
A contaminated spark plug would do the same thing.
A v-8 I had with a blown head gasket looked like one of the spark plugs had been steamed cleaned.
Most common cause of "mystery dissapearing antifreeze" is bad hose connections. Loose clamps etc. The entifreeze only comes out then it is hot, and evaporates right away. The "tell" is white (or pinkinf, greenish, or yellowish) deposits and sometimes gooey deposits around the offending connection. Sometimes a bit of "sweet"smell under the hood with the engine warm.
If the temp guage isn't going high it is inlikely to be overheating. They will usually "bang" and make strange noises when they overheat too - and the engine will "ping" under load when hot.
The biggest "tell" for antifreeze (or water) getting into the oil is a white foamy deposit on the filler cap.
Anhydrous copper sulfate is white and will turn blue in the presence of moisture but it doesn't work well in oil unless you can get it to the bottom of the sump.
That's what was in the "waterchek" paste we used on the dit sticks for the tanks at the gas station eons ago.
That is a possibility but will cause the exhaust to smell "sweet" and usually cause the engine to run rough, particularly on a cold start after a good warm run.
Can't get into the exhaust without going through the engine - head, block, head gasket, or intake manifold gasket. On 3.0 (or was it the old 3.8?) Taurus the timing cover gasket was a major leak risk
Is the van a 3800 (3.8) V6 GM?? If so the intake is a real possibility.
If your windows are fogging up, it could be a bad heater core.
Particularly on 3.8 Fords. 2 tablespoons of antifreeze in the oil for half an hour will make the sucker knock - and virtually impossible to patch up.
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