Adding coolant

[accord]

I have to add about 100-150 ml of coolant ONCE a year (driving 10k km/year) into my relatively new car (2005 accord V6). Should I be concerned about it or is it normal for a car to "consume" small amount of coolant? I can not see any wet spots on the parking. Thanks.

[spf1971]

It isn't normal to have to add coolant but for that small amount, I wouldn't worry. How long have you had to add coolant? Chances are, your rad cap is a bit weak and allowing a bit of coolant to evaporate.

[notanexpert]

Some cars just seep a very small amount of coolant through the gaskets. I have one that has been doing that since it was nearly new, its 13 years old now and 200k km and still is fine, I just add a little coolant once or twice a year, maybe half a cup. I have never found any leaks either.

[accord]

It isn't normal to have to add coolant but for that small amount, I wouldn't worry. How long have you had to add coolant? Chances are, your rad cap is a bit weak and allowing a bit of coolant to evaporate.

I had to add twice over 2 years of car ownership, exactly in September each year.

[ES_Revenge]

I have to add about 100-150 ml of coolant ONCE a year (driving 10k km/year) into my relatively new car (2005 accord V6). Should I be concerned about it or is it normal for a car to "consume" small amount of coolant? I can not see any wet spots on the parking. Thanks.

It should not really consume per se but sources for loss are pretty much what notanexpert and spf said ;) Water pump weep is also a source for this coolant loss over time. If it's that small an amount I wouldn't worry too much but if you want to make sure it's not getting in your oil somehow, you can use the lighter trick to detect small levels of coolant mixed with the oil. With larger amounts your oil turns into a milkshake, lol; but with smaller amounts it can be hard to detect. What you can to is take the dipstick out, with the oil still on it and hold a lighter to the oil at the end. If you get any popping/crackling then you probably have coolant or some kind of water/moisture in the oil, if not all should be good. Note do not touch the end of the dipstick after doing this the oil will be hot!

Anyway I would hope you are not adding standard green coolant to your Honda if it doesn't have that from the factory.

Honda started to use an OAT coolant (similar to DEX-COOL) at some point in time but I'm not sure what year. The only thing is Honda stupidly used a similar green colour for their OAT extended life coolant, so it's not possible to tell from colour (as it is with nearly every other manufacturer that has more modern coolant). So if your coolant resivoir or owner's manual specifies some sort of "long life" or "extended life" coolant be sure to use the genuine Honda stuff, and not run-of-the-mill old-skool green stuff ;)