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Re: dissapearing fluid?!?!?!?!?!?! Posted by Ari [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: dissapearing fluid?!?!?!?!?!?!, Garret, Mon, 7 Oct 2002 19:38:51 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I second 'sab'. The fact that you smell the fluid tells you it's evaporating.
There are lots of ways to lose coolant but not leave puddles. If you have a very slight leak, the fluid loss rate will be so low that the coolant evaporates before it gets enough to drip. The coolant also tends to leak only when warm, because the system is pressurized then.
Look around for white or greenish powder on coolant hoses, especially where they meet fittings. The most common place for a leak is at a connection. Run your hand underneath hoses - they leak along the bottom, not the top.
It's very common for hose clamps to loosen up. The heat/cooling cycle drives expansion and contraction, and that slowly forces clamps open just a little. It's especially true as the weather gets cooler, because there is a bigger temperature swing. I usually go through my car with a nutdriver tightening clamps come October/November, just as a precaution.
Yes, this has happened to you before, you just didn't notice. That isn't a slight on your powers of observation, but that the problem was smaller then. The only cooling system I've ever seen that didn't leak at least a little was empty.
Tightening clamps is just part of regular maintenance.
Of course, don't ignore the possibility that your heater valve is leaking. A very small amount of coolant can make a lot of smell, and if the heater valve is leaking inside the car, you can get the carpeting wet and not notice.
Good luck!
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