Hey guys. I have a problem and I hope somebody had something similar before. I build my evo 8 engine 5 years ago. Block has orings and I was using oem evo 9 5 layer head gasket. I started loosing coolant somewhere but no leak anywhere so first think that came to my head was head gasket. I am pushing a lot of boost so I decided to pull out the head and change head gasket. To my surprise there was no sign of blown head gasket. So I resurfaced the head and I installed new head gasket and new arp 625 studs, I torqued it to 100lbs and than re torque them the next day. But car still disappearing coolant. So I did compression test 160psi all cylinders, than I did leak down test ( no bubbles in the radiator when I pressurize the cylinders) So I did coolant system pressure test to 25psi, it is holding pressure for hours. I am not leaking coolant anywhere and coolant is not mixing with oil or oil with coolant. I am loosing around half tea glass of coolant every 50-100 miles. What is going on?? Is it possible that I am burning coolant? Coolant in reservoir is not going up when I boost the car so I am not lifting the head. Plus I have o rings so I should not lift the head at boost level I am now. Car was on higher boost before head gasket job. Cylinder head was also pressure tested at machine shop when they resurfaced it. Did anyone had similar problem? Thanks in advance!!

 

How do you know you are losing a half of a tea glass? How big is a tea glass anyways? How are you measuring this? Also, is this happening only when you boost, or just cruise around? I mean, if you arent pushing any coolant into the reserve and its not making bubbling noise, not sure how it could be the head gasket?

 

Yes sir it's about to go , how much boost are you running ? you on a boost controller?

 

Every morning I do check my coolant level when car is cold. So I filled my radiator full and my reservoir to max level. Than I drive the car lets say 20-30 miles. Next day when car is fully cold level is 1 inch below max in reservoir. If I dont add coolant and I will drive it, it will continue to drop from reservoir than reservoir is empty and I am starting to loose coolant from radiator. So every morning I have to add a little coolant. It is happening when I boost or not. Doesn't matter. I did a test and I drove the car with no boost at all and I lost same amount of coolant than day before when I was boosting it. How big is a tea glass lets say it is around a small Starbucks cup. So every single morning I have to add around half small size Starbucks cup. It does not leak anywhere. It does not smoke from exhaust. I have a hard time to smell it from exhaust because it is running on e85 so it is sweet smell from exhaust anyway. Am I burning coolant? It does not mix with oil. Thanks

 

Yes I am running on boost controller. Before head gasket work car was running on 42psi boost so when I saw coolant loss I was thinking it is a head gasket. So I changed head gasket and I resurfaced the cylinder head. Block has o rings. So after I installed new head gasket I lowered boost to 30psi and it does loss coolant as before head gasket job. It does not pushing coolant to reservoir so it means I am not lifting head. It had custom age arp 625 head studs. Car runs perfect, no smoking from exhaust, no oil coolant mix, no leaking, just coolant disappearing every day. It is really annoying because I dont know where it is going. I did compression test and leak down test and I pressure the coolant system and no leaks it is holding pressure for hours.

 

I had this shop Pruven Performance in CT , do my head and O' ringed my block , but they did such a horrible job that the head didn't sit correctly and I had to take the car to AMS performance to get redone the right way.

 

How full is the overflow when the car is hot? Sounds to me like your just low on coolant.and never fully got it full 100%

 

When car is hot overflow stays around same area around maximum or slightly above, but when get cold it is 1 inch below the max, so I am topping it off to max level again and again and again every morning. I was bleeding the system hundreds of times, I changed thermostat and water pump and head gasket. Would it be possible that I am slowly burning coolant? But why on new head gasket. Or I have crack somewhere in the block?

QUOTE=cursedsm;11953230]How full is the overflow when the car is hot? Sounds to me like your just low on coolant.and never fully got it full 100%[/QUOTE]

 

This engine was build by me but o' rings were installed by Class one in Freeport, know machine shop for evo engines. And it was sealing perfect for last 4 years with 40+ psi boost but one day started to loose coolant so I changed water pump, thermostat, head gasket. O'rings look good when I was doing the head gasket job but maybe I missed something. It is just annoying that I know there is a problem somewhere but I dont know where. The most interesting think is that I am not pushing coolant to the reservoir so I am not lifting the head.

 

If it were the head you would be pushing coolant inside the overflow. Even with the orings I had a similar problem on my dsm and it was bad oring job. It pushed coolant in the overflow and it would overheat. Maybe it just low on coolant. The engine is going to use whatever coolant it wants. If the car isnt overheating I wouldnt worry about it. Unless the engine reads 0 coolant when its low I wouldn't worry about it being it will fluctuate when warm or cold.

 

Yes you are correct. I am not pushing coolant to the overflow. I can boost it and stop right away after the pull and level is around maximum . It is not overheating. And it is runs good. I will continue to drive it and I think after some time the problem will show by itself if there is one. The problem that doesn't let me sleep is that if I stop adding coolant after 4-5 days overflow is completely empty and than coolant level from my radiator will get lower and lower. I will watch coolant and keep driving it and I will let you guys know if the problem get worse or what happened to it.

 

I still say make sure your o rings are proper.

 

They were proper for the last 4 years so how they might be not proper now? I was pushing over 40psi with no problems for last 4 years but 1 day I noticed that I am loosing coolant. I made over 20k miles on this engine and didn't use a drop of coolant but now started. It means o ring were doing its job perfectly for a long time before the problem with coolant started.

 

It doesn't mean they can't go bad especially after 4 years of 40 psi.

 

you might be able to tell when you inspect the downpipe