mystery of the disappearing coolant

[frapjap]

I've had my s13 for 2 months now. I just got a kade motor in it. Prior to this, when I had the old motor, the coolant seemed to seep out somewhere. After the old motor did its thing and we parted ways, I put the new one in. A day after driving it, the coolant got nearly empty again. It doesn't leak, pee, drip, or anything of the visible sort. I had to fill it with water again to get to work. My best explanation is that theres just not enough coolant in the lines. I was thinking that maybe I just filled up the radiator and ONLY the radiator and didn't get it through all of the passages? Any input is appreciated, thanks!

[180fan]

how's the radiator cap? is that on nice and tight? check also the underside, you may see some green stuff around down below and it would be of help to you to get down below checked out pretty thoroughly or under the water pump.

[Altiman94]

has the problem come back since the first time?

[frapjap]

180fan: Radiator cap is nice and tight. The water pump is a 2 days old, had to get a new one when I swapped the motor. The underside is dry, no leak, drip, or puddle.

Altiman94: Its a reoccuring problem. I thought that the blown head gasket in my old motor was the culprit and that I shouldn't have to worry about the problem again. But here I sit, boggled.

[180fan]

hmm that's a weird one. My water pump had a leak at the bottom of the water pump and took me a week to find it. My other friend had a cracked thermo housing though. What color is your exhaust by any chance? Is it colored white?

[ricebike]

get one of those pressure testers from autozone or some other part slinger...

put it on your radiator & pump to max pressure of 14 psi... if pressure drops...

then look around the hoses... start tracing from the heater core & work your way up front or vice versa...

[frapjap]

I tried to bleed the system of air after I flushed it, but the shop decided to not connect the a/c wire from the wiring harness to the ecu, sooo I can not push the heater button to turn it on and open the thermostat to bleed the air. The only way I can get the air out is by taking out the thermostat. Not a great fix by any means..

[95hardbody]

Does the DE not have an air bleed "plug" in the intake manifold? The E in my '95 truck has a small plug in the intake manifold with a little copper-colored decal next to it saying never to loosen when the engine is hot. When I changed my coolant, I forgot to loosen the bleed plug, and I didn't have any problems, but it's there nonetheless. Does the DE engine not have this?

[180fan]

Frapjap, pull out the thermo and get it lined up right. The thermostats are labeled "top" on the oem ones. My guess is that the disappearing coolant is actually pockets of air trapped in your motor that's getting pushed to the radiator over time while your car's running.

[frapjap]

180fan, I am going to say that you're definitely right about the air just making it to the radiator. I used the bleed plug, but I still lacked a way to get the thermo to open, so I drove it around the culdesac with the radiator cap on and plug out. It made a few spashes, but all the air is out and the car is behaving nicely. Pretty ghetto and not such a great idea of a solution...I'm definitely not proud of it.