If you can pull the spark plugs, a tell sign of coolant coming into a combustion chamber is a clean top on the piston. The water will cause the black carbon to burn off the top.
You may never see milky oil. Many times with minor gasket leaks, a small bit of water is drawn in on the intake stroke, and all the coolant is expelled during the exhaust stroke.
Start by checking your oil. I know this sounds counter-intuitive because you are looking for a coolant leak but if there is an internal leak the coolant may be escaping where you can't see it. Does the oil look like black molasses or honey? Whew! Good news! If it looks like a mocha latte from Starbucks take a deep breath and say Uh Oh. This means you may have an internal leak which can get costly to repair. Also keep in mind that your leak, because of the high engine temperatures, could be in the form of steam. This may indicate a minor leak somewhere that is much much harder to spot but cheaper to repair in general. Something called a pressure test, where your cooling system is put under pressure, is cheap and will quickly reveal the source. As for the fan it needs to be tested by connecting it directly to power to see if it is dead. $60-$80 for both fans on the interwebs. Labor to have them changed will run you double or a bit more if you shop carefully. Heres hoping you have a simple fix.
Very bad news for you my friend, If your coolant is missing, and you cannot find any leaks, then the only other place where it could disappear is inside the engine, due to a bad head gasket. Since you said your radiator fan are not working, I assume you have overheating problems which in the long term (or short term if it overheated to the point of having the cooling light turn on) would cause a head gasket failure. Check the oil cap, if you see white/creamy foam, it might be a sign of a bad head gasket. Try to have a compression test done too. If I were you though, I'll check for leaks one last time just to make sure.
Squeeze in a dozen of large eggs and a dozen packages of pepper . That should slow the internal leak down a bit . Do this when the cars on and full of coolant and feed the car eggs and pepper .
Ur looking at a $1200 repair bill . Eggs and pepper is cheaper .
the overflow tank is not a huge pat of the cooling system. IF the radiator is low, have the water pump looked at along with the heater core. both of those will drain a system with little sign aside from a wet spot that you need to look for.
if it's not a rusted through freeze plug it might be a failed heater matrix look under the front carpets for all the lost fluid
It sounds like you overheated your engine and warped or cracked the head or cracked the block.
I have a 2000 Nissan altima. The coolant drained completely out--I have to fill up my car with coolant every day before I leave for work. By the time I get home, the reservoir is almost empty. I can't see ANY leaks under my car, and on top of that one of my radiator fans isn't working. What would be possible causes?
