losing water

[brax]

I'm not sure if this should be in this topic or not, however
my 3.9L CFI 88 EA falcon sedan, is chewing through the water and i'm not sure where it's going as i never see it leak anywhere, the radiator top up light comes on fairly regularly however indicating that there is a lack of water and within a week of topping it up i need to top it up again.
anyone have any ideas as to where it might be going?
the car has just recently passed 250,000km and blows a little blue smoke every now and then.
could the cause of the missing water be a head gasket gone awry? as i believe that i now need to replace it.
Also how would i get more power from the car as it seems to not have much? would replacing the head gasket etc give more power as it has (for a while) been leaking oil from the head gasket(as it's old and hard) and the rocker cover gasket(as it too is old and hard)?
i was thinking of purring pink food dye in the water to see where it's going, would this do anything to the cooling system?

[darkfang888]

yep my 1990 EA2 CFI had the same problem. Head was warped and gasket wasn't sealing and over the course of a few days radiator was empty. In fact, it got so bad it was emptying in 15mins. Coolant going through gap were gasket isn't sealing and out the exhaust. reccomend replacing gasket and checking head for cracks.

you'll have to change oil and filter when doing it, coz the oil will be sludgy with coolant and will eventually stuff all the running gear in the engine - especially the valvetrain.

[Damo]

lack of power. It's a 3.9 CFI.

Unfortunately its sounds like a head gasket. I think there is a special product that would act like the food dye, meant for cooling systems. Good luck with it.

[ilsautomotive]

Starting with the basics like getting the cooling system pressure tested by a radiator specialist would be advisable.

Hi Guys
Just joined so was interested to see what problems others have. My ED Falcon is losing water to but it's over two/three weeks instead. Had it pressure tested, fixed radiator(had minor leakage as the engine cooled down), new cap on bottle, they (my mechanic) have gas analysed with a machine and reckon it's not the head gasket. It uses a little bit more fuel than I think it should but had plenty of power. Exhaust has no second muffler so flows much better at top end. was told don't really need it just for making quiter. The temperature guage rises quickly then drop back to bottom (up and down in say 2 min max) constantly in city driving. Cars done 256,000kms and running super strong.
Anyone else had slow leak like this. It's getting really frustrated.
GLD

[EA2BA]

Could be a hose with a tiny leak opening up under pressure, the other problem sounds like thermosat, replace the thermostat and make sure it has a 3mm hole in the outer edge of it, if it doesnt drill one should stop the bouncing temp needle.

[SileNceR]

they shouldn't be losing water... they should be losing coolant...

if they're losing water, the water is your problem; chances are its corroded everything away