Why is my coolant disappearing as soon as I turn on my car?

Question

So i do see coolant on my engine on the outside. But there is NO DRIPPING at all. No coolant on the floor can be seen. I feel up my reservoir tank with coolant and as soon as I turn on my car it all dissappears, but again nothing is dripping.

I have checked my oil and it is not mixing into the oil. I have had this problem for 2 years probably and my car never over heats. So my coolant is always low. But my coolant stops at a certain point. I'll always see a quarter of an inch of coolant in my reservoir tank. If I feel it up it'll drop back down to that point and stay at that point. I can drive the car like this and for 2 years I have had no over heating ever.

Why is my coolant disappearing? Will a coolant sealant solve this problem? Driving a 2007 chevy Malibu.

I am not to worried about this car as it is only my beater car. I have another car that I drive around. But I'm probably driving the Malibu 20 - 30 miles a day. A year ago I was driving it 50 miles a day even with the coolant problem and no over heating. It has 150,000 miles on it so I don't really want to invest to much to fix it. Hoping I can fix it myself.

Thanks for reading this long question. Sorry.

Answer 1

Coolant may be evaporating from the radiator cap. Get a new one and see how you go. They're only $12 or something

Answer 2

if this is happening every time the car has a blown head gasket and it is mixing oil and coolant

Answer 3

Assuming it is not on the ground it is in the motor. It is not yet full when the coolant circulates. After about 15 minutes of driving you needle may go up. Don't get excited. When you can remove the cap add more coolant. And now you should be good. Many engines also have drain cocks which should be bled.

Answer 4

You need to fill the radiator slowly while the engine is running as you watch it warm up to operating temperature. You have air pockets that are allowing coolant to boil over, since the system does not get to the right pressure to lower the boiling point.

Answer 5

Check the 90 degree elbow that's on the passenger side of the lower intake manifold. They are hard to see when leaking.

Answer 6

Cracked cylinder head leaking engine coolant into the head exhaust valve ports, then out the exhaust pipe. Very probable! If you don't see the missing coolant on the ground or in the oil sump, it went out the exhaust manifold port into the tail pipe! These type of head cracks are undetectable with a pressure tester because the crack only opens up when the engine is hot.

Answer 7

Sounds like it's just blowing excess coolant out. I'd agree that it might be useful to have a pressure test carried out, that might reveal a small leak where the coolant expelled is being vaporised so you don't see it when you check. If there's no other problem just keep on driving, but stay alert for actual overheating issues.

Answer 8

If it is not overheating, it is not broken. Leave it alone.

Answer 9

It could be coolant is getting onto the engine block and vaporizing when the metal gets hot.

Answer 10

You should get a coolant pressure test just to make sure. Heard it’s not that expensive either

Answer 11

There are several gallons in your cooling system. If it's empty, FILL IT! Put in a gallon or 2 gallons or 3 gallons, until it stops disappearing! Then keep your eyes on it.



1/4 inch means it's empty!



If you have a leaking cylinder head gasket, the coolant can disappear out the exhaust pipe as steam. Did you have an overheated engine recently? Does your heater blow heat? Or cold air?



Check your oil. Does it look like a banana milk shake?

Answer 12

The head gasket may be leaking it into a combustion chamber(s) where it gets evaporated rapidly. Or a small leak in the radiator matrix can evaporate before you can see it. As said, a coolant system pressure test is called for and maybe a compression test too.