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Powder trails? Posted by Ari [Email] (#2847) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Ari) on Wed, 1 Jun 2005 08:33:37 In Reply to: Coolant Questions, Aaron, Wed, 1 Jun 2005 06:37:16 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Do you see any green or whitish powder trails, especially where hoses meet nipples? That's dried coolant.
The following comes to mind-
Loose clamps. A slightly loose clamp can cause a non-visible leak. When the car is cold, the system isn't pressurized so coolant wont' come out. You start the car and drive off - as the system heats up, it pressurizes, and pushes coolant out through loose clamps. As the metal and hose heats up, they expand, and seal the slight leak. So you don't see anything leaking. Only in the very narrow time band of the system heating up. The coolant weeps out and almost immediately evaporates. Give all the hose clamps a good tightening - I like to do it twice a year - beginning of cold weather, and beginning of the warm weather.
Leaky water pump seal. Yes, it is supposed to drip when it leaks. But it starts slow, and that weep hole is buried in there. So you could be weeping some coolant into the usual gummy mess below the pump. It would evaporate before reaching the ground. Eventually it'll get bad enough to drip on the ground.
Tired coolant reservoir cap. It is supposed to vent at high pressure, but sometimes they start venting at lower pressures as they get tired. So a warm system will be a little venting coolant vapor all the time. It adds up after a while, but the vapor dissipates, and you don't end up with drips. A new cap is the only solution there.
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