coolant overflow

[thompsn]

so are you supposed to keep coolant in the overflow tank or just leave it empty??

[breadbox]

Put coolant in it, it has a max and min line.

[NismoS13Ks]

so are you supposed to keep coolant in the overflow tank or just leave it empty??

my God....

[charat]

so are you supposed to keep coolant in the overflow tank or just leave it empty??

my god... just hand over the keys... cant have another 240sx go to the junk yard because some kid overheated it...

[EnjoiNismo]

Its suppose to have fluid in it.

[s13sickboi]

...wow, if its supposed to be empty why is it there?

[hatedinthemind]

I dont think he is talking about the reservoir???

[costa_rican13]

I dont think he is talking about the reservoir???

resevoir is the over flow tank. and i say just give it to one of us and we'll make sure the coolant stays in there

[thompsn]

calm down guys. I figured that there is supposed to be some in there, the reason I was asking is that mine just gets like boiled empty.

what could be causing that??

[ciscos13]

water gets hot, so it evaporates.

[zenkistic]

hmm, coolant is supposed to prevent that. OP, look for leaks. Check also your radiator coolant level when engine is cold. If the reservoir is empty, radiator should be topped. If not, add coolant directly to the radiator and to the reservoir as well. Drive a little bit and check levels again. Remember not to open radiator cap when engine is hot.

[thompsn]

hmm, coolant is supposed to prevent that. OP, look for leaks. Check also your radiator coolant level when engine is cold. If the reservoir is empty, radiator should be topped. If not, add coolant directly to the radiator and to the reservoir as well. Drive a little bit and check levels again. Remember not to open radiator cap when engine is hot.

I've filled them both up when the engine was cold but after driving almost all the coolant in the overflow is boiled off.
I thought it was the radiator cap cause the little gasket on there was breaking off so I replaced that. But the coolant
in the over flow still boils off.

Is my Tstat possibly bad or something?

[zach-Ka]

Its definitely not supposed to boil off that fast... Something is causing it to run hotter than its supposed to. Has it ever overheated?

[breadbox]

You have any exhaust leaks or cracks on your header?

Yeah fill rad and get all air out(put to full heat so air doesn't get trapped) and keep a hawk eye on your res. keep that at max with water at least. look for leaks whenever you pull out of a spot.

Check your oil and make sure nothing else is burning up. Do you have a clutch fan or are you running Efans?

[thompsn]

You have any exhaust leaks or cracks on your header?

Yeah fill rad and get all air out(put to full heat so air doesn't get trapped) and keep a hawk eye on your res. keep that at max with water at least. look for leaks whenever you pull out of a spot.

Check your oil and make sure nothing else is burning up. Do you have a clutch fan or are you running Efans?

I do have an exhaust leak but I don't think it's in the bay, possibly from in front of the cat.

I haven't found any coolant leaks or seen coolant on the ground after I leave and it doesn't burn any oil. I do have a big power steering leak but that's unrelated.

I'm still running the clutch fan but am starting to look into e-fans.

[breadbox]

Then IDK what to tell you on the whole coolant issue.

Maybe change the O2 sensor? not sure that it would help though? has the temp gauge been reading high at all?

[thompsn]

Then IDK what to tell you on the whole coolant issue.

Maybe change the O2 sensor? not sure that it would help though? has the temp gauge been reading high at all?

No the gauge always reads right in the middle, except for when it had boiled off so much coolant one time that it made
the coolant level low in the rad. But that was before I changed the rad cap.

Do you think that the thermostat could be going bad, I've never replaced it.

[zenkistic]

thermostat is a logical suspect. If coolant is boiling, temp should logically climb. That would also explain the poor cooling performance of the radiator.

[vancouverbc]

if its only overheating when you run low on coolant, top up the rad and reservoir and look for leaks. evidence of leak boils off when engine is warmed up. check oil for coolant. get a darn consult cable so you know the actual temperature of coolant

[ciscos13]

well in my dads marquis, the overflow tank was empty but me without realizing it took it out with some friends. it overheated so bad that the car suddenly shut off by itself. we let it cool off then it turned on again, then took it back home. the next day we realized that the radiator had little to almost no water at all. the car drove well but now everytime my mom came from work it had very little water. so every day we had to fill it up. until one day it just gave out. turned out that one of the gaskets had torn so the water was going inside the motor. the motor oil had mixed with the water. lets just hope this is not the case. ever since it first overheated we did realize like whitish smoke coming out of the exhaust, does your car do the same??

[thompsn]

well in my dads marquis, the overflow tank was empty but me without realizing it took it out with some friends. it overheated so bad that the car suddenly shut off by itself. we let it cool off then it turned on again, then took it back home. the next day we realized that the radiator had little to almost no water at all. the car drove well but now everytime my mom came from work it had very little water. so every day we had to fill it up. until one day it just gave out. turned out that one of the gaskets had torn so the water was going inside the motor. the motor oil had mixed with the water. lets just hope this is not the case. ever since it first overheated we did realize like whitish smoke coming out of the exhaust, does your car do the same??

No it doesn't have white smoke coming out or anything. and I just changed the oil like 2 weeks ago and it looked fine, no water or anything.

And the overflow doesn't have any leaks cause I just bought a new one and it holds water. But every time I put water in it, I'll fill it up like
half way and if I check it again the next day it's almost completely empty. ?

[nifares240]

you have a leak somewhere. it's easy to find. check around the radiator neck, where the hoses meet, or your water pump is leaking. or you may have a small crack in your rad.

[thompsn]

alright I'll keep looking for one, but idk if i'll find it