UPDATE : did a compression test. my motor seems to be healthy. i have been daily driving the car and coolant level has not gone down. does coolant evaporate under hard driving? my car does not have an oil cooler installed


Original:
today, i drove my car hard. four sessions of about 15 minutes of mountain twisties. after the 2nd run, i noticed my coolant reservoir was empty. so i topped it off. after my 4th run i noticed my reservoir was empty again. so i topped it off.
now that i have driven home (4 hrs) my reservoir is half way empty......
i dont see any signs of leakage. my exhaust doesnt smell funny. my oil looks normal. where should i check next??

 

stock Rad? how hot was the car when you were checking? also did you check your overflow tank?

 

In the morning before you drive it, pull the radiator cap off and fill it to the neck. Check the overflow tank and make sure its not filled more than the half way mark. Drive it for a bit and check the overflow tank again.

N

 

+1 ^

 

Your situation sounds very similar to what was going on when my engine gave out. Third session out on the track I started noticing that my overflow was just slightly below the full. I also noticed a few drops of coolant in the engine bay. Thinking this was odd because I have never lost coolant before, I kept attention to it.

Long story short my head gasket was giving out causing coolant to leak through. Coolant seeped through to the combustion chamber and flash cooled my cylinders and ruined my head beyond repair.

I would do a cylinder leakdown test at least.

 

Headgasket is or fixing to go......gl

 

lifting the head? does it spray on the windshield when making a pull? could be that or headgasket going out. sounds like its blowing compression out of the radiator. time for a compression test.

 

very hot. although i do not have a temp gauge. overflow tank is what im talking about here

i will do so today

i do not see a leak anywhere. where else could coolant go?? i will do compression test asap. car boosts fine and runs fine. though..

 

where is the best place to purchase a compression tester?

 

If there's any autozones around there they have them on loan-a-tool

 

harbor freight has a cheap leakdown and compression tester from us general

 

did a compression test. my motor seems to be healthy. i have been daily driving the car and coolant level has not gone down. does coolant evaporate under hard driving? my car does not have an oil cooler installed

 

I had this same issue when my head gasket went bad. I had no signs of coolant in the oil, no loss of coolant under normal driving, no overheating, and no white smoke from the exhaust. Anytime I would put the motor under boost, it would push coolant. I conducted a compression test and everything checked out fine as is there were no problems.

What was happening was the cylinder pressure was leaking past the head gasket under boost and pressurizing the coolant system, pushing coolant out the overflow. More than likely, that is your issue.

 

so you are saying it was your headgasket but compression test didnt show it?? where exactly was headgasket leaking at?? what color was ur coolant? do you recommend a headgasket replacement in this case?

 

Elaborate on what you mean by your oil looks normal. It's quite possible you are losing coolant into your oil. That's how mine blew. Do an oil change and check if you have coolant in your oil.