coolant loss

[wsulli]

After winterizing my a-4 I left the thermostat housing off and added a little anti freeze to completely fill the head. About 3-4 weeks later I noticed it is gone added more about 16 oz. Last week down 1/8 inch, today down a 1/4 inch. This is measured from the top of the mounting surface for the t-stat. This does not seem normal to me any ideas, I do not know the oil level when I started only that it was changed in July and not run since, except to winterize.

[hanleyclifford]

There may be air pockets in the system that are slowly surfacing while the engine sits, but just to be sure make a measurement on your oil dipstick and compare after a week or so.

[Easy Rider]

It might be taking awhile for air in the cooling jackets to work it's way out displacing the antifreeze causing the level to drop. If so, you should reach a point where no more antifreeze will need to be added and it should stay full. If in doubt, you could try looking or feeling under the water pump area or in the bilge for signs of it leaking out somewhere. Good luck

[vabiker23518]

I had a similar issue as I was warming up my engine prior to winterizing last month. Had good batching out of exhaust gas/water but the engine ran to 200 in just a few minutes. I shut it down and checked the raw water intake as I've had issues before with crud reducing water flow but no issues this time. I then checked the anti-freeze level and it was down almost a gallon! Not sure where it went. Not into the oil thankfully, as the level was correct and when I drained it off it was normal. So, I'm hoping it was same as Easy Rider and Hanley said. Will check it closely this spring.

[67c&ccorv]

I would remove the water jacket drain plug behind the alternator and pour until anti-freeze runs out the hole...then put the plug back in.