Coolant issues

[kamon8404]

Well I'll give you a brief history of whats going on with my baby.

My coolant is slowly disappearing from the over flow container.
I can smell coolant in the exhaust
No oil appears to be in the radiator
No coolant appears to be in oil (just a little burnt smelling)
The car is not over heating
No smoke from the exhaust (normal looking)

Car still drives fine, it just reeks like coolant.

Possible headgasket? Something wrong with head? Turbo issue?

If anyone has any insight on this please let me know. I dont want to just pull the head if I dont have too.

Thanks

 

[nvmsp]

I was loosing coolant too, then my coolant tank started breaking apart, had to get a new one.

Now not loosing coolant. See if there are any tiny cracks. ?

 

[kamon8404]

I would say that could be a cause but you can smell it coming out of the exhaust like its cool.

 

[kamon8404]

Nothing eh?

 

[brkwd51]

i have the exact same problem. leaks coolant, no overheating, drives fine.

is there like an intense sucking noise coming from you radiator hose connecting overflow tank to radiator after you drive your car for a while?

that was happening to me. like its a sucking/bubbling noise. and i bought a new rad cap and it stopped and the coolant didnt dissapear anymore. but now it started again after a few weeks...(scratch)

 

[MazdaPro03.5]

I've had the same problem for a while now as well and found the coolant dripping off of the oil return line. After cleaning and further inspection I saw that the coolant is coming from a leaky copper gasket on the coolant return line between the turbine and compressor housings of the turbo.

 

[kamon8404]

Even if my turbo is leaking out of the coolant return line that does not explain why you can smell it coming out of the exhaust.

 

[Dpwhitehead1]

Even if my turbo is leaking out of the coolant return line that does not explain why you can smell it coming out of the exhaust.

coolant and oil go through the turbo. maybe the seal is leaking inside the turbo.

 

[JasonBourne]

i have the same or similar issue, it realy smell hot in the engine, my coolant down like 1/4 of the over flow container, but then dont down much.... i dont see any leak on the turbo, over flow container or radiator...
(dunno)

 

[MANDO]

The best thing to do as a process of elimination is to pressurize the cooling system with a pressure tester and check for leaks. You can obtain one at Sears for a decent price. If your smelling a strong coolant odor from the exhaust pipe, it is more than likely the head gasket slowly deteriorating. I just had a blown head gasket and warped head on my old MSP so this problem is all too familiar. If there are no leaks or pressure drop than look at the turbo as mentioned by "boostdprotegelx". Good luck bro!

 

[kamon8404]

Blast from the past people. The weather is breaking so i'm going to start working on my protege again.

I charged the battery last night and got it fired up again. It actually fired right up after I charged the battery. I fell in love with the car again aside from the coolant issue I have. I was going to do a pressure test on it but one of the plug boots got stunk in the cylinder around the plug. So I'll be trying to get that out of the next couple of days without destroying the boot. Then I'll post my compression numbers to see where they are at. I'm pretty much thinking its the turbo. So if thats the case then i'll be in the market for a new stocker.

 

[mazdaspeedp]

maybe your water pump is leaking slowly

 

[tweakingmsp]

I was loosing coolant too, then my coolant tank started breaking apart, had to get a new one.

Now not loosing coolant. See if there are any tiny cracks. ?

Where did you get a new coolant tank? Mine is in rough shape.