ive had a small coolant leak for the past few weeks that suddenly turned into a huge leak. problem is, its not leaking out on to the ground anywhere. i can see that the reservoir tank gets completely empty after a 5 mile drive. its starting to reach temps above 200 after that. i took it to the shop an had it pressuer tested, and it held firm. no visible leaks, no guage drop. another thing is that i recently did an oil change and a day later the oil life read out was below 60%. i was thinkin it might be leaking into the engine, but the shop tech said the pressure test would have caught that..?

they are thinking that its leaking out of the reservoir itself. i dont see how that would effect temperature, though.

oh, and when i park to refill it and open the reservoir cap, coolant rushes into the reservoir from the engine.

any ideas guys?

 

Disregard the coolant rushing into the resevoir. That's normal if you remove the cap while the engine is hot. Its just the coolant expanding.

Now to find the leak... the most common coolant leak on the Ecotec is going to be the water pump. If you're looking from underneath the car at the back of the cradle... its above the passenger axle. Should be easy to find.

 

i agree i would check the water pump. you should see pink crystal like **** around from where ever its leaking. your oil saying 60% after doing an oil might be u not resteting the light? not calling u stupid just trying to figure this out. the only thing that the oil life % is based off of is the milage uve driven since u reset the light. so if u didnt reset the light theres that problem.
as far as the coolant. get a flashlight and look all around ur engine bay from pink crystalized crap like i said before. the water pump is part of the pulley system so if it were leaking u would be able to see it. and probobly the easiest way to know there is a water pump leak is to open the hood. and look up at the black guard under the hood. if u see a streak of white on it then u have a water pump leak. the coolant gets on the belt and splats on the heat guard on the hood leaving that streak. that would be my first check

 

thanks, i will check the water pump.

i did reset the oil life think right after i changed it. a few days later it had dropped to 60%... i usualy dont pay attention to that anyway, cuz i change every 3k miles. but i switch from trip meter to collant temp alot (record mileage for work) and i noticed it dropped a lot quicker than usual.

 

ya that is strange then. but i wouldnt worry about it. except the coolant problem. id try to figure that out.

 

Could have a head gasket blown and the cylinder pressure is going into the coolant and forcing it out the overflow while you are driving,thus the empty reservior .
Do a compression check,.
And definitly keep an eye on the oil level if it goes up you know where the coolant is going.(not a good thing)

Ive had it where the head gasket leaked only at a certain engine temp and then stopped when it was cold or at running temp .Came out to find a puddle every morning and took forever to find the leak.


Any white smoke from the tail pipe when you accelerate?

 

no white smoke that i can see. out of my mirrors of course.

 

As someone who has had Neons before I have a lot of experience with blown head gaskets. 8)
I have also seen HG leaks perform differently whether the engine was hot or cold. Check the oil cap for moisture and check the plugs to see how they look. Send the oil out for testing if neccesary.
If you think it is pushing antifreeze out throught the overflow take a plastic coke bottle and cut a vent hole near the top, duct tape it onto the overflow hose. You will have coolant in the coke bottle if it is comiing out the overflow because it won't be able to syphon it back up.

 

You dont need to send the oil for testing,just capture a bottle full when changing the oil and let it sit over night .it will seperate and the coolnat will be on the bottom.
Even looking at the bottle you will see what looks like bubbles of coolant floating in it .

Just to let you know if you suspect the coolant going in the oil dont drive the car.crank bearing dont like coolant and in no time you will start hearing piston slap caused by the loose bearing.speaking from experience on the wifes van.

 

oil cap

and the dipstick shows an excesive amount of fluid in the engine.
so...
head gasket?
head damage?
what else could the problem be?
im proly lookin at sumwhere north of $500 for the repair, right?

 

wats that sound like?

 

Dont drive the car or even start it.hope there wasnt to much premature wear caused by the coolant!
Was there any knocking noise coming from the motor?if so the main bearing are going to be shot.
DONOT Start the car again!!!!

Piston slap sounds like a knocking type noise that increases with rpm.

 

That's a blown head gasket for sure. Take it a shop ASAP or start tearing it down.
Don't keep driving it.

 

when i start the car it sounds kinda like a knockin, sorta like the deisel vdubs. is that what you were refering to?
its been doing that since before the leak got bad, and it stops as soon as i get on the throttle, even just a lil bit.
i happen to have a cometic head gasket. what kinda pricing am i looking at?