Losing coolant?

Tiny
DJOSLA
  • MEMBER
  • 2018 PEUGEOT 308
  • 1.5L
  • 4 CYL
  • TURBO
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 140,000 MILES
It loses coolant usually when it's not running (from what I saw), it's hard to find any leaks anywhere but the coolant reservoir is somewhat soaked in coolant, like its nasty to touch it from 1 side. I have been to 1 mechanic and he says the problem is only the reservoir having a leak, yet another mechanic said that it could be an engine problem and that the engine could be putting too much pressure and making the coolant evaporate from the reservoir from such pressure, what do I do?
Friday, January 31st, 2025 AT 3:12 PM

5 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,144 POSTS
The first thing I would do is check it for a blown head gasket which is common when you can find the leak. Also, what do you mean by "nasty to touch"? Here is a guide I would go over to help us see what is going on, also if you can upload a short video or an image of what you are looking at it will help.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/head-gasket-blown-test

This guide may help as well:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/recognizing-the-symptoms-understanding-a-blown-head-gasket-in-your-vehicle

Please go over these guides and get back to us.

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Saturday, February 1st, 2025 AT 11:49 AM
Tiny
DJOSLA
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
Hello, thank you dearly for replying. I've skimmed through the guides You provided, and I have pictures and videos. So, I've noticed that after a 20 minute ish drive the radiator hoses get really hard, like hard to put a dent in, I've checked the oil cap and there is nothing on it, I've had an oil change like 5 days ago and nobody reported anything being in the oil. The coolant I show in the video from the outside of the reservoir had gone down overnight, I believe it leaked on the bottle because of that extra pressure, I didn't open it to release the pressure just to see if it will leak more. I've also got a video for the bubbling coolant inside the reservoir and as far as I can, I don't see it happen. I said " nasty to touch" like it being soaked in coolant, somewhat. Also, there's no white smoke or blue smoke or anything coming out of the car, I also got a video of it freshly started and it was pretty cold, yet there wasn't any really visible white smoke as I've seen in the guide. Now I believe something is putting pressure inside the reservoir, or maybe the reservoir is the problem itself, or the EGR filter. Though I don't know. I can only speculate because mechanics tell me different stories. Maybe it still could be a faulty head gasket but it's not showing that many symptoms as of yet?
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Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 AT 6:27 AM
Tiny
KEN L
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It can still have a blown head gasket and not be in the engine oil or oil cap FYI. You might want to replace the pressure cap for the cooling system, it should only hold about 18 PSI.
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Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 AT 9:00 AM
Tiny
DJOSLA
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  • 3 POSTS
Is that the cap on the radiator or on the reservoir, or is that the same thing?
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Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 AT 2:27 PM
Tiny
KEN L
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Can you upload images of both, so I can see? Usually it will be the reservoir.
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Monday, February 3rd, 2025 AT 8:12 AM

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