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Hello everyone,
so I have been trying to chase down this coolant leak for a long time, had a few shops look at it and gave me different stories, and I am stumped.so my car is an acura integra gsr 2000, and had a radiator crack on me as i was driving one day and it overheated (the dial was 75-80% on the temp gauge), don’t know how long it overheated for though before i saw it :/
took the car to the acura dealership that day got a new radiator top tank which is what cracked and they compression tested it and said it all checked out fine, no compression problems (didnt’ get the numbers).
So it was fine for a while then i started smelling coolant a few months later. took it to an independent and they said there was no pressure drop in coolant pressure test, but they did a block test with a test fluid and said that exhaust gas was found present but was really little of a color change.
took it to another shop for a second opinion, and they did a compression and then a leak down test (cold), and even took off my headers and tested that (they said) and couldn’t find a leak. then they said it was the water pump leaking. so i replaced that, but the coolant smell is still there. there is no visible leaks anywhere…BUT a key thing i found out today was that it only smells like coolant on the exhaust manifold side and not anywhere else, does this mean i have a internal leak on the exhaust side? warped head? cracked head or cylinder wall?! warped head gasket? Im stuck and don’t know what to do.misc info
-The coolant pressure test doesn’t drop pressure at all.
-no leaks
-coolant resovoir tank goes from full to empty within 8 months-10months (so not a big leak)
-worried that it made my CAT go bad because no i have a P0420 code, poor catalyst efficiency code. GOing to test 02 sensors soon, with a lab scope for accuracy
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If its out the exhaust. You could have a crack in the head
water jacket and when the car is hot expands the crack and
leaks.Okay it has the big coolant pipe under the intake going from the water pump housing to the thermostat housing. I have seen them seep when hot and under pressure, enough to make the smell, but not enough to actually notice coolant loss. Won’t show up on a cold pressure test. Let the engine warm all the way up and using a flashlight and mirror look all around the pipe at both ends to see if you see any seeping or stains. You could also try looking at where the head and block meet under the exhaust manifold and see if there is any seepage there also.
Usually when I hear of a slight color change on the block heater test it indicates that some coolant got sucked up into the tester. Depends if they have the cheaper single chamber tester or the better dual chamber tester that Eric shows in his video. The dual chamber tester is designed to reduce “false positives”.
thank you, i’ll check out that area for coolant leaks, and i’ll block test it again using a dual chamber tester.
question: I don’t have any signs of an internal leak; milky colored coolant/oil. I’ve dripped oil onto a hot exhaust manifold to see if it sizzles and it didn’t do that, no white smoke (ever, cold or hot), but i have yet to pull the spark plugs to check the pistons to see if its clean or not. and I am going to try to pull the o2 sensor to see if it is coated with coolant or not; but the o2 sensor is a pain in the rear to get off. so is it possible that you can smell and internal leak? i figured that if its internal you would’t be able to smell it?
thank you for helping me out
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