What is normal coolant loss?

[Valpo Jeep]

I prefer to buy the concentrate and a gallon of distilled myself. The cost between concentrate and premix is small so it’s cheaper to me to mix at home when I need it. I will buy pre mix if I am out and need to top off.

But as far as loosing coolant, my experience has always been if you are loosing coolant it’s not from evaporation.

Just googled about coolant loss and came up with 2 or 3 ounces is normal on a perfectly good system, any more than that and you have a problem somewhere

Sponsored

 

[ErAcEr]

My experience with the coolant in my 3.6 is once I top it off to the full line at cold, 6 months later it will be down to the low line at cold and repeat topping it off again. Ive made a habit to check it every 4 to 6 months and top it off. No issues here.

 

[blnewt]

I prefer to buy the concentrate and a gallon of distilled myself. The cost between concentrate and premix is small so it’s cheaper to me to mix at home when I need it. I will buy pre mix if I am out and need to top off.

But as far as loosing coolant, my experience has always been if you are loosing coolant it’s not from evaporation.

Just googled about coolant loss and came up with 2 or 3 ounces is normal on a perfectly good system, any more than that and you have a problem somewhere

x2, cost about $22 for the concentrate and the a gallon of distilled (or it did last time I bought some), vs about $18 for the mix. A no-brainer if there ever was one

My experience with the coolant in my 3.6 is once I top it off to the full line at cold, 6 months later it will be down to the low line at cold and repeat topping it off again. Ive made a habit to check it every 4 to 6 months and top it off. No issues here.

That's about where I'm at regarding coolant loss, but unlike you I have a faint coolant smell so I know it's seeping from somewhere, just can't find out where

Over the years I've had vehicles that I never had to add coolant, and had some where I did have to top it off every 6-12 months without any signs of leaks and no coolant in the crankcase so ???

 

[Byrds8]

I have waited til hit the seam line or just below and put more coolant in about every other month. Took it in the dealer and they said looks like it’s fine. Then told me next time it gets low bring it in before putting more in. Since it pressure tested fine they didn’t want to look any further. Dealerships here all suck.

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

I've owned multiple Jeeps with the 3.6 - most were Grand Cherokee, two Gladiators. Current is a 2022 JT
The 2020 I added 8 ounces of coolant after a couple of years. Traded it at 27,000 miles and 2 1/2 years and never added more coolant.
The 2022 I've not had to add coolant to it yet. It's about 1/4" below where it was when I bought it. I attribute part of that to it burping out air after being driven and getting hot, then pulling coolant in when cooling. I've got 15,000 miles and 14 months on it and no coolant needed yet.
I've not had to add coolant to our Grand Cherokees - if the dealers did it at some point during service, maybe, but they've never been low.

Some loss would be normal through the moisture in the air that's expelled after pressure builds above about 16 psi. It would take a whole lot of heating and cooling cycles to lose much. Think about it - what's lost is only what's held in the air as vapor when pressure builds. That's very very little.

 

[ErAcEr]

x2, cost about $22 for the concentrate and the a gallon of distilled (or it did last time I bought some), vs about $18 for the mix. A no-brainer if there ever was one


That's about where I'm at regarding coolant loss, but unlike you I have a faint coolant smell so I know it's seeping from somewhere, just can't find out where

Over the years I've had vehicles that I never had to add coolant, and had some where I did have to top it off every 6-12 months without any signs of leaks and no coolant in the crankcase so ???

Does the oil cooler that fails have coolant lines that go through it as well? Maybe loosing it in side there somewhere and burning it on the engine, hence why you'll never see it but smell it. Im surprised I never smelled any coolant with my amazing sniffer (wife mentions all the time how I smell things and she doesnt). Ill be doing an oil change in a few weeks so ill look around the under side to see if anything new is on mine but i doubt it.

 

[CarbonSteel]

@waypoint - do yourself a favor and take an oil sample and send it out for analysis. Blackstone is more than good enough for this. See if you have any potassium detected and anything more than 3PPM is suspect. Catching a coolant leak early is imperative since it will destroy the oil and subsequently the engine.

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/products/free-test-kits/

 

[blnewt]

Does the oil cooler that fails have coolant lines that go through it as well? Maybe loosing it in side there somewhere and burning it on the engine, hence why you'll never see it but smell it. Im surprised I never smelled any coolant with my amazing sniffer (wife mentions all the time how I smell things and she doesnt). Ill be doing an oil change in a few weeks so ill look around the under side to see if anything new is on mine but i doubt it.

Not sure about that, only thing I know for sure is the coolant smell started after some slamming on a rock crawl trail a couple years ago, so I assume some fitting/connector didn't like the impact

 

[IanNubbit]

Between the high operating temps (especially automatics) of normal 210 degrees or slightly more, along with the EGR cooler being the location of the vent, its normal to have to add a tiny amount like 16oz in a 12 month span. It's a whole lot better then older cars with lower pressure systems and none sealed reservoirs.

 

[JL120daysinservice]

@waypoint did you end up finding out where the coolant was going?

 

[ym0bc1]

There're multiple coolant reservoir. Curious if the coolant flow from one to another causing the level fluctuates?

 

[Deleted User 38384]

I have never owned a vehicle in my entire life that you haven't had to add a little bit of coolant to every couple of months. Even if it's just a tiny amount.

I've had to add some to my EcoDiesel, probably less than a quart or the last 2 years. But still had to add some all the same.

Had to add some to the wife's Subaru, same thing less than a quart over the last 3 years, but still.

I had an old Camry, that thing would eat up coolant like crazy. Over the 7 years I had it, I probably dumped about 6 gallons of coolant into it. Not including the radiator swap I did and subsequent coolant complete refill.

I had a 2016 Jeep Patriot for about 3 years maybe, same thing, probably added about a quart and a half over those 3 years.

It's going to happen, it seems to be the weakest point in the vehicle. I would much rather be adding coolant than adding oil!

 

[blnewt]

I would much rather be adding coolant than adding oil!

Hopefully the coolant you're adding isn't the reason you're not having to add oil

 

[Deleted User 38384]

Hopefully the coolant you're adding isn't the reason you're not having to add oil

With my wife Subaru it is! ?

Subarus in the old model years (SJ's) had lots of issues with oil loss, they would burn oil like crazy. Then with the new model years, the SK's, they reformatted their Subaru super coolant. Basically their in-house coolant. It makes it so now it doesn't burn oil, however it does burn the super coolant, though at a much lower rate. At $80 for a gallon of super coolant, and the fact that I've gone through barely a quart of it over the last 3 years we've had my wife's Subaru, it's not so bad. It's a good vehicle, the all-wheel drive system is pretty solid. I'm not such a huge fan of the transmission, but it gets the job done for what she needs it for. And honestly it's pretty reliable. We've got 55,000 mi on it right now over the last 3 years and no major issues. I'm also pretty preemptive on upkeep. I got the spark plugs done at 50,000 mi and they're not due until 60,000, I had the differential oil changes done early, I pretty much do everything early. I'd rather do it early than have it break and other stuff go with it.

Sorry I'm ranting. ??

 

[waypoint]

@waypoint did you end up finding out where the coolant was going?

Nope, appears to be normal thermal expansion & contraction. The level at operating temp is what I use as reference, and it didn't change all summer. With the weather cooling I'll be monitoring the level.

Sponsored