Coolant loss question

[429dalefan]

I need some help. I have a 2004 Vibe with 22,000 miles on it. I noticed at 15k that my antifreeze tank was down. Not sure if it was filled to the line when servied new, so I kept an eye on it. Told dealer of the possible problem, said they found no leaks. It continued to go down. Took it back at 20k they refilled above line, so I marked it. Down again about 1/8" in 2,000miles. Went to another dealer with a different problem they tell me some loss is OK. I've lost about 3 1/2" in the tank in these 22,000 miles. I have never had a car lose any coolant let alone a new one. I have seen some other discussions about loss. Decided to pull a plug to see if I had any red color on the spark plugs. Took the top cover off the engine and put it right back on. I've never seen a plug setup like that. Just curious how many other people have coolant loss. I will be meeting with a GM factory Rep. soon. My windows also clunk and rattle, my dealer did not think that could be fixed. This forum has been very useful with that problem. I will be giving the service manager some of the pages dealing with fixing that problem. Thanks

[ColonelPanic]

Welcome aboard. I'm one of the few around here who have had some issues with coolant loss... It's been an issue since the car was only a few months old, and still continues now at almost 57,000 miles. I need to add some to mine again, now that I think about it.... Checked it the other day and it's getting quite low. After the engine has fully warmed up at this point, I'm slightly below half full in the reservior. I have been keeping an eye on the level and have watched it decline over time, the dealer has looked at it twice but never found anything wrong. I absolutely do not buy any sort of "normal" diagnosis, coolant should not just disappear... Good luck getting yours resolved, I've gotten nowhere with my problem, so I've had no choice but to ignore it and keep driving.

[northvibe]

ive never heard of losing coolant being normal and thats BS. take it to a diff. dealer before the warrenty is up. then if they dont either, ask to test drive a new one and see if the coolant goes down in that one. only car i had with coolant loss was one with a bad head gasket.

[johnd]

You've either got a leak, (like my Tahoe has been leaking for the last 5 years) no big deal unless it's bad, or you are losing your head gasket (like my 89 Daytona turbo), which is very bad.Take the radiator cap off (not the coolant reservoir cap), and take a good sniff (not while the engine is warm!!). If it smells like motor oil or exhaust, your head gasket is leaking. if the coolant looks milky, you have a severe problem. Auto parts stores have test kits to check for head gasket leaks. Head gasket problems need to be fixed ASAP, otherwise the engine will overhead, and be ruined. Really should not be a head gasket problem at this milage

[northvibe]

ah head gasket, i had one of those go in my old car, yea they are embarrassing also when you are driving around and blue-ish smoke is shooting out of ur tail pipe. then when you get home theres no coolant left...and when you add more it goes out of the tail pipe as well...mmm to bad, i loved that car yea losing coolant is serious business, i agree with johnd, check ur coolant for smell/look of it.

[ColonelPanic]

I need to get a whiff of mine and check it out... Hell, I still haven't added water to the stupid thing. DIE! DIE! DIE, YOU PIECE OF... Heh, the thing will get sent to the dealer on a rollback, yeah that's the NORMAL coolant leak there for ya buddy! Bad part is, I've tried the only other dealer in the area I would consider trying, and I wouldn't walk across the street to take a leak on their building if it were on fire. So I'm stuck with it "not being an issue" with the original dealer, not much of a choice despite the fact that i have to keep adding coolant.I guess it is normal! I have to keep telling myself that. Oh well, when it finally dies, GM will have to pay. I've done my part to try to get a resolution to this, but they have not. They wouldn't fix it two years ago, they wouldn't fix it last year, they probably wouldn't fix it now if I brought it back down there, but they may end up fixing it later. Gotta love my GMPP that's going to be around until a wee bit before 90,000 miles.

[binary]

I had an issue with an old car of mine, the mechanic pressure tested the coolant system. Has the dealer done this at all for you?

[ColonelPanic]

Allegedly, they have twice... Neither time they found anything.I always had a smell of coolant coming from the passenger's side front if you stood outside the car, I could smell it - but they said they couldn't smell it. No visible leaks anywhere... Not getting the smell so much these days but the level still drops.

[JohnC]

Mine did the same thing. I watched very close and the level decrease was like clockwork. I did the rad pressure drop test and had my oil and coolant analyzed...no leaks were indicated. Finaly I noticed after shutting off the engine the coolant resevoir would have a slight vapor coming out of it. This was enough to gradually lower my level. After changing my coolant using Prestone brand (the silver jug type) it no longer looses any level. Hope this helps you.

[21Rouge]

I added Toyo's premixed superlong life to top up my fluid. No level drop in a week of heavy driving. "Olympic" who has two Vibes, seems to think that new vehicles may have air in the system which slowly gets replaced by fluid in the reservoir.

[Limeliz16]

The Vib'e do have issues with coolant loss. They just go through coolant. The correct amount is 1 gallon every 5000 miles. If it is more than that, take it to a dealer. They also have a problem with intake manifold gaskets internally leaking, which you cannot see, so take it to a different dealer and ask them to pressure check it. Hope that helps!

[ColonelPanic]

Any ideas on where the stuff is going if everything has pressure tested ok twice already?A gallon every 5K considered normal is rather alarming, honestly, tbat is a very excessive amount... What are the problems with thense engines that cause the coolant loss?

[zionzr2]

Quote, originally posted by Limeliz16 »The Vib'e do have issues with coolant loss. They just go through coolant. The correct amount is 1 gallon every 5000 miles. If it is more than that, take it to a dealer. They also have a problem with intake manifold gaskets internally leaking, which you cannot see, so take it to a different dealer and ask them to pressure check it. Hope that helps! WHAT!!!!! You have got to be kidding!!! so if i drive 20,000 miles (less than two years of driving) there would be 4 gallons (16 qts) less coolant than i started??The system doesnt even hold 2 gallons according to the manual 6.9 qts?? That would mean i couldnt even go 10,000 miles before the system went bone dry. So i would have to add coolant every time i got gas. AND THIS IS NORMAL!!! I SURE AS %#$! HOPE NOT!!!

[ColonelPanic]

If that's true, damn, I'm glad for once that my car is abnormal. I'm complaining about losing half of what is in the reservior every few months, not a friggin' gallon!

[joatmon]

I had the coolant flushed on mine at some point, say roughly 30K or 40 K miles ago. The level in my tank is still fine. So I agree with zionr2, I'd be pretty pissed if I lost a gallon every 5K miles.

[hammeredk]

Well I'll be doggone.....SO last Friday, my wife and I buy a "certified" pre-owned 2004 base Vibe. Happy we were/are....(although having just found this forum, I wish I had known about you guys sooner!!!! Perhaps I would have chosen more wisely....but what can ya do?). So being hypersensitive to a number of things, I first notice (before reading these forums) that the coolant level seemed a little low. No problem, I thought. Then the NEXT day, when the car was at the same temp (cold), same conditions...the coolant was down about 3/4". AT this level, it was well below the "LOW" level. Seems to have dropped a slight bit today.Hmmm....time to take action in some capacity, for sure....or else.Since I bought the car from a certified GM dealer, I now know that talking to them about it is useless. I'm going to see about having a flush and whatnot tomorrow. Even though I asked for this and an oil change, etc. before turning it over to me to drive off the lot, I now know they didn't touch the thing. They did vacuum it out and squeege the front window. It has just over 34,000 miles. Reading these forums certainly makes me look forward to what may be to come in the future of our vibe. Shame what with the problems....it's such a great looking car that fits our needs. We'll see how she does...Interesting about the loss of coolant. It's just........gone. Did you guys ever decide or figure out which coolant is best to replace the existing (Toyota Pink) stuff with? (sorry, that's a can o'worms, I know)Like I say, she is getting a flush out tomorrow so.....Thanks for everyone's great info and patience here. ----Chad

[joatmon]

welcome to genvibe.I would register your concern with the dealer, not sure what warranty you got on the car, but if you just got it it must be under some kind of warranty. One dealer may have told someone that coolant loss was normal, but do not accept that from your dealer. You know better, it is not normal. You may need to observe the level over a few days of use to really identify a trend, one time could be a normal variation.

[hammeredk]

Joatmon,Thank you and yes, in all seriousness, I plan to monitor it over the next couple of days to see what it does and then indicate this to the dealer (As well as a few other things). We'll see how it all plays out.

[hammeredk]

Also am taking note that the radiator fan doesn't seem to ever come on.....hmmmm.......definitely time to call and make an appt.

[harryyiii]

I have a 95 Neon DOHC with 100,000. I never lost or added one drop of antifreeze mix before I recently changed the fluid for the first time. This is with a bad head gasket that has leaked oil for 50K miles. You should not be losing fluid.

[micbarric]

I think I may have a clue as to the coolant loss issue some of us have.This past Saturday when doing my once a month underhood "check-up", I decided to remove the plastic engine cover, which I haven't done in awhile. Where the upper radiator hose attaches to the cylinder head outlet, there was some pink, crusty residue between the hose clamp and head. This must be dry coolant!I left the cover off, ran a few errands to get the engine up to temp, got back home and checked for a leak or coolant odor. The upper radiator hose was hard, indicating the coolant was under pressure, but I could't detect any leak. But at some point coolant has leaked from that area, so I'm going to keep an eye on it!

[JohnC]

Here is an old thread about my leak...it may help someone.http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=23818