OK. Not sure if this is the thread I need to post this under - I have a 1995 Nissan 200sx se (1.6l), automatic transmission with 131K miles

The problem I'm having is that over the past week I have gone through 2 gallons of anti-freeze. Within a couple of hours of replacing the fluid the level in the radiator itself goes down. After driving it and letting the engine completely cool off, even though the overflow tank starts off w/ fluid near the maximum level it's dry (or almost dry) when I check it.

I've checked the hoses and there seems to be no apparent leaks from hoses - I can, however, burp air from them. I see no signs of antifreeze on the ground. It's going somewhere but I'm not sure where.

I just replaced the radiator cap tonight hoping that that maybe it's a pressure issue and it will fix the problem but at this point I'm skeptical.

I have a sneaky suspicion that it might be a head gasket but what else could it be? Are there any tests that I can run at home to find what's going on? Could it be the water pump?

Any help/advice/direction you could give me would be WONDERFUL!

Jeanette
(Bear wtih me please - I'm trying to learn how to troubleshoot/fix my own car. Thanks! )

 

you may want to check you intake manifold gasket, or possibly a cracked cylinder head or bore.or even like you said a leaking head gasket.get a service manual book to really help you out,good luck fixing it.

 

Do you have white smoke come out of your exhaust when your driving cause if you do you could possibly have a blown head gasket and you would be overheating all the time, a quick way to check to see if its blown is warm up the car with the raidiator cap off and bring it up to normal operating temp. and look at the coolant in the raidiator and look for airbubbles in the coolant. if you see bubles the head gasket is blown, and or the head is cracked, and the coolant is going through the combustion chamber. also i would double check to see if you have any coolant around your timing chain cover at the bottom cause your water pump could be leaking through the seep hole. well let us know what you find.

 

Thanks for the info... Looks like it may be a cracked block in which case it'll be cheaper (in the long run) to just replace the engine (I think)...

ugh.