Small coolant leak coming from right side of engine (opposite of water pump/belt side). Doing strange things.

[sonicsprings]

Trying to decide if I should shell out the money to fix it. When I top off the coolant it will leak pretty heavily, but then once it leaks some out the leak will basically stop. The overflow tank has a tiny bit of coolant in it, if I put anymore in it it will inevitably leak out. So I just run the car on "semi-low" coolant and it doesn't leak anymore...

 

[rodslinger]

Did I just read the equivalent of my car has an oil leak so I stopped adding oil because it doesn't leak anymore when it runs out?

Find and fix the leak or be prepared for a new engine. Just clean the engine thoroughly and let it dry, add coolant and find where it is coming from. There is plenty of room to see especially with a small inspection mirror and a flashlight on these cars.

 

[sonicsprings]

Did I just read the equivalent of my car has an oil leak so I stopped adding oil because it doesn't leak anymore when it runs out?

Find and fix the leak or be prepared for a new engine. Just clean the engine thoroughly and let it dry, add coolant and find where it is coming from. There is plenty of room to see especially with a small inspection mirror and a flashlight on these cars.

No what I meant to say is that when the system is completely full about a little bit leaks out, but then after that the leak stops. So the coolant system has about 80-90% of the coolant it's supposed to have, and it isn't leaking.

 

[RayneFall]

Inspect the underside of your coolant reservoir tank. Mine was cracked / fractured just enough that it would hold coolant when cold, but would leak through the cracks when warmed up. I only discovered this because it would leak down onto the radiator hose, and the bottom of the coolant tank was wet.

 

[Bruiser350]

I agree with what Rayne is saying, but just go ahead and spend the $30 for a nee coolant reservoir just to rule that out as being the leaking part. The only other part on that side of the engine is the water outlet and a couple hoses....all are relatively cheap fixes.