Losing coolant very quickly

the two on the right look kinda rusty and crusty, not sure if it’s the lighting. Look into the cylinders with a flashlight, any look significantly cleaner than the others?

If so, coolant is likely leaking into that/those cylinders and basically steam cleaning them.

If not, we still can’t rule out a bad HG without a leakdown test. Either pressurizing each cylinder and measure leakdown/watch and listen for signs of it bubbling into the cooling system, or pressurizing the (full) cooling system and seeing if any coolant seeps into the cylinders (or anywhere else for that matter)

 

Head gasket. I had this issue in my 2005

 

All of the pistons look exactly the same so I really don't know. Tomorrow morning i will be borrowing a compression tester from someone, if all the compression is good it most likely has to be that bypass pipe or the radiator so I will replace both. I also noticed a tiny amount of coolant coming from where the bypass pipe is connected on the engine, but it doesn't really explain why it's losing so much? I also noticed when I got home from work that there was some spillage where the coolant reservoir is, so it seems like it's building some sort of pressure in the system

 

A compression tester is not a leak down tester. That just verifies that your rings and valves will allow the piston to build pressure in short bursts. You need to apply and hold pressure in the cylinder for a while and see how fast it leaks down. You may get lucky and actually hear it releasing bubbles into the cooling channels.

if you found a leak by the bypass pipe, even a small leak can dump a lot of coolant once the system is up to operating temp/pressure.

if you don’t have access to a leak down tester and compressor, you may consider just going ahead and changing the head gasket anyway. You’ll see clear evidence of failures, if there are any, once the head comes off. Good time to change the timing chain too while you’re at it, not sure what the interval is on your engine but it’s probably due.

 

I see. Thank you for the information, you have been a great help to me and i really appreciate it. Ordered a new bypass pipe last night and will let the car for now I guess. It was really dirty where the bypass pipe is so I'm praying that is the only issue

 

Not saying a compression test is bad to do; it can’t hurt, if there’s a leak bad enough to drop compression it’ll still show up in a compression test. But since you say it runs and idles okay that’s probably not the case. It’s more likely a slower leak allowing little 200+psi puffs of combustion gases into the 15-20psi cooling channels. Which makes large bubbles and fills the areas with gases instead of coolant.

problem with that is once that small leak starts and the pathway is opened, it tends to deteriorate much more rapidly as the engine runs. And the uneven cooling allows parts to get super hot, likely why you’re seeing temperature spikes as coolant manages to flow by the area now and then, since the temp gauge only reads coolant leaving the engine. This causes fatigue and warping if not fixed asap.

or maybe you’ll get lucky and fix it by replacing that bypass.
hope ya get er fixed up soon.