Whatever you do, you need to solve this without overheating the engine repeatedly. Regardless of what else is wrong, that can cause expensive damage by itself.
Before I started pouring coolant directly into the radiator, the check engine light came on. After I put it in the radiator, the light went off and the car runs fine. last it directly night I put coolant into radiator and all day today car ran great and no ‘steam’ came from the radiator cap. I just want the coolant to go to the radiator without me having to pour it directly in myself lol
For it to go in itself, the radiator and engine must be purged of air. You may have a bleed valve near the thermostat to bleed the engine with, if you do, then you need to fill the radiator, bleed the block, then top off the radiator. Once that is done, the system should work.
Ok… Stupid question…how do I know if I have a bleed valve, and how do I go about doing this? I’m a stupid girl (lol) but a quick learner… I changed my own thermostat, thermostat sensor, I can change tires, change my oil, etc… Can u explain to me?
Btw, I have a 99 Mitsubishi ellipse, if that helps
If you are going to work on your vehicle, then you need to buy a repair manual. Even the best professional mechanics will consult with the repair manual before working on a vehicle. A repair manual will have a picture or an illustration of the bleed valve. For your purposes, a Haynes or Chiltons will suffice. A factory service manual (FSM) is nice, but they are expensive and on occasion, inadequate. I have both the FSM and a Haynes manual for my Saturn and have often found the Haynes to be the better resource.
But, as a general rule, the bleed valve is located on or very close to the thermostat housing. Sometimes it a bolt with a “chimney” on it, that is a little tube sticking out the center of the bolt head, but in many cases, its simply a bolt that goes into the water jacket on the head side of the thermostat.
The bleed bolt will look out of place because it will not be holding anything together.
More info. You can go to autozone.com and they have a pretty good online service manual for intermediate level mechanics that is free, but you have to register as a member to use it, its free also. I looked at your vehicle and they do not show a bleed procedure, however it looks like your thermostat is in the lower radiator hose and not the upper one. There is what looks like a bleed valve in the gooseneck for the upper radiator hose, but the design of the system to me looks like it is not needed. I checked for the 2.0 non turbo engine.
Like I said if the radiator or coolant system has a crack or a leak in it, its like sucking through a straw with a crack in it. It won’t pull the coolant from the reservoir back into the radiator just like you won’t get much through a straw in a bottle if it has a crack in it. Having the radiator pressure tested will tell you if you have a crack or a leak. You can buy a tester or just have it done. While they test the radiator, they can check for combustion gases at the same time. 90% chance of getting your answer from that.
Thanks for all yr advice guys… All yesterday and today, car has been running well without having to add any coolant to radiator directly. I believe I will still have that radiator pressure test done tho to be sure. Can’t hurt to check the head gasket as well. will keep u informed… Thanks again!
@AprilEclipse
Bravo for working on this yourself! The advice you’ve been given is excellent. I just want to add one note which hasn’t been mentioned about the coolant system pressure test: You can do that yourself. It’s not technical or difficult.
I’ve found that Autozone stores have the tester in their tool loaner program. You pay for it and get a full refund when you return the tool. So check Autozone or any other parts stores near you to see if any of them can lend you the pressure tester. It’s basically just a pump with a gauge that has a way of attaching to the radiator where the cap goes. You pump it only to the limit of your system (I think you said 13psi). Be careful not to overpressurize. Watch the gauge to see if it holds pressure. If not, hopefully you’ll find a place where there’s a leak. What you want is for it to appear in a hose, a hose connection, the radiator, or something external, rather than the head gasket which is a possibility as you’ve learned.
The thing is that you may be leaking coolant while driving, but it may be hard to find a small leak when you look around on a hot engine because you’re trying to avoid getting burned. The pressure tester makes it easier to get the pressure up without heating up the engine, so it’s easier to search for the leak. You may need a good strong light to search everywhere.
I also wonder if the problem could be as simple as the hose running to the reservoir. Someone else commented on that. I’m not certain about this, but I think if there were a crack in that hose, or if it was not tightly sealed at the radiator end, that first of all it would not siphon water back from the reservoir, and it might also let steam out. Like I said, I’m not sure that’s accurate, but you should at least think about that as you are searching for your problem.
I hope that you locate a leak, though the exhaust smoke you described does suggest head gasket.
Ah good point westernroadtripper. The reservoir itself may have a crack in it, allowing air in.
Well as I said in my last post, car appears to have no issues at the moment, so if I wasn’t already aware of the situations, I would think everything was a-ok… I’ve been trying to pay close attention to the amount of exhaust my car is creating, and it seems pretty much normal… Not really sure about the smell tho, becuz I don’t really know what sweet smelling exhaust smells like :-\ doesn’t smell sweet to me.
@westernroadtripper… yes, I do like to try to figure out and fix car issues on own! Mechanics tend to want to try to pull a fast one on me becuz they think I’m just a dumb girl who doesn’t know anything! I’ve saved a ton of money fixing certain things on my own (or with the help of a friend) but I know when to throw in the flag and resort to a professional lol hopefully, it doesn’t come down to that!