Engine Coolant loss

Val

I had the strangest thing happen with my 39. I use hyper cool with my prestone antifreeze and my temp gage usually rides at the 1/4 mark. It began riding center so I figured time to add hyper cool again this year. So when I opened the radiator cap I noticed I couldn't see any coolant so I put my finger in the radiator. Nothing! I added the hyper cool and almost a full gallon of prestone. Now, my car doesn't smoke and I noticed no visible leak and never had any antifreeze on the garage floor. My tail pipe isn't wet after driving. So Not sure what happened. Any ideas? Anyone???

Lance

Any cracks around the water jackets? Check your oil. If it looks like milk chocolate, there may be a problem.

Val

No oil in the radiator and no antifreeze in the crankcase. Oil looks good Lance. And no visible leak anywhere

lostmind

Check for stains at water pump weep hole. Probably evaporates after leaking.

ken1962

Hate to say it but you might have a head gasket crack or worse a crack in the block and the water is going thru the exhaust

Val

Ill check at the water pump, ken1962, I would think if it was a head gasket and water was getting in the exhaust I would have a wet tail pipe. I do not. It does not smoke and runs good. I'm getting ready to drive her the 250 miles to Dr Doug's place for the spring crank up. So I was just going over everything when I noticed the coolant was low. As I said I have no visible leak and nothing on the garage floor.  

Val

Ok no stains around the weep hole of the water pump. I had her out running this morning for the first time in a couple of days due the rain we have had here. She runs good and does not smoke. I checked for leakage around the head ,at the water pump, at the radiator and water jacket cover. Nothing. Tail pipe is dry. Only thing I can think of is maybe when I serviced it last fall I didn't put enough in it and when running the heater this winter some went into the heater core and that caused the issue. As I checked the fluid level this morning before I started her up and it was normal.    

ken1962

Good to hear Val. A drop would make sense when reactivating the heater flow. Have a lovely drive and best of luck cheers ken

MikeSheridan

Val - I am very interested in seeing your car. I plan to be at Dougs. I hope to see you there.

Val

Thanks Ken and Mike I look forward to seeing your car again too. I'll be there God willing. I'll drive out Friday.  

Kaji

Maybe you have some cracks in your coolant system. This is a very serious problem. I think that you should go to a mechanic to solve this problem. I also had a crack because I used a low-quality coolant from a no-name brand. From that time I use www.cararac.com to see what is the perfect brand to use for my beloved car. It's a very useful platform where you can find a lot of new interesting facts about your car. I use only the best coolant on market, from that time I never had any problem with the coolant system.

cheyenne7271

It could be that you have a head gasket with a small leak, not enough to be detected by smoke or steam from the tail pipe, just evaporates before you see it. My 50 did that for a few months, until I finally pulled the head. Pull your spark plugs and see if there are rust stains on them. That could be an indication of head gasket. 

Val

It was mysterious, I never had an issue after that time?

supercub

O'Reileys Auto Parts rents cooling system testers. 

Val

Thanks supercub thats good to know