Where is the car?
Where is the car?
The GECCO
You begin your riding career with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
Car's in the garage. The coolant level was a little low in the reservoir but it remained the same after I the car got up to temp and I drove it for 15-20 mins. Wouldn't that do the same thing as the test you mentioned?
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LoL Sorry, my bad...when I asked where the car is I meant as in where do you live, how far are you from me, etc.
A couple things about the symptoms you mentioned earlier, mainly the wild temperature swings. The temp sending unit is at the front drivers side of the intake manifold, very high on the motor. This means that as the coolant level drops the temp sender may not always be bathed in coolant. Once it's exposed to air, that air inside the motor will heat up very quickly and that's the temperature the sending unit will report. Sooner or later coolant will slosh over the sensor again and the gauge reading will drop quickly to the water temp. As this cycle repeats the reading fluctuates.
OK, so based on what you said above it sounds like it may not be head gasket. Still, where is the air coming from, and where is the coolant going?
You're sure there aren't any small coolant drips anywhere under the car? Here's another test - drive the car to full temp (30 min minimum in this cold) then put it in the garage (is the floor swept clean?) and let it idle for another 10 min. Yes, leave the door open LoL This extra idling is because it's so cold out, we need to let the car run for a while without air flowing over the radiator to insure the entire system is up to temp. Now look under the car for any coolant leaks. Get a strong flashlight and look over every inch of the radiator for moisture. I've seen pinhole leaks that release so little coolant that as is dribbles down the radiator fins it evaporates from the heat before ever reaching the bottom of the radiator and then dripping to the ground. This makes it harder to find the source of the leak. Coolant evaporating off the outside of a radiator could also account for the coolant smell you reported before.
Next we need to see if the system is holding pressure. Shut the motor off and grab a couple heavy towels (that you don't mind getting dirty). Use them to crack the radiator cap about 1/8-1/4 turn, until the first stop. There should be pressure and probably some coolant being forced out. If there is no pressure release, you definitely have a leak somewhere, the question is - where?
Check the oil to see if it's milky which indicates there is water in it. How long since the last oil change? If it's too recent the oil may not show signs yet.
The GECCO
You begin your riding career with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
I let the car idle after a 15 min drive yesterday then cracked the radiAtor cap a little and got pressure release, Little farther open and it shot some coolant out. So that should cover one of the tests. Oil's close to needing changing so it should show milky if there's water. I'm in Centennial btw.
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