Losing coolant very quickly

My 2TR motor seems to be drinking coolant every time I put more in. There is nothing wrong with the head gasket, no leaks, (from what I can see) and I just recently changed the water pump and thermostat. It overheats sometimes but not to the point where it shuts off it just runs really hot for a minute and cools off when I drive. I hate having to buy coolant over and over and was wondering if there is any more places where coolant could be leaking or something?

 

Is it puking the coolant out into the overflow reservoir? Or the coolant is simply disappearing?

also what year is your truck? The 05-11ish year models came with a plastic coolant bypass pipe that may be leaking slowly

 

Mine is an 05. And no, it doesn't really spit it back into the reservoir. It more or less just stays the same, but the coolant gets super hot sometimes and bubbles but it hasn't done that in 2 weeks bc I flushed the system when I changed the thermostat and water pump.

 

You can see it bubbling in the reservoir?

 

Bet that motor is toast.....you did a leakdown test?

 

Lol I should've explained a little first, it did because I put water in it when I was out of town and had no other option. Was on the highway for 4 hours so I guess that's just what it did. But after I flushed it and everything it hasn't done that since. Pretty sure it was just the water.
Anyway, where is this bypass pipe located?

 

Is there any coolant on the ground or engine? Or does it smell like it?
There is an o-ring at the very top of the pump housing to the block. My replacement o-Ring was defective, and leaked there. Took two weeks to trace
Also, invest $10 in one of those new funnel systems that let you run all the bubbles of air out.

 

Not that I can see no, which is really odd to me and i know for sure nothing is wrong with the head gasket. I have one of those funnel systems too, i bleed it like every 2 days it's getting really annoying. I bleed it for like 30 minutes to make sure no air is in it at all

 

How are you checking the Headgasket?

 

No oil in coolant, and no coolant in oil drained it about a week ago. And I have been checking the dipstick every day or so, put oil on my finger and it doesn't stink of coolant. Pretty soon I'd like to do a compression test to make sure but haven't found the time.
On a side note there is no smoke, it doesn't not seem to run any worse than it did before it idles great and stays at one temp when it has coolant.

 

So if im reading right..its losing coolant ,but it has no external leaks..gotta be burning it

 

May not be mixing coolant and oil, but another headgasket failure mode is letting combustion gases bleed into the water jacket and push coolant out of the reservoir. Leaving hot gas pockets that allow areas of your engine heat up enough to boil it.

Or it may be burning it. Pull the plugs and see if any cylinders/banks look exceptionally clean. Followed by a leakdown test. And double check that your thermostat works and your rad isn't clogged up

 

Odd. It could possibly be the bypass pipe that BassAckwards was talking about though. It's close to 230k miles on the motor what do i expect lol

 

Thanks for the info. Will be doing that later this week. I might replace the rad too, as it's almost 20 years old. Along with that bypass pipe and anything else I can think of

 

Guarantee you this is what is happening. go to 23:45 in video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOcA6Dp8ZJQ

 

Not sure if it's your daily driver, but I'd try not to drive it at all until you get the cooling issues figured out. Uneven coolant flow and gas pockets can/will warp metal and cause a ton more damage, up to and including grenading the engine.

 

Damn I really hope that's not the issue with mine that will be a pain in the ass

 

Yeah it's my daily. I have a BMW but I'm in the middle of fixing that right now so I can't afford mine blowing up on me. I am about to go peak around the engine where the bypass hose is located to see if I see any leaking or whatnot

 

Driver side under the intake manifold

 

well here is the spark plugs for you. They looks kind of normal to me besides being really dirty. No clue why they are so dirty I changed them about 5k miles ago maybe a little more. Does one stand out at all?