coolant leak
 

Hey all. Yesterday on the way to work I got a "low coolant" message on my dash light. I bought some 50/50 and waited until I got off work and filled the radiator. When I got home I filled the recovery bottle. Today the recovery bottle is empty. I looked in the radiator and there was still coolant right above the coil. I added a little more (as per the directions "one inch from top"). I took my car to my mechanic, but he couldn't lok at it, but he said that (and you could see the leak standing in front of the vehicle) from the position of the leak that it looked like the bottle was leaking. When I got home I looked to see if the bottle was leaking, but it didn't appear so, but the dripping seemd to be coming from under the engine. I tried to crawl under the car and inspect, but couldn't see exactly where the leak was coming from.

I have done some "Googling" and think maybe it's the water pump.

My REAL question is "Why would all the coolant be gone from the recovery bottle when the car wasn't running?" It's my understanding that the water pump runs when the car in running. So maybe the bottle is leaking? It's just running down and over and looks like it's coming from the engine? (I'm really trying to keep the problem from being the water pump....LOL)

Any ideas???

thanks in advance,

sb

Maybe I should add that's it's a 1991 OLDS 98 166K

When the coolant leaks when running, it creates an air pocket, when you shut it off, it sucks coolant back in from the recovery tank. Get someone to put a pressure tester on it to find the leak, it may not leak until it gets warm (usually a sign of a water pump, sorry).

yeah. Thanks for the reply. I'll find out on Monday. That stinks.....lol....and I was just saying how happy I was because since I've had it (about 4 years), I've put brakes, tires, coil pack, and a new computer in it. So it's been well worth it. If a water pump costs $500, it's still not bad for how well this car has lasted (and run).

sb

If I'm not mistaken, WP should run 2.5 hours labor and anout $75 in parts, $325 or so total, 500 sounds high.

You were almost spot-on on the parts ($80.22), but the labor was $91.00. So, $177 and I'm up and running!!!:D I'm ok with that!