Where art thou coolant?

[socalisolara]

My friend who drives 01 camry is having problem where his coolant level is always low, even after fill up. Can anyone elaborate the causation of diminishing coolant...

[hskrsolara]

possibly a cracked reservoir.

[(K)]

What color is the exhaust gasses coming out of his tailpipe? And I'm not talking about your friend directly, I meant his car...

[TadS]

Is it a 4 or a 6? I had that problem on my Celica, turned out to be a leaking water pump. It finally got to the point that it was leaking at idle, then I was able to fix it. Is anything dripping, like a radiator problem? Any wet spots on the car's floorboards? Anything coming out the tailpipe? Coolant doesn't just disappear, it has to go somewhere. Check the oil for mixing also.

[socalisolara]

The car is i-4 and the reservoir is fine. He noticed some white smokes only in the morning but none after the warm-up. Any more ideas?

[hskrsolara]

sounds like a blown head gasket. white smoke = head gasket or cracked head...neither are good and need fixed asap.

[aigochamaloh]

sounds like a blown head gasket. white smoke = head gasket or cracked head...neither are good and need fixed asap.

Not necessarily. An engine can produce "white smoke" when it's first started cold, and it will go away when it warms up. If it's not continuously pouring out white smoke after warmup, I think it's fine. Sniff it to check if it smells sweet.

Like mentioned previously, could be a water pump, do you see any coolant drips under the engine when idling the car?

Also check if there's frothy white goodness under your oil cap.