280zx water overuse problem
 

:paranoid: Help all of a sudden I have to fill the overflow tank every two or three miles.all the water go's down in the overflow tank and the water light comes on and the temp gage starts going up.then I'll stop and fill the tank and the temp will go down for another 2 or three miles then the same thing.checked the oil it seems fine,and there is no steam coming out of the tailpipe or from the engine compartment.and there seems to be no leak coming from anywhere under the car.car runs fine but can't seem to keep up with the water loss?:103: :031: any help wil do?

First of all, was the cooling system at full capacity when this started happening? Cause you might be playing catchup. Other than that the only thing that will cause a loss that bad is a leak. Internal or external. If you've got no coolant in your oil and the car is running fine (not the head gasket) then it has to be an external leak. If you can't find a leak any where in the engine compartment then you might want to check under the dash. You could have a leak in or around the heater core. Also, the splash pan under the car can collect water as well so you may have a leaking water pump (which means its trash). But the water has to be going somewhere so it's just a matter of tracking it down.

run the car over some dry ground and wait for the water to come out and maybee fill the resovior right to the top so it has lots to squirt out.

water is not going by way of the heater core it is disconnected

check all those freeze plugs. my truck was doing the same type of thing, and it appeared to have no leaks. One day I noticed a freeze plug was missing! ya, I can't believe it would hold water at all like that. I replaced it just in time for someone to steal the truck. :D :(

Well the latest update on my car,I opened up the radiator car and I have bubbles coming up in my radiator,well that is not good,car still runs fine,so what could this be?blown head gasket?guess that is where the water is going.:paranoid: :037: :wasted: :armata_PDT_03:

Yeah I hate to say it. But I will bet you you either have a blown headgasket, or the head itself is warped. I had the same problem with my '81 before. I spent almost $1200 to take him in, and get him fixed. That is the current motor I am running in my '82 right now.

Another test to try is rev the car slightly, and see if the overflow tank, starts streaming like old faithful. If it does that is a dead giveaway, that the head or gasket is bad.