Coolant leak

[doubt at inwave.com (Nate Mellom)]

Gordy,
I had a mysterious disappearing coolant issue on my '81 for MONTHS after 
I replaced my radiator.  It'd always be low, I'd fill it, it'd be low 
after running it for a few fan cycles.  Eventually I topped it off, and 
it stayed at the proper level.  I chalked it up to incomplete system 
burping.  There still must have been air in the system, eventually it 
ended up at the top of the radiator, causing a "low coolant" symptom.
If your system is acting normally, and you can't find any signs of 
leaking or other fluid loss (head gasket, oil cooler, etc), I'd keep an 
eye on it, keep filling it, and eventually it'll remedy itself.
Nate


Gordy Stedman wrote:
> My 79 has a bad coolant leak.  After 20-30 minutes of driving I end up with
> about 1/2 of my radiator coolant missing.  I filled it back up and 
> burped it
> this weekend and idled the car for 10 minutes through 2 radiator fan cycles
> and the coolant level was down appoximately an inch.  I park it inside and
> have never seen any puddles under the car and when driving there is no 
> steam
> or over flow from the radiator.  Also no puddles or even wet carpet inside
> of car so I assume the heater core is not leaking.  Just put a brand new
> radiator in with a new cap and the system does not have an overflow bottle.
> 3A engine with JH head.  I thought it might be a blown head gasket but got
> 160-180psi across cylinders.  I did notice the exhaust having a white tint
> to it so I think the engine might be burning the water but with such good
> cylinder pressure I do not think there would be a way for water to get into
> the cylinders.  I did find some milky white oil/water mix on the inside top
> of the valve cover but no water in the oil when drained which also made me
> think the head gasket was blown.  The engine starts up just fine and idles
> good and revs ok but have noticed a small decrease in the butt dyno.  I am
> not trying to track down a small or gradual leak but a constant massive 
> loss
> of coolant.  Any thoughts before I go insane?  TIA.
>