I have a question for those who really know about cars

[a_rizzle4sho]

Man, my car is eating up my antifreeze/coolant. It blinked on friday so I filled it up with coolant, and yesterday it was blinking again, only there was no leak and some of the antifreeze was gone. Do I need to get it flushed or is there a problem with my radiator? Thanks.

[skaNo]

try to get it flushed , if it keeps doing it the radiator might be goin bad

[a_rizzle4sho]

thank you

[Mr Burns]

Have you checked your motoroil lately? If not check it. Hopefully it isn't a light brown color. If it is that is probably where your coolant has gone.

[a_rizzle4sho]

then it wouldn't be a bad idea to have the whole engine flushed, knowing that i haven't flushed the car since i brought it.

[Mr Burns]

^What I was sayin is that sometimes if you get a head gasket that leaks or a warpped head. Your coolant can leak over into the engine oil. If this is what is happening in your car than you are going to need some serious engine repairs that go far beyond having a radiator flushed. When you chech your oil it should be a golden brown color(if recently changed) or black(if you haven't changed it in awhile). If your coolant is leaking into the oil the oil will turn a real light brown color and it will be more watery than oil normally is.

[Krayzie7th]

Have you checked your motoroil lately? If not check it. Hopefully it isn't a light brown color. If it is that is probably where your coolant has gone.

yup that would pretty gay yea if the oil its like milky then u have problems probably had head gasket. Has ur car heated up lately?

[a_rizzle4sho]

nah, it's good, the most is halfway when i put the heat on. other than that my temp is really good.

[Krayzie7th]

well just like bigcl said check ur old and see how it looks.

[~The Guyver~]

Check your thermostat.It might be broke.If thats it, then its not opening up and all ur antifreeze is burning off.Buy a new one.They arent 2 expensive and are reletively easy 2 install.

[redant]

It just does not disappear it is either in your motor oil or leaking onto the exhaust and buring away just take it to a shop and they will probably find a leak usually in the radiator.

[~The Guyver~]

It could be burning it off tho, or pouring out the overflow.Trust me.Thermostat :)

[Hell-Sent]

^Yep. First thing to do is buy a new T-stat and radiator cap. Real easy fix and cheap, so its worth doing even if your old stuff was fine. Any autozone should carry one for your car, and theres usually guides online if you don't have a service manual.

After that, flush the radiator, and run some of that Bar's Radiator leak stuff through if you want... I'm not convinced it does anything but its $3 so who cares. Then re-fill with 50/50 and let the car sit for 15 minutes (running) before you take it for a drive.

If you're still having problems, it's probably the radiator. Oh and definately do what Bigcl said, take off the oil cap and look inside -- if its kinda milky, you've got a blown head gasket which can get costly (cheap part, lots of labor).

[Sk187]

You can do the thermostat thing but your car probably has a decent amount of miles and your head gasket is leaking and letting coolant past and into the oil.

If your tstat was bad you would know because you would either not have heat and/or there would be coolant boiling out of the overflow resivour.

[Krayzie7th]

^^exactly dats y i dnt think is the thermostat.Most likely u got a head gasket problem or a leak somewhere.Oh n i wouldnt recommend an engine flush.