Where Is The Water Going?

[Mad Joe]

1986 B250, 318

This is leaving me scratching my head. After driving a couple of days in the Texas heat I lose about a half gallon of water out of the radiator. There are no leaks on the ground and the water is not going into the overflow tank. I have a new cap on the radiator, and I still seem to lose the water. Any guesses?

Thanks

[landyacht318]

Your thermostat or the upper radiator hose that connects to it could be leaking and puddling in the intake manifold and evaporating. The hose clamp on the thermostat is in an awkward position. Try to give it a few more turns by putting a 7 or 8 mm socket on it with a couple extenders.

Another possibility is a blown head gasket. Coolant could be getting burned in the combustion chamber. If the leak were larger you might be able to see milky greyish spots on your dipstik, or see white smoke in your exhaust.

[Mad Joe]

Thanks for the reply. I should have also stated that it never loses more than a half gallon. I can fill it up and weather it's 2 days or 60 days later it's still about a half gallon down. Pretty sure it's not a head gasket as the engine was a new crate engine and only has 50k miles on it.

Thanks again.

[landyacht318]

Maybee your line to the coolant resevoir is leaking. This could explain why it is always down the same amount.