Jakez

I've had the "check coolant level" message appear 2-3 times now in the span of about 2 weeks. Each time I needed to fill the reservoir with about 2-3 inches of coolant.

Is this is a bad sign? I've had a leaky header problem for a little bit, would running the car hard with that leak cause any problems?

berti_00

check your oil see if your mixing coolant in there, and than look for coolant hoses if you might have a hose ripped or something.. cant just disappear, its going somewhere

CLKCLK

Intercooler leak? Open your intake plenum to se if green/orange residue stick on the insides.

FYI, leaking coolant to the trans oils will not drain your coolant that much and will make your car shift like $#*^¥.

pearlpower

And there it is. as you have an 03, check your trans fluid (known issue), oil, intake, smoke, etc.

e55amgrocket

I'd bet money on head gasket. I had exactly the same problem with mine and ended up narrowing it down to head gasket.

berti_00

these cars are very rare to have a head gasket issue is that true? i mean i haven't seen anyone ever saying their gasket went or anything, on the other hand your pushing crazy power so maybe it was time to upgrade the head bolts

e55amgrocket

I've seen several. My head gasket was bad when the car was stock and got worse when it was modded obviously. That was the reason for my build when I added ported heads and everything. I've got ARP studs for the new engine. I remember 3 different people asking me about help on head gaskets when they have failed. My car was lifting the head with the other mods and would pressure the coolant under boost on 1/4 runs.

thumper823

I have this problem also, i only have to add maybe an inch every couple weeks. Started right after i had the SC off for the larger intake plenum.

Hotrod-Realtor

You can check for combustion in your coolant with a test kit like this...
http://www.blockchek.com/index.htm

Jakez

Well I did have the SC off to clean out because something got in there and there was shaving of metal/rubber/plastic in it. What would be the problem then if removing/reinstalling the supercharger caused this?

e55amgrocket

I finally tracked it down after it got worse and failed the combustion test with the coolant. Best way to figure out what's going on.

Manuyc

Good luck!

Celicasaur

You sure it's not just an honest leak from the rad?

I had similar issues with mine. Turned out that one of the hard metal coolant pipes was being worn away from vibrations of kissing the engine block and there was a teeny tiny hole which coolant was seeping from.

Jakez

Sorry I didn't update. There is indeed some type of leak on the front drivers side. I can see white spots in a lot of places. Just being too lazy to check it out fully right now. But I sure am glad it's just a leak and not actually burning coolant somehow!

berti_00

too lazy to check it out???? whats that all about

WHTEVO

Check your coolant reservoir. Seems these are prone to leaking right at the bottom near the metal "bracket" it sits above. They are easy to remove. Check it out before it gets worse and you're left stranded cause your car starts to overheat! Good luck.

Aaron

Jakez

Idk, just being honest lol. I have a lot of stuff going on right now.

Anywho, I took a look around and couldn't really find anything so I began wiping everything down so I can check the spots tomorrow after a short drive. And upon inspecting noticed that the plastic holding the hose coming off the top of the coolant reservoir was cracking away, basically broke now that I took that hose off. It would really make sense if that's where my leak is from based on where all the coolant spots where. Going to make sure that's it and then decide what to do from there. I hate to ghetto-fix my stuff but I really don't want to buy a whole new coolant reservoir just to fix that little connection so I might just throw some sealant on it.

WHTEVO

Don't skimp on something that keeps your engine cool. Those reservoirs are ~$40 and not as pricey as you might think. Looks like you need to order the little retaining clip that keeps that hose locked into the reservoir too. Good luck.

Aaron

Jakez

Daamn. You're right it is 40 bucks on parts.com - I actually don't need the silver clip that goes on it, I think it was just laying to the side in the pic.. but is that all I need is a new reservoir in order to make it secure again?

berti_00

your being lazy on doing 50-100 $ worth of work... wounder how lazy youll be when you burn your gaskets amd xcouple thousand dollars.. alright now get crackin

WHTEVO

The little round plastic clip that you need to remove closest to the firewall side of the reservoir will probably break when removing it. So you can get that if needed. I would do a new reservoir cap, and the black label that goes on the reservoir since the new one won't have it too but i am a little picky and always try and replace "old" parts when installing new parts related to it even though it may not be needed.

Can do it all easily for under what it costs to fill your fuel tank

Aaron

Qmax03

Sounds like a headGasket

WHTEVO

/\ You obviously don't read much.

Aaron