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Not as much a maintenance question but I'm hoping to get a better understanding of how my vehicles work.

In 2016 I bought a 2012 Chevy Cruze which was fairly heavy on coolant consumption. Since I bought the vehicle I've found myself topping up the coolant every two months or so, and I believe once or twice have had to repair the coolant system. Because this was my first vehicle I assumed topping up coolant this regularly was normal and common across all vehicles.

Then in 2022 I bought a new Chevy Equinox which is quite the opposite, it barely uses any coolant at all and I've not really had to top it up much. This is to the point that I wonder if I'm doing something wrong with this vehicle compared to the Cruze.

My base assumption is that the Equinox is engineered better than the Cruze which came ten years earlier. But I'm curious to know what the cause is for the difference, and if my Cruze is just an oddball model that takes a lot of coolant.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
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Cdn_Dev
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2 Answers2

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Your assumption would be incorrect. A vehicle's coolant should be self contained and not needing topped off. If it routinely needs this, then there's a problem with the cooling system. It is losing coolant either through the combustion process or it's leaking it. The combustion process is a leak by the cylinder head gasket(s) and into the cylinder, or there may be (less likely) a crack in one of the castings allowing the coolant to flow into the cylinder(s). If there's a leak, it can either be coming out of the radiator, piping, or heater core. This would most likely be noticed. A leak could also exhibit itself through coolant being in the oil, which can come from a leaking head gasket into an oil passage, but this would be exhibit itself through milky looking oil (sometimes called "chocolate milkshake").

The only time a coolant system may need topped off is after a routine maintenance, and then only once or twice to ensure it remains full. Sometimes during maintenance (coolant replacement), there may be a few trapped air bubbles in the system which get flushed out. When this happens, more coolant would be needed to replace the bubble and therefore you need to top off.

More than likely your Cruze has an issue with the cooling system and your Equinox doesn't.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
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Very good answer by Paulster2. But would add that coolant levels change in the plastic reservoirs depending on the temperature of the engine. When cool the levels will be lower. I suspect that is what you're seeing on the2022. You probably have a leak (internal or external) on your 2012 in one of the areas that Paulster2 described. But I will add that a small external leak may not always reach the ground. The best way to determine where the leak is to have a pressure test and/or compression test. Or you can keep doing what you're doing and wait for the problem to become problematic. If it was me and I wanted to keep the vehicle around for awhile, I'd Identify and fix the leak unless the leak is internal. Internal leaks can get expensive. If the repair is to expensive, then keep doing what you're doing until it becomes a problem.

Jupiter
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