Is someone stealing my coolant?

[FONT=&quot]My Kia Sportage has started to use /lose about 2 pints of coolant every couple of weeks. I have checked time and time again trying to find a leak to no avail. There is no water in the oil, I am totally mystified to where it is going. Any clues to finding where it is going, or what to do.[/FONT]

Damn kangaroos are drinking it!

Had the same problem with my backhoe, checked the coolant every time before we used it, it was always low, put some it and the next time it was low again. When the oil was changed, there was no coolant in it as was expected as the oil level was not rising. Never no visible leaks when it was parked nor while it was being used.

Then one day the radiator went completely.

$700 for a rebuilt and it was good to go, the old one was not fixable.

Why not put some of that powdered radiator stop leak stuff in it? See if it stops the leak for a while. Or just do what I did with my old Cutlas Supreme - every time I filled the gas tank, I filled the radiator.

Could be a blown head gasket. Stop leak is a poor choice to repair a leak in an engine that you care about. It will stop up the cooling and eventually do more damage than it will fix.

Junkman said:

Could be a blown head gasket.

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Junk, is there anyway other than removing the head to diagnose a blown head gasket [/FONT]

daedong said:

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Junk, is there anyway other than removing the head to diagnose a blown head gasket [/FONT]

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..Yes do a pressure test on the radiator..pumpit up to positive..Start engine..might have to let it warm up..It could go either way expand and seal off a leak or expand and cause a leak..I had a hard time finding the problem on a thermo cyphin..2 cylinder JD..Thought I would post trying to get away from that message at the top of every page..Said I need to post..Maybe it works... ..Byron

If you remove the radiator cap while the engine is running, if you see bubbles, it is a blown head gasket. The thermostat needs to either be removed or be fully open. It is best to do this with the thermostat removed and the radiator topped off. Just run at slightly more than an idle and hold it there. You must be able to see the coolant in the radiator for this test. Pressurizing the system isn't going to do a thing, because you can't see an internal head gasket leak. All that is going to do is push the liquid into the cylinder and ruin your engine for certain. The combustion chamber has more pressure than the radiator, so it pushes the water out. If the radiator is pressurized and the engine isn't running, the coolant will be pushed into the cylinder. True, the pressure gauge on the radiator pump will continue to drop, but that could be as the result of a bad hose clamp or any other radiator related problem.

OR a BLOWED Head Gasket..B,

A good radiator shop should be able to tell you where the leak is at .We did this for free at our shop .

daedong said:

[FONT=&quot]My Kia Sportage has started to use /lose about 2 pints of coolant every couple of weeks. I have checked time and time again trying to find a leak to no avail. There is no water in the oil, I am totally mystified to where it is going. Any clues to finding where it is going, or what to do.[/FONT]

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My Chevy truck did that for a while. There was a loose hose clamp on a fitting on the intake at the back of the engine that had a very small leak that evaporated as it hit the hot engine, so I never saw the coolant leaking.

Check and tighten all hose connections and see if that works. If not, get the pressure test as has already been suggested.

Thank fellas

Still can’t find the problem, I have replaced some hose clamps from spring style to thread type, I was just a little suspicious about the spring style clamps. I will watch it for a week or two and see if I continue to lose coolant. Thanks again for your help

Check to see if you have a plastic radiator . If you do ,look at the crimping strip that holds the tank in place .If it has a green slime crud in the groove you just found your leak .

You could try a new radiator cap. If the old one isn't holding pressure, your coolant could be going out the overflow when the engine is running at operating temp.
Is your recovery tank hooked up?