Roamer

I have a major problem and I need help fast. I am losing a quart of antifreeze a day (160 mile round trip commute). Temperature is fine, oil temp fine, no oil in coolant or coolant in oil. No sign of coolant leaking from hoses, radiator or expansion tank. Heater works fine also.

Only problem is a little white smoke on start up and slight difficulty starting.

I am praying this is not the head gasket, but I don't know what else it could be. Please say it ain't so!

Thanks.

Cuban90S

Hey bud... Sounds to me like your problem is a leak, not a large one... but a very tiny one. If it was a large one you would lose all of your Coolant during your 160 mile trip.
It could be that the spring in your radiator cap has lost strength and is therefore not applying the right amount of pressure on its seat.

Since you travel alot and only lose a quart, I'd say you have a small hole somewhere in the cooling system (maybe where the hoses mate up to the radiator or the engine) that only allows for the pressurized coolant (steam, for all practical purposes) to escape through it. Obviously, your coolant becomes pressurized when the engine is HOT.
Another place to check for small openings, cracks, etc. would be where the two hoses hook up to your heater core.

MikTip

Could be a many a splendid thing......

If its loosing a quart every 160 miles, then something is leaking. The big mystery is finding exactly what & where! ;o)

You could have the system pressurized while the engine is not running, at a garage which has the special tool that attaches to the expansion tank.
Its basically an air pump which pumps up the system to 18-22 psi, and then you look for leaks, & watch its guage, to see how rapidly the pressure bleeds off. The tool is very useful as it checks the system without the engine running, and while the coolant is cool!

Other method is run the engine until the rad fan comes on, turn motor off. Then try to find visable leaks. Keep in kind the leak may be only "steam" at this point. If nothing visible can be found, you can pull spark plugs one at a time, peer down into the cylinders with a good, bright flashlight, looking for coolant atop the pistons.

Could be the expansion tank cap is weak?

Could be a hose connection?

Roamer

Well it was a combination of things. First the pressure cap was bad leading to a boil off. Once the pressure cap was replaced the car started leaking fluid from the top of the motor. I took it over to my Audi guy, he started tearing it apart and found that the gasket on the thermostat housing was bad. Replaced that and we are back in business!

Thanks for the help.

P.S. MikTip, where did you get the computer programmer for your V6? Also, any updates on superchargers for the 12v?

Thanks again.
Marc