Seems like my car is set on giving me as many problems as possible lately...

This morning on my way to work, the low coolant buzzer went off for a few moments then back off again, so I figured it was an air bubble or something. When I got to work I popped the hood just to check and make sure there weren't any leaks. I didnt see anything, but I noticed my overflow bottle was completely full.

Is it supposed to be that full? I figured some coolant would flow in, but not fill it all the way..

I will check again in a couple hours and see where the level is.

 

I feel that its not a coolant see. I have no smoke at start up, and no over heating. But really, Im confused.

 

Maybe its a leak in the tube from the filler neck to the bottle?

 

had the same problem, turns out i have a blowned coolant seal. hope this is not your problem, do a pressure check

 

check or replace you pressure cap...look at seal on it..also do check line from reservoir to cap hoising if there is a small hole to pin hole it will only draw air and no fluid...it has happend to some of my buddies...

 

The cap is relatively new, maybe a year old. I am planning on replacing the hose from the overflow to filler neck.

 

So I did the following during my lunch break...

-emptied the completely full coolant over flow so that it was between the recommended lines
-filled the radiator to the top of the filler neck
-drove car till the gauge read that it was fully warm, at that point, the buzzer went off again
-topped off coolant again, kept driving for another 2-3 mins and parked the car and ate lunch
-15 mins or so later i get back in the car, start it up and drive off, 2-3 mins pass then the buzzer goes on momentarily, then off, then on, then off again, then on
-it is now parked in my work parking lot, with the buzzer on as i shut it down

WTF is going on? I see no smoke from the exhaust. It idles, starting hasnt changed. I checked the coolant level in the overflow when I got back, barely any change. Where is this coolant going??? Ugh, this is seriously aggravating me.

 

Not what I wanted to hear. I was hoping it may just be a problem with the overflow not flowing back in. 30 miles back to my house, should be interesting.

 

Did you run the heater while you were filling it up? Might have an air bubble in there.....

 

No I did not.

I filled it, buzzer sounded, filled again (didnt take much) buzzer intermittantly sounding again. Does it just keep burping itself cause of the air its pulling in (possibly) from the bad overflow situation?

 

You mentioned emptying the overflow tank. When I had the problem, I could empty the overflow tank back into the radiator and have the correct amount of coolant. In other words, I was not losing coolant, I was just leaving it in the tank.

Any small leak can turn into a vacuum leak, preventing the coolant return. The connections that are most likely are the connections to the overflow tank and the rad cap.
A good pressure test should find the leak if it is not in the overflow lines. Replace the cap, even if it is fairly new. A waterpump shaft seal can be a problem.

If all else fails, you determine that the coolant seals are fine, you can do what I did: I converted to a no pressure cooling system using NPG+. It works great. My leak turned out to be a crack in the S5 plastic thermostat cover. I found the leak long after I solved the issue.


http://www.evanscooling.com/index2.html

 

Take the upper cap off and run the car. See if theres abunch of bubbley. If so, its most definitely a seal. Also, i had NO smoking whatsoever.

This is what my car was doing when the seal was bad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if04UbTdlO8

Make sure the thermostat is good.

 

S5's dont have that upper cap. But I will do that with the regular cap off. I just want to get it home 1st.

 

Also in my case, it was bad enough that you could see it bubbling in the overflow tank.

 

When I had the cap off this morning, the filled the coolant all the way up, didnt see any bubbles, it was just slightly spilling over the top of the filler neck.

 

I kind of had this situation going today, the motor was warm and the coolant was completely filled, but only slightly overflowing, no bubbles that I saw. But I will give this a shot...

 

Well, it got me home from work. Filled the coolant before starting the car, let it idle with the cap off to let any air out. Didnt see too many bubbles, definitely no constant ones at least, coolant was slowly overflowing from the filler. Drove it around the block to let the thermostat open up, and when it did, the buzzer sounded again. Added more coolant and it was fine until I got into stop and go traffic.

What I noticed that the only time the buzzer would sound was when the car was idling, any time i was in gear and moving the car with the engine, no buzzer. Def seems like it takes a bit extra to get it started.

 

So are you saying it may not be a seal, but just a leak? Ill try better to get the air out this weekend, for now, Ill just make sure to keep adding coolant.

 

Well, topped the car off this morning while it was cold, then let it idle for 5-10 mins. Then took a few laps around the parking lot, notice some coolant was pushed into the bottle, so I topped it off again and let it idle some more. Finally had to get going to work so I capped it off and left. Didnt get a single buzzer on my 30mi trip, mostly on the highway. So who knows...

 

Make sure that the hose to the overflow bottle is hooked to the correct nipple on the cap, it's very easy to hook it to the wrong one. Even if it looks right, blow through it to make sure.

 

2 things.

you should have a air release on passeneger side of radiator. this allows air out of sealed system, this has to be removed ever time you add coolant.

second, did you ever remove the coolant drain on the block? maybe you got some junk in there, causing coolant to pass by once in a while, in the process picking up air in the block?

I would do complete flush, then try those 2 things..run water through rad, untill water is clear coming out bottom of block.

run heater wide open, fill as needed, remove air bleed screw on rad..

Hoses only go bad when you grab them and you hear them crackle,(cords inside breaking) or they collapse when you get engine warm..=bad hoses.

 

Drove the car home without a problem... I dunno... noticed the car wouldnt make its full 5.5psi of boost, but it was pretty warm out today

 

I know exactly what you are talking about. I had the same situation happen to me three times this summer. It comes and goes. Any more updates?

 

I do this to fill my coolant.
1. Start cold car with cap off and heat at full blast.
2. Poor coolant into cap until full.
3. When Efan comes on meaning car is at operating temp I make sure coolant is full to top and place the cap on it.
4. Drive and enjoy.
U must let the car come to temp before replacing cap.

 

I'm having the a similar issue (1987 non-turbo). I just replaced the water pump and thermostat, and have driven it about 500 miles since (Two fill-ups).

Yesterday, the Add Coolant light comes on just as I get home.

This morning, the reservoir is completely full. What's weird, though, is that my upper radiator hose was still collapsed flat. (Returned to normal after opening the cap) If there was a leak somewhere, shouldn't have returned to normal overnight?