Stang2891

I was driving along in my '96 gt today, and I noticed my coolant level light had come on. I pulled into the nearest gas station and opened up the hood, to check the level myself. When I opened up the coolant cap, there was a tiny amount of brown/green hazy fluid at the bottom. I went into the gas station and bought some coolant, filled up the coolant tank, then drove off. The coolant light had initially shut off, but then about 10 miles later it surprisingly came back on. I pulled over again, and checked the level, and yet again it was pretty much empty. I looked under the car for any possible leaks, looked on the road, couldn't seem to find any evidence of a leak. I filled it back up again, drove it carefully to my house, and now its in my driveway, with half the amount of coolant in it than what I had put into it, and I'm afraid if I drive it again, I may do some serious damage to the motor. Anyone have any advise on what to do? Thanks

Nick4.6

Check your oil to make surethe coolant isn't mixing with it. You may have a bad head gasket.
The oil will look like mud on the stick if the coolant is going in and mixing with the oil.

Could also be your intake manifold but that would be pretty obvious if it was cracked.
You don't have the plastic crossover, right?

I would suggest go get a pressure tester from autozone (free rental) then you will have a better idea whats going on.

Ehmark

Itmight be head gasket.Or In best case scenario you could just be burping it did you reccently drain your coolant?I once had a similar problem couldnt find any coolant leeks under car took it to ford they said it was the radiator and put a new one in and it worked fine. PS dont have ford put in a radiator its an arm and your first born son. It only has aa fewnuts/bolts and a few hoses.

tbirdscwd

First you need to make sure your colling system is full. Fill the res and start the car, let if warm up till the thermostat opens. It will probably suck some of that coolant down into the motor when this happens and your fan will probably kick on. Keep refilling the tank until it stops sucking it down. This should get all the air out of the system. I usually put the defroster on to get the whole system in on the action.

Once you get the system completely full it will be easier to identify leaks. Like Nick said, take a trip to your local parts store and rent or buy a cooling system pressure tester. When the system is under pressure if there is any leaks, they will show. You probly want to pressure check the cap too if the cap won't hold pressure the coolant can evaporate and you would never see a leak. If there is still no leaks and the car is still losing water somehow, it sounds like a blown head gasket or dare I say a cracked head. Another thing you can check for that is your exhaust. If the exhaust steams even after the car being completely warm, thats another sign of head gasket issues. I had a blown gasket on my thunderbird and it never showed on my dipstick but it puffed white exhaust all the time.

meechuacon

Head gasket.

LetThePoniesRunFree

There is really onlythree places the coolant can go. One is on the ground , another is in the oil passage way and the last one is in the combustion chamber. White smoke out the exhaust is a sign that you have a head gasket problem allowing the coolant to enter one or more of the cylinders. You aremost likelynot going to see a coolant leak by checking the dip stick. Oil is less dense than water so the coolant will settle to the bottom of your oil pan and not show up on the dip stick. You can pull the plug on the oil pan and if any "milky white" fluid comes out or any other color besides clean/dirty oil comes out, you have a head gasket issue that you need to address asap.

Stang2891

Ok, I kept filling the coolant level this morning while the engine was running until it stopped sucking the coolant in. I topped it off, then took it for an easy cruise around town, and surprisingly when I got home the coolant was just about where I had filled it to. I only did maybe 2 miles though, I might take it out again later for a longer ride, and determine if I actually do have a head gasket problem. Does anyone know how to, or how much it will cost me to replace a head gasket? Thanks allot for everyones help.

tbirdscwd

I would definitely do some troubleshooting before you get dead set on it being a head gasket. So far there are none of the usual signs except for it not showing leaks. But the cars not gonna leak a whole lot if its empty. Another thing, if it were a head gasket issue, usually there would be some drivability issues, like sputtering under acceleration and overheating.

Unfortunately if it is the head gasket, replacing them is time consuming and therefore expensive if you take it in to have it done. My T-bird cost me about $1400 at the dealer. Its hard to estimate due to the possibility of complications. If your car has been run hot enough to blow a head gasket, its been hot enough to warp or even crack the heads. Which is not uncommon with aluminum heads. If they are warped they will require resurfacing. If they are cracked they will require replacing. So the average gasket swap can turn sour really fast.

BTW I would definitely NOT recommend you to tackle this job on your own unless you have a good set of tools and some real experience working on cars. I've seen a few guys screw this one up.

Stang2891

tbirdscwd, I was thinking the same exact thing. I have not yet noticed any smoke coming out of the exhaust, no sort of sputtering whatsoever, and the engine temperature had never been high. Since the engine never overheated, I don't see how the gasket could have blown. I remember my dads old BMW 2002series had blown the head gasket, and smoke was pouring out all over the place out of the pipe. Since this never happend to my stang, I don't see how my gasket could have blown.

tbirdscwd

If your car has never overheated, (although not impossible) the chances are slim that you have a blown gasket. Double check all your hoses, water pump, and radiator for leaks. You should really use a pressure tester. A lot of the time you will be able to listen for the leak when its under pressure which is a lot harder if the engine is running.