Best way to track a coolant leack?

Aneab · Post by **Aneab** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:15 am

Hey guys, i've got a little coolant issue, somewhere through my system i'm leaking coolant... and after about 10 minutes of my car sitting after running, i get tons of vapor on my windsheild... I need to know how to track the leak... today my car almost overheated, but luckily i noticed something was wrong and popped into neutral while on the move, and let the engine idle it's temp down... I pulled into a gas station and there was no coolant at all in the little tank thingy... So yeah... Help would be appreciated.

~Kyle

Edit: also note that i check the coolant regularly... so this was somewhat surprising, i do a check once every 3 weeks about... but i missed the last one so it's been about 6 weeks since i checked last... plenty of time to slowly release, but now i've noticed it's worse...

Audacity Racing · Post by **Audacity Racing** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:18 am

check around your thermostat... it's the weakest place in the coolant system. you may just need a new gasket, but that's where i would check first.

next would be all the main hoses (radiator)

Aneab · Post by **Aneab** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:20 am

well when i almost overheated, i did a check of the hoses, they looked great, being theyd been replaced about a year ago, but it's possible they may have developed a crack on the undersides that i couldn't see... I'll have another look in the light tomorrow...

~Kyle

Aneab · Post by **Aneab** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:20 am

How hard is it to replace the gasket anyway?

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:18 am

Not hard, 2 12mm bolts is all it takes to pull of the thermostat and then simply exchange the gaskets. (On Lanos anyway, should be similar with Nubira).

If you saw vapor on your windsheild chances are it is a busted hose or damaged heater core thats leaking into the cowl area.

There are kits available that you add UV reflective fluid into your coolant system and let it run. When it starts to leak, simply turn on a UV light, and the location of the leak glows with guilt.

Aneab · Post by **Aneab** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:20 am

BosnianLanos wrote:Not hard, 2 12mm bolts is all it takes to pull of the thermostat and then simply exchange the gaskets. (On Lanos anyway, should be similar with Nubira).

If you saw vapor on your windsheild chances are it is a busted hose or damaged heater core thats leaking into the cowl area.

There are kits available that you add UV reflective fluid into your coolant system and let it run. When it starts to leak, simply turn on a UV light, and the location of the leak glows with guilt.

I'm beginning to think it's the heater core, i was just driving home from my gf's house with a completely warm engine, heat on and all... and i didn't get squat out of the air vents on the inside, was chilled air all the way through, even colder than outside air... My engine temp also spiked and went back down to normal, i wasn't sure what that was about...

~Kyle

Aneab · Post by **Aneab** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 11:16 pm

Guys, i have a question again, i found that the coolant is leaking out underneath the driver's side door... there is no sign of it leaking anywhere in the engine bay... after about... 5 hours i can leak a whole radiator reservoir onto the ground... Now i'm not sure, but i wanted to ask where the heater core is at in our cars? is it under the dash?i followed some hoses that connect to the radiator hoses back to the firewall, but wasn't sure what or to where they went. Thanks in advance...

~Kyle

Aneab · Post by **Aneab** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 1:27 am

Need help again, asap this time... I found some water dripping inside my car, down to the floor on the passenger side... now i'm pretty sure that it's the heater core since that's the only thing that's inside...

now the question is...

How do i get to it????????????????????? I've been trying to about an hour and no success... =(

Aneab · Post by **Aneab** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 1:34 am

Update: i figured out how to bypass it for now, I'd still like to know how to get to it so i can replace it... but untill then it doesn't matter as much... any help is still appreciated

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:51 pm

it sounds very much like the heater core indeed... as far as i know it is located inside the A/C box under the dash but i got no idea how to replace it... in here it is hot already so we simply bypass the heater core whenver it starts causing problems.

MMamdouh

Aneab · Post by **Aneab** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:38 pm

yeah it gets warmer here aroundt his time, and only stays cold for about a month sometimes up to two and a half months... but even then i can do without a heater most of the time... so really it's not an urgent problem... more of a resale problem i guess...

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:28 am

Trust me, you want nothing to do with a heater core replacement, I think I'd rather do an engine swap than a core change. You have to pull the dash, unplug all of the wires, the airbags, then take apart the heater assembly to get to a tiny ass core, then you have to swap it and put it all back together and deal with incessent AIRBAG lights and nondescript rattles which will drive you up a wall.

Simply get a small plastic "V" pipe bend, cut the two heater hoses leading to firewall, and splice them together with the connector. No more leaks, but no more heaters.

This is what I did when my Lanos's heater kicked the bucket, but then again, no need for a heater in Florida.