Where is the coolant going in my 350? OT-a little

[Lou Earle]

In Phantom- my black 48 with 350 Chevy have a disappearing coolant issue- we used to call them problems and I usually still do. I really do not believe 9/11 is an issue any more than Dec 7 1941. I would call then attacks and war.

Anyway enough of my slamming the new "correct" language- my problem or the engine's problem is where is the water going?

Have a nova radiator nova clip and 350 nova 2 brl engine. Runs great but about every 300 miles I need to add about 2 quarts of coolant. No leaks I can see or feel it just disappears. Runs at a cool 180 (thermostat temp) all the time. I am baffled or should I say challenged?

Anyone have this on any engine?

Lou

[oldmopar]

Any chance of a head gasket leak on the exhaust side and it is blowing out the tailpipe ? And I must be out of touch with modern times but I have no idea what you are talking about with correct language. I guess I need to get out more.

[james curl]

Is the car equiped with a coolent recovery system?

[bmt47p-15]

Is the car equiped with a coolent recovery system?

I have a 47 Plymouth coupe with a 305 out of a 86 camaro. The radiator is a three core cross flow out of a 76 chevy truck. It does the very same thing. I think that my problem is loss from over flow. I think that James Curl has hit the nail on the head for me. I need to put a recovery system on it so it will give and take as needed.

[Norm's Coupe]

Lou,

I have a similar problem on my 95 Lumina Van V6 engine. Doesn't leak that you can see. Never any on the ground, and of course it has a recovery system on it. However, I know where my coolant goes. Do you have a hose going to the intake on your 350? If so and the intake is aluminum, that's probably the problem. That fitting is almost impossible to seal on a permanent basis. The coolant leaks on top of the intake, lands on top of the engine and then is baked off before it has a chance to drip to the ground. Doesn't leak much, just enough to get things damp, so it takes awhile to notice the drop in the coolant tank. It's never caused me to overheat either. Another possibility is the temperature sensor. I've had other cars where the sensor would leak slightly. That usually meant that the sensor no longer worked properly either and the car would never register as overheating, because the sensor was bad. So, check that out too.

[james curl]

If you do have a recovery system check the catch tank and hose for leaks. I have had several late model vehicles that had a crack in the recovery tank allowing the coolent to very slowly leak out, but over time the tank becomes empty. These are hard to find because the leak usually occures where the container mounts to the vehicle allowing the fluid to leak behind the container and out of sight.