using loads of coolant

[mimjed 0]

car has been fine and doesnt seem to over heat, but three times now i have put nearly a litre of coolant in.

 

runs fine gets up to temp fine. oil temp stays good. turn off and in about 30 mins a litre of coolant has vanished?? fill up again, same thing.

 

no dripping underneath that i can see, at all leat alone a litre pool.

 

the exhaust is smoking a little white but not smelling sweet. no oil in water or the other way round, so im not convinced its the head gasket.

 

has started running a little rough when cold though.

 

any clues on where the coolant is going?

 

cheers, jim

[colinstubbs 0]

You sure it's not quietly leaking out of the heater matrix? :gag:

[dirtytorque 0]

I think head gasket tbh..

[mimjed 0]

i suppose its possible but not noticed any water/damp inside. i shall indeed have a butchers though.

 

cheers

[Bruno 4]

car has been fine and doesnt seem to over heat, but three times now i have put nearly a litre of coolant in.

 

Part of the problem is that its cold and you've been using the heater; it is possible that there is coolant loss through there. The exchange unit in our cars tends to be weak in design. Are the carpets wet at all?

I would start by taking out the rad, removing all of the coolant, flushing it, replacing the thermostat and temp sensors, check all the hoses, replace the cap on the overflow tank, and refill with deionised water mixed with g12+ (or whatever is current nowadays), in a 25% mixture. The car is old enough to justify a good clean up of its cooling system.

 

I had that kind of loss occuring on my car routinely. The seams on the radiator side tanks allowed seepage. You will find this when you take everything off and examine it. If you have a garage and lots of light, it is worth doing this. And no, I'm not convinced it is a head gasket or crack.

[mimjed 0]

car has been fine and doesnt seem to over heat, but three times now i have put nearly a litre of coolant in.

 

Part of the problem is that its cold and you've been using the heater; it is possible that there is coolant loss through there. The exchange unit in our cars tends to be weak in design. Are the carpets wet at all?

I would start by taking out the rad, removing all of the coolant, flushing it, replacing the thermostat and temp sensors, check all the hoses, replace the cap on the overflow tank, and refill with deionised water mixed with g12+ (or whatever is current nowadays), in a 25% mixture. The car is old enough to justify a good clean up of its cooling system.

 

I had that kind of loss occuring on my car routinely. The seams on the radiator side tanks allowed seepage. You will find this when you take everything off and examine it. If you have a garage and lots of light, it is worth doing this. And no, I'm not convinced it is a head gasket or crack.

 

good stuff. im really hoping its not. its not down on power at all, another reason im not convinced on head gasket/cracked block.

 

im not 100% sure they are not wet so im gunna have a feel now

[mimjed 0]

nope a little cold but not wet......guess its back in bits next week then :(

[Conker 0]

I would guess headgasket too.

 

Before you take the cooling system to bits, it might be worth getting a pressure test done first maybe? (won't be expensive).

[Erny 0]

I agree with the pressure test, what's the longest journeys you have been driving with it like this? When it's running and nice and warm, pop ya bonnet and try squeezing the pipes to and from the radiator, if you can't squeeze them then your system is usually pressurising, My old mk2 did this, I could drive Sheffield to Leeds or Loughborough, and loose less water than wen I was sat in traffic driving thru town, There was no loss in power witch had me thinkin it was an airlock at first, replaced my headgasket and it was fine n dandy. I'm not sayin yours is defo the gasket but It sounds alot like my problem, be aware that if this is the case you could burst a water pipe, and end up in the shit,

[weetos 0]

is your screen misting up more that normal?

[mimjed 0]

screen has been misting up more than normal. but car has been sat for a while.

 

err pipes are pretty spongey to be honest. i have only done one 5 mile trip in it since this, after it had warmed up. my friend was following me, he said no smoke out of exhaust.

 

it was running alot healthier though.

 

compression test it is then.

 

forgot to mention, but i dont think its related alternator is dead so only running off battery power. plenty of charge left though.

[weetos 0]

screen has been misting up more than normal. but car has been sat for a while.

Matrix i'd bet but comp test first cause a bit of a mare of a job

[A1 VR6 0]

If you disconnect the inlet and outlet for the matrix on the bulkhead and join them together with a bit of copper pipe and jubilee clips you'll bypass it and see if it loses any coolant then. If it doesn't you know it's faulty.

[JMC 0]

I had a situation like his on my G60. It turned out to the the gasket where pipe comes out of the bottom right of the block. Corrosion meant it was not sitting properly and was ever so slightly (but continually) loosing fluid. Replaced the o-ring, smoothed off the surface o the block and it has not happened since.

[mimjed 0]

well i finally have a day off work but compression test kit has not come yet.

 

i have blanked off the heater matrix as suggested, but still loosing coolant. back screen still misted up today though?

 

i have noticed that there was a hissing noise from the front of the block when i turned it off. only stopped when i wiggled the black sensor around.

 

there is a small amount of crust under this, but cant spot any leaks here.

 

(hopefully) heres a video of the smoke (oil about 50 degrees, around 1500 rpm, seemed to be hunting alot today)

 

nope, doesnt want to work

 

[davidwort 0]

damp inside car might just be leaky door membranes, damp that sits in the doors just evaporates into the car through the door cards.

 

water leak could be anywhere, if you clean up joints you should see crusty dried antifreeze build up fairly quick,

favourite locations are, faulty valve in header tank cap, plastic flanges to head, connection to oil cooler and metal water pipe, thermostat housing pipe, radiator leaks or even a water pump drive shaft leaking.

[mimjed 0]

yeah its just the smoke im a little concerned over. got a day off on saturday so hopefully compression tester will be here by then.

 

want an answer from that before i go nuts.

[Conker 0]

Thats definitely water vapour out the exhaust on the video, but it could just be condensation, especially in this cold weather. 50 degrees isn't really hot enough. Take it for a run and then see.

 

Another tip... Get a big brown cardboard box and unfold it, then put it under the car (park somewhere dry-ish). It will help you double-check for drips. On my old Mk2, it took me ages to find a leak, but this found it straight away.

[huggy 0]

i get more condensation than that in this weather my c dosent go any where during the week and untill it warms up properly kicks it out think a box may be soaking it up lol but coolant level stable pipes solid once been running a bit and no water in oil so i take it this isnt a problem?

[mimjed 0]

well had a morning on it today finally. it seems the compression tester i bought doesnt work, nothing but zero readings. doh.

 

on the up side i decided not to top up coolant today and it has not lost any at all. so still about a litre shy of full but not going any where under.

 

tick over was sitting high again, about 1500rpm.

 

warmed up to 92 today then took it out and gave it full throttle to about 4000rpm a few times. had a little cough the first couple of times, but then ran clear. no smoke from exhaust when i got home, tick over had dropped to near enough 750rpm but still hunting.

 

safe to say i now have no idea whats going on and i think im going to admit defeat and take it to a garage to pump up the coolant system tp see of they can find a leak.

[mimjed 0]

think i made a discovery this afternoon. i think because the exhuast "points up" so to speak at the tail pipe this is allowing rain to sit in it.

 

hence the water vapour when it starts up. odd what you notice when your not actually looking for it

[huggy 0]

lol my raddo even under shelter seems to soak up moisture from the air in the exhaust, this is proberly due to the material filter in the box and prob the maderials age its prob full of cr*p for moisture to cling to. as i say mine does it till its warmed up for a bit, and wont do it if i leave it for a few hrs and drive again, had an idea on how u can check this theory, run till no more steam let exhaust cool down and tape a bit of plastic bag the over end of exhaust leave raddo sitting for a few days, take bag of and turn her over if my theory is correct this should prove it good luck.