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Loosing coolant...

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Hello again, another request for help.... :oops:

 

91 J plate 16v with just under 160k on the clock.

 

It's loosing about 1-2 litres of coolant on the journey into work which is about 30 miles. I'll fill it up before I leave, and about 12-15 miles into the journey the warning light comes on. Last night it took about a litre to fill it up after work, this morning it took about 1.5.

The puzzling thing is I can't see where its leaking from. There's no steam anywhere in the engine, no drips from under the engine, and I can't see anything wrong with the radiator.

The engine is smoking quite heavily at the moment (got a new one I'm dropping in on Saturday) and when it was blowing the smoke over the back windscreen the other night there was condensation forming on the glass.

Could the engine be 'absorbing' the coolant somehow? If so, it points to a head gasket, but there is no mayonaise in the oil...

 

Anyone have any ideas??

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check coolant flanges-they shouldn't leak this much

check rad for holes. you wont see um until its under pressure

Hose split-as above

bottom rad hose loose(one to metal pipe)

 

dreaded one

 

Headgasket.

 

is it white clouds of smoke?

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Yeah, the clouds of smoke are quite white...

Looking at it under pressure, when I get home and when I get to work there's no obvious exit point for the water.

If it is the headgasket then would it get through that amount of water?

 

I actually hope it is the headgasket, as the new engine is going in on Sat it'll mean that it'll solve the water problem. If it's something else, then I'll still be loosing coolant on Monday morning....

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if a new engines going in id wait til then n have a look. you will probly remove coolant hoses-a good time to check.

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Have you checked the flange that sits on the head that gets it's feed from the top hose out of the rad this one is quite common and usually shows signs of leaking when you rev it and the pressure in the system raises!!

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when the car is hot and runing switch it off and looking at the engine you should be able to hear the hot water steaming out if you have a cracked tube or radiator.

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I'll check all those things out when I get home tonight... I'm renewing the o-ring seal on the water pump at the weekend, but unless it's evaporating off as soon as it comes off I'm stumped as there's no leakage visable under the car. Only thing I can think of is it's coming out the exhaust as steam...

 

How likely is that???? :?

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