Question : question involving my cooling system on my 95 GAGT

[ecko614]

well i was driving home today when my low coolant light popped on. I pulled over and left the car running, got out and popped the lid off the reservoir bottle....bone dry. So i filled it all the way up with the last jug of 50/50 i had in my trunk. Filled it up and capped it back up. Let up on the bleeder valve and rolled out after erything looked good. not even 15 minutes later....light back on again. The smell of coolant comin thru my vents(had the heat and defrost on due to it being cold and raining out). Got out and repeated my previous steps except when i squeezed on the radiator hose that went to the thermostat and it had absolutly no pressure at all. It wasnt even really warm to the touch. Filled the reservoir back up with water this time and same thing all over again 15 minutes later. What is causing the all of a sudden rapid use of my collant? is the thermostat stuck? i was thinking that because the hose goin to it wasnt even hot.Is this a blown head gasket? would a blown head gasket make the coolant go straight to the block?? please help me with any suggestions or answers. As i said also, it was raining out so i couldnt check for drip spots or wet hoses. Thank you all very much

[bszopi]

How strong is the smell of coolant? And how well is your heater performing? I'd almost start checking to see if your carpet is wet due to a shot heater core.

[ecko614]

well i just ran out there and checked the floorboards.....dry. I ripped the carpet out last year and painted the floor gloss black with a shit load of clear coat, so that made it a lil easier to check. the heater was working fine. pumping out heat, defrost was workin well. The smell wasnt abnoxiously strong or anything, just enough of a hint of it to let you know the smell was there.

[ecko614]

is there a heater hose on the backside of my engine( between the engine and firewall)?? i noticed that, with the car not running, i refilled the reserboir and what looks like a big radiator hose on the bottom backside of the engine is leaking pretty heavily. any ideas??

[ecko614]

well....i jacked it up in the air and got underneath it to get a better view, and after refilling the reservoir AGAIN, i found where its coming from. along the bottom of the firewall....by two metal lines/noses...there is an elbow shaped thing in there, and the water is pouring out of it like no tomorrow. my dude told me it was my heater core. but the heater core is up top correct?? the thing i noticed was more along the bottom. now im lost more than before.....

[turboD]

The drain is at the bottom of the HVAC case, so condensation from the AC system and coolant from the heater will empty the case when needed. The reason for the 90* elbow - air pressure driving down the road will keep enough pressure against the opening to keep the liquid from exiting the case. D

[ecko614]

so why is the water i pour into my car immediatly comes dumping out the elbow?? i mean it takes to coolant jugs of water to fill the reservoir, like the radiator doesnt even have fluid in it after all the water drains out. And its not like there is a pause....its an immediate flow of water out the elbow as soon as i fill up the bottle and bend down to check it????

[bszopi]

That would basically mean you have a hole in your heater core, and as you fill up the system with water, the water is leaking out of the heater core and into the condensate pan, and then dumping out of the drain. The 2 lines running into the firewall are your heater core lines. The heater cores are found INSIDE the car, behind the dash, and yes, it is usually down low.

[ecko614]

well....found it and fixed it. turned out to be the heater core. thanks alot to everybody for your help