leaking coolant

[rbcastro]

Hello everybody, I just have a question and maybe someone can help me. I have a Grand Am GT 2000, and at the begining of this year my car completelly leaked all the DEXCOOL when I got to my work. I put some on and took it to the Dealer and they told me that they could not find a problem. Three months later the same thing happen, the car really does not heat up, I again took it to the dealer and there was no problem. Once again a couple of months after it did it again, I took it in and they told me they pressure tested and they could not find anything wrong can soemone advise me something please, because I am getting worry now, thank you!!!!!! rcastro11@yahoo.com

[BMOBYLE]

Originally posted by rbcastro
Hello everybody, I just have a question and maybe someone can help me. I have a Grand Am GT 2000, and at the begining of this year my car completelly leaked all the DEXCOOL when I got to my work. I put some on and took it to the Dealer and they told me that they could not find a problem. Three months later the same thing happen, the car really does not heat up, I again took it to the dealer and there was no problem. Once again a couple of months after it did it again, I took it in and they told me they pressure tested and they could not find anything wrong can soemone advise me something please, because I am getting worry now, thank you!!!!!! rcastro11@yahoo.com

Do yourself a favor and go to another dealer!!
Make sure they pressure check when the car is BUTT ASS COLD
and COMPLETLEY warmed up. So much sh!t expands(aluminium)
w/ the LA1 motor. Also did you see any trail or any evidence at all of a leak.. I hope to god you ain't burning it:( In that case just to be on the safe side and not to SCARE you check your oil and make sure it's not a chocolate like color. Make sure they also pressure check the res bottle cap(leakdown) Good luck buddy and post up if you find the basterd!! I'm intersted in knowing wtf's going on.

[zeddsdead]

i think some people have had coolant leak out of a bad waterpump.

[rbcastro]

Well I took my car in to the service Deaprtment today and they told me that the head gasketts are no good. I checked the oil adn it is clear it looks clean, but hopefully this is the problem, I had to talk to the main boss and told him that i was tired of the leak. do you think that can be the problem because I don't know what to think now??????

Thanks,

[lrymal]

Originally posted by rbcastro
Well I took my car in to the service Deaprtment today and they told me that the head gasketts are no good. ...

Your oil is clean because the coolant leak is not pressured toward the oil jacket, yet. I think your coolant is pressured through the gasket to one of the cylinders... yeah, right----as if I knew what I was talking about! Anyway, I think it is blowing through your exhaust and I'm surprised you don't have a lot of pressure in your radiator, and that you are not blowing puffs of white (not blue) smoke.

I'm probably wrong on nearly every bit of the above, but I do not think you need to wait. If coolant contamination is getting into the cylinder, you are going to have some serious damage which could cost more $$$ than you want to fork over.

This is just my opinion. But, don't wait.

[StarFire]

Mine's doing the same thing, they pressure tested it and found nothing...but now I've got pictures to prove it...SOMETHING is leaking...funny how that my coolant level has almost depleated twice in just 2 months... No...couldn't possibly be leaking!!!!

lol

[X-ception]

in one of the earlier posts, that was correct, i lost coolant when the water pump went bad and also i had alot more leak when the intake manifold gasket was faulty

[Gordonse2000]

how much to have the intake manifold gasket replaced by dealer?
gordon

[StarFire]

Originally posted by Gordonse2000
how much to have the intake manifold gasket replaced by dealer?
gordon I'm not sure what it cost me (cuz I've had the lower intake manifold gasket replaced twice now) since my car is still under warranty.

Hopefully it doesn't happen again. :)

[Sk8erRick]

I had a slow(that got worse) coolant leak because of a bad water pump. I was told that the reason the water pump went was because of the dex-cool. Sometimes the dex-cool starts to "solidify" so that you will notice some jelly-like pieces floating around(look in the overflow). That clogged it up and caused the leaking. I now have regular coolant in my car and haven't had a problem since.:)

[X-ception]

it cost me about 500 or so to have the lower gasket fixed. and this was done after warranty ran out. i'd say around 40kmiles and alternator around 50k miles, and water pump at 60k. hopefully, the only gift sharing between me and my car in the future will be from me adding perf parts.

[lrymal]

Originally posted by Sk8erRick
... I now have regular coolant in my car and haven't had a problem since.:)

Amazing how Dexcool seems to always get a bad call. Here's a portion of a previous message:

=============

These URLs might help:

http://autotoystore.com/caretips.html
http://www.penray.com/bulletins/dexcool.htm
http://www.in-motion.net/~adaniel/maint/dexcool.htm
http://www.startribune.com/stories/435/21199.html
http://www.theherd.com/articles/dex_cool.html

Basically, a summary. Low coolant level will mix air into the anti-freeze. That's BAD. You'll get sludge which can cause chronic clogging, and then you have failure, electrolysis, which can also cause gasket problems.

Your water pump is now aluminum. Dex-cool is superior in protecting it, but if Dex-cool has been compromised by low coolant level, or by mixing with the green stuff, then the protection offered to the pump is now at risk.

If mixed with the green stuff, treat it as regular anti-freeze with no more than two years of service.

Do NOT use tap water to create your 70:30 ratio mix. Tap water contains minerals and, if you live close to the coast, SALT. To NOT tap off your reservoir with TAP water. Distilled water is CHEAP. Build your 70:30 mix with that.