Just changed a hose on the cooling system on a 3.2 automatic and have an odd coolant loss.since replacing the hose ,we took a couple of days to get the air out of the system. But nonetheless after one top off the level was spot on for over a week. So yesterday after an hour long trip to 3000 ft elevation we shut the car off for an hour. Upon. Restarting the car low coolant light was on . After checking level the entire reservoir was empty. This is odd because that would mean this happened while the car was sitting. Reason I say this is because the light didn't trip while car was running. I topped off system and when I checked it a while later no change occured.i did not check it after the return trip ended because the coolant low light wasn't on!So after it sat all night I checked it and low and behold the entire reservoir was empty. I've checked all fluids and under car and around engine and visually looked for white smoke .....nada........of course I'll look into further diagnosis but thought I'd see if anyone has something to add.....

 

Hello. Please did you find a solution to this issue? I've been dealing with similar symptoms going on over a year now. I've had the cooling system checked, some hoses replaced and all. All to no avail.

 

well, there's only a few places the coolant can go... hoses to/from the radiator and reservoir, the radiator (look for effluence on seams etc), heater core, o-rings and hoses to/from the back of the block are the typical culprits. The only other possible place is the head gasket. Any "sweet" smell when the heater first comes on with a cold start? If yes, check for dampness in the footwell carpets (heater core/o-rings/heater hoses). Any white smoke and again a sweet smell on a cold start? any froth on the dip stick or residue in the overflow reservoir (suggests a head gasket issue) Any spotting on the driveway or wetness on the underside? You may need to remove the splash shield to get a better look... When your tech checked the cooling system, did they run a full pressure test? Did the PSI's drop any over say 15 minutes? Maybe worth a retest.

 

When my 2008 was 13 years old, the coolant tank on the passenger side was leaking. I had to replace it.

 

Thanks for such a detailed troubleshooting guide.

There are no signs of this leak except in the volume in the reservoir bottle, speaking of which, seems to have some residue that's marking up the bottle where the coolant settles - around the MIN mark.

In the past 5 days or so, it has curiously sat at the MIN point without significant reduction - the most consistent it's been in a while. I'm minded to leave it alone to see if it diminishes further, or illuminates the LOW COOLANT warning.

I'm also suspicious of the reservoir bottle cap, and looking to replace it as part of the diagnosis.

Many thanks.