Sometimes, when head gaskets go bad, the coolant will be burnt off out of the exhaust system. That may not be noticeable at all.
If coolant isn't leaking externally then it has to be leaking internally. A leaking head gasket or cracked head may be the problem. If this is the case, as it gets worse more coolant will enter the combustion chamber or engine oil. Either way you will be able to determine as it gets worse. There will be white smoke from the exhaust. May be intermittent. This is if coolant is leaking into combustion chamber. If leaking into oil, you will notice that the engine oil will have a brown/milky look to it as you check the oil level on the engine oil dipstick.
Try to find out where it's coming from. Often coolant will leak down the front of the water pump, under the pulley. Even if you don't see the coolant, look for the mineral trace of the water. By the time you notice a leaky water pump it has usually been leaking for a while and has left a noticeable trail. If you don't notice coolant leaking there, check other places, freeze plugs, the sides of the radiator, radiator and heater hoses... Again, the coolant and water minerals typically leave a nice bright trace to tell you where it's leaking. If the radiator is leaking, don't try to fix it yourself and certainly don't put stop leak or any other chemicals in it. Either replace the radiator or take it to a radiator shop and have THEM repair it properly.
Radiator, radiator cap, radiator hoses, water pump, coolant reservior and heater core are the more obvious areas. If you notice coolant in your oil it can be caused by a blown head gasket or damaged coolant sleeve in the head of the enging. If you cannot see any coolant leaks outside of the vehicle, check the floor mats on the interior. If you find coolant there, it more than likely is a heater core.
As with most engines, you will often find oil around the outside below the intake. You may also realize that you are running out of coolant a lot. this is caused by the cooling jackets inside the engine breaching the head gasket and leaking into the combustion cylinder. Start easy. Open your engine oil cap and see if you find any gross whitish slime on the inside of the cap itself. If so that usually means that you are getting coolant (moisture) in your oil. This is bad. coolant gets sticky when cooked in your engine. the friction will restrict the pistons and create more heat. You will eventually notice your engine running warmer than it should (although overheating can be a symptom of many different problems). If you don't notice any of these symptoms you may, as the problem gets worse notice a rough idle from air leaking into the system or the James Bond style plume of white smoke behind you on the road as leaking oil drips onto your exhaust .
If you notice a hose leaking at the spigot, you should turn off the water supply, tighten the connection, or replace the washer to stop the leak.
That often happens when your engine has a leaking head gasket. The coolant from the engine's water jacket runs into the crankcase. This is something you want to rule out right away because it can destroy an engine past the point of economical rebuild. To check, drain the oil and look for coolant in the oil. If you see that the oil is showing unusually high on the dip stick, that is a pretty good clue, too. Another problem that could cause this symptom would be a leaking heater core. The coolant will leak to the interior of the car and soak the carpet. You won't necessarily notice the leak right away if you have rubber floor mats. You would smell the coolant, though. Very slow leaks can evaporate while you are driving and you might not notice dripping. Put a clean piece of cardboard under your car after you park and you can identify very small leaks easier.
That's exactly what it is, water. The products of combustion are water and carbon dioxide. While the exhaust stays hot the water comes out as high temperature steam, usually you don't even notice it. When the exhaust pipe and/or outside temperature is cold enough the exhaust will cool and some of the water vapor will condense into steam and possibly even water that drips from a weep hole in the muffler. If you're seeing a little water drip from the muffler, everything is working as designed.
If you notice your sprinkler valve leaking, you should turn off the water supply to the sprinkler system and contact a professional to repair or replace the valve. Continuing to use the system with a leaking valve can lead to water waste and potential damage to your property.
If you notice your toilet pipe leaking, you should immediately turn off the water supply to the toilet, clean up any water to prevent damage, and contact a plumber to fix the leak as soon as possible.
Usually this means a head gasket is leaking somewhere. Or if you happen to have a oil cooler mounted to the radiator that could be be where it is leaking, but this is not usually the case. If you notice whitesh smoke out of the exhaust then it is definitely a head gasket leak. Usually the oil will also contain some coolant in it. It will appear as a whitesh foam. This needs to be fixed bc it will only get worse.
A blown head gasket could allow coolant to enter the combustion chamber from the water jacket. The coolant probably is running out the exhaust on first start-up. More often, you will notice the coolant being pumped out of the overflow as the exhaust gas pressurizes the coolant. You should look for this symptom when the engine warms up. Coolant in the exhaust on start-up and then the coolant overpressure overflow from the expansion tank or radiator happening together is almost sure indication of the head gasket failure.
If you notice your water faucet leaking, you should turn off the water supply to the faucet and then either repair the faucet yourself or contact a plumber to fix it. A leaking faucet can waste a significant amount of water and increase your water bill, so it's important to address the issue promptly.