Quote:
Originally Posted by Warp Ten
Engines don't "drink" coolant unless they are broken. If one is not seeing any coolant leaking onto the floor, and no leaks are suspected during driving, then the only way for an engine to "drink" coolant is through the combustion process--at least as far as I have ever seen. I don't know much about G30 at this point but I have seen older cars that have had coolant leak past gaskets or even casting cracks into the combustion chambers. The result is normally white exhaust smoke (as opposed to black (rich mixture) or grey (oil). If it is only a small amount then it may not be noticed, especially with catalytic converters burning up most everything. Sometimes you can get a slight smell of antifreeze--a sort of sickly sweet smell--from the exhaust even without white smoke. None of this, of course,
may apply to the much improved but more complicated cars of today.
.--Bob
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You are correct in general, especially so if talking about atmospheric engines..
With the turbo engines and the complicated two loop cooling plumbing they have I’m not so sure. Far from being an expert I understand that there is some sort of evaporative cooling going on in the inter cooler..if that is so this might explain (somehow) that minuscule amounts of vapor escape.
Also, if I’m not mistaken the 540 in particular uses the inter cooler as part of its AC loop, isn’t this correct?
Perhaps somebody more knowledgeable can chime in. Fact is that a lot of the b58 engines are known to consume coolant, with none of the typical symptoms of coolant entering the combustion loop (white smoke and the like).
Still worrying though. I’m monitoring my coolant level and it is sinking, albeit very slowly.
Will try and take a picture one month from when the coolant was refilled.
It would also be helpful if the other members who have had coolant issues and topped up can report on subsequent coolant levels..