Dumb coolant level question- recovery tank

[TmanP]

Hello everybody. Just a quick question for you...

I just cleaned my throttle body about a week ago. And in doing so (taking it off), I lost about 1 ounce of coolant. I cleaned the throttle body, removed and inspected the gasket (the one between intake manifold and throttle body) and put it back together. I tightened the 4 bolts snug (not over tight). Today, I checked my coolant recovery tank. It had maybe a cup or two of coolant. I swear that it used to be higher than that (significantly, I think). It was not at the cold fill line (and the car had been sitting for 3-4 hours). I have put maybe 100 miles on it in the past week. What do you think? Do I have a leak or is that normal behavior for it to be below cold fill? What do you think?

The car is a 2006 Lacrosse with the 3.8.

Thanks.

 

[The_Jeff]

I run a little over the minimum line. There's no harm, unless it's so full that it bubbles over and pollutes when hot. If you do work that loses coolant, overfill the jug with hopes that air bubbles work out.

The more coolant you have in there, particularly non-pressurized ones, the more it cools off and re-condenses steam coming out of the rad neck hose. (This can actually be steam b/c it's not under pressure anymore.)

In other words, low levels beget low levels.

 

[TmanP]

Okay, thanks! There isn't a minimum line though- just a "cold fill" line.

 

[Leo99]

Maybe I don't know enough about engines but I've never seen coolant when taking the throttle body or intake manifold off the engine or understand what coolant would be doing up there at the top of the engine. How did you lose 1 oz of coolant from removing the throttle body?

 

[TmanP]

Okay, so there is a coolant passage in the throttle body that allows the throttle body to be heated (in the winter- so it doesn't ice up and stuff). It holds very little (like a tablespoon leaked out is all). And it's separated from the intake manifold by a gasket. I just learned that also. It's not intuitive why there's coolant in there. But yeah, there is a coolant passageway through there. But about the level-- what do you think?


(if you're curious about why coolant runs through the throttle body check out this link: Coolant in throttle body

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: TmanP
Okay, so there is a coolant passage in the throttle body that allows the throttle body to be heated (in the winter- so it doesn't ice up and stuff). It holds very little (like a tablespoon leaked out is all). And it's separated from the intake manifold by a gasket. I just learned that also. It's not intuitive why there's coolant in there. But yeah, there is a coolant passageway through there. But about the level-- what do you think?


(if you're curious about why coolant runs through the throttle body check out this link: Coolant in throttle body


Thanks. Didn't know about that.

If it's around the low line when cold and the high line when hot you should be fine.

 

[Xrs2zz]

It's actually amazing how hot the TB gets even within a minute after start up too.

Btw, I just did some TB work on my car and thought the amount of coolant loss was minimal, but had to add quite a bit of coolant to get back up to the full mark after a heat cycle or two.

 

[TmanP]

Thanks so much! That's good to know because I was thinking I had a leak somewhere. Hopefully that's all it was!