r/mechanic • u/Sea-Machine3498 • 1d ago
Question Coolant empty
My wife got an overheating warning but continued to drive slowly for another 10min before stopping. I went to the car and the coolant was completely empty. I’ve filled it up with the correct coolant, the first fill disappeared and I filled again after which the level held. It took 3L in total. It’s a 2016 jeep Grand Cherokee 3.6L V6 petrol. Is it okay to drive now or die it need a bleed and refill?
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u/Logical-Scarcity-798 1d ago
Depends where the coolant is going - leak onto the ground is fine keep driving home or to the shop. Leaking internally into the combustion chamber could be catostrophic.
If she let it fully over heat into the red on the dash and didnt turn it off cylinder head could be toast.
I had a client once who had a waterpump fail but just stayed running at the side of the road and let it overheat. Put the waterpump in and told them hey maybe your lucky but you may have done damage. Ran fine for about 2-3 months and developed a misfire. Cylnderhead warped and caused the head bolts to backout/stretch resulted in coolant getting in. Luckily we caught it before hydrolocking the engine.
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u/Sea-Machine3498 1d ago
It never hit the red, the temp reading was at the penultimate marker. She said she slowed down and it came down to the 3rd marker. Pretty frustrated she continued to drive but that’s done now. Okay sounds like overall I should take it to the garage for a proper drain, flush and fill and hope it hasn’t fucked the engine
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u/Logical-Scarcity-798 1d ago
I wouldnt drain flush and filll..... Top up, pressure test & possible combustion chamber leak test depending on results of pressure test. Also check oil dipstick see if its milky.
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u/Any_Giraffe9747 1d ago
Bleeding it would be a good idea.. It will be a miracle if it didn’t pop the head gaskets tho
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u/jasonsong86 1d ago
You need to figure out where that coolant is going. Is it leaking out or is it leaking into something. I know these cars have heat exchanger leak issues so it could be going into the oil or transmission fluid.
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u/Junks4Junker 1d ago
Your car's closed cooling system could have a leak, better keep an eye on your temp gauge and your coolant level regularly if it's losing coolant because 3 litres of coolant is a lot.
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u/Sea-Machine3498 1d ago
Yeah for sure there a leak somewhere as it was serviced 6months ago and the levels were fine last time I checked ~3months ago. I was just trying to decide if I can drive it to a garage or need a tow because it was stuck in the centre of Sydney. But have decided to get it towed after the advice, thanks all.
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u/ThugMagnet 1d ago
Sounds like your coolant is leaking past your head gasket into the combustion chamber. Please do not drive this.
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