hello people.....we have a 97 850GLT sedan ....its the daughters car, sooooo everyday checks and maintenance are a non exsistant concept,lol....i usually get "daaaaaaad, i have to leave right now and my car is ......{insert various issues here} ...lol

the newest trick this lil white brick has is she seems to be eating about a quart of antifreeze a week......no smoke, no leaks that we can find, oil is fine, coolant is fine....doesnt run cold or hot .....just goes through coolant like its running on it

thoughts???

i havent done vacuum tests or compression checks yet....just wondering if these cars have a regular issue

mileage ? od stopped at 199,999.99.....um 2 years ago..lol

 

You cant say its eating a quart a week then say there are no leaks...guess what, there is. Its going somewhere, have you checked your heater core? If that engine is dry everywhere then your losing into the engine, it does not have to smoke. That only happens if its excessive. Do a compression test and see if you build pressure in the expansion tank.

 

+1 with BoxPin> You do have a leak.

Usually when my daughter comes to me with car issues when she "has to leave now" it's because she wants one of my cars. I ended that real quick with some training. I make sure she know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had a car and I had a car. If I wanted my car to last longer than next week, I had to check it to keep things going and if SHE WANTED A CAR TO LAST LONGER THAN A WEEK, SHE HAD BETTER START DOING THE SAME. She is a smart girl and I made it clear that if she let it run out of oil, coolant, air in tires, etc., that would likely be a problem that she would suffer with until SHE WAS ABLE to replace the car. So, she check oil, coolant, etc., and adds it as needed. Now I'll fix things for her, but I'm not her gas station attendant. The fact that she is 150 miles away at college supports those needs for her to stay on top of it.

I think you need to take a few minutes and figure out where that coolant is going. My daughters coolant was coming out of a cracked cap, which is common. You need to find where her's is going. In the mean time, she needs to keep it full.

 

lol.....i totally get that i have a leak....of some sort......ill get a compression test on it as soon as i can get it into the shop [where i work]

she is a pretty smart girl as well....she might not check it as often as i'd like but i do ask "have you looked over the car" ....no......well you better or your not going to have one .....and like you said, i'll fix things for her and even check it over with her....its one of the few things a step dad and 19 year old daughter can still do together that isn't "eeewww" .....i often wonder where all my coolness went ...hahahaha

 

I would check the heater core before doing a compression test. Best way to check it is get the car to normal operating temp and turn the heat on. If you can smell a sweet smell through the vents it is leaking.

 

If you don't have what it takes to do the compression test but you do have a spark plug socket, you can try pulling the plugs. What you would be looking for is very clean looking plugs. If it's a head gasket that is leaking it might only be one or two but if you have an intake coolant leak (non volvo) you might see all of them too clean for their miles. When antifreeze is leaking into the cylinder it tends to clean the carbon off the plugs.
Might be worth a try.