TonyNesta

Hi folks, bit of a weird one this.......

My car is a UK MY98, egine standard apart from air filter and exhaust. On Sunday I was driving home, and noticed the temp gauge went right up to maximum. I pulled over, checked the radiator coolant to find there was none (!). Put in about 1/2 litre of water that I happened to have on me, let the engine cool, and limped to the nearest petrol station to refill. Put in several litres (capacity is seven I think), and limped home at low revs, about 20 miles - the temp stayed at normal.

Luckily I was booked into Prosport the following day for some other work, so on Monday I topped up the coolant again, and drove it over there for them to look at it - temp stayed normal the whole way.

They phoned me that afternoon and said they could find no leaks from either the rad or the hoses, had pressure tested the system and found no problems, and had replaced the rad cap as the gasket may have worn out. They drove the car, and the temp stayed normal. So I took the car back.

Have been driving around since, probably done about 300 miles, with some high rev stuff, without incident. Come out this morning to find a pool under the car - topped up with about a litre, drove to work, temp stayed normal.

Anyone got any suggestions ? I can't work out why its OK for a while, then loses large amounts of coolant, with no apparent leaks anywhere. Prosport suggested it might possibly be coming out of the overflow (the pool seems to come from that area, and not the rad itself), but the amounts are enough to cause overheating if not topped up.

Thanks for any help you might give.

Cheers,

Tony

richieh

worst case is head gasket failing under boost allowing exhaust gas into water system and blowing coolant from the overflow
check the header tank with an exhaust gas sniffer
or you can get a test kit which will do the same thing using a coolant sample
good luck m8
richie

richieh

pools under the car can also be from aircon condenser drain
frightened the excrement out of me when i saw it on mine for the first time
if its blowing out the coolant res. youll prob have a dampish battery/inner wing after a run on boost as well as the puddle
richie

Derk

I've had a similar problem with mine. Also had it pressure tested and when that test came out ok did the header tank check with the sniffer.

Test came out possitive. In idle it was ok but with a little rev the colour of the fluid changed and we knew what the problem was :-(

So as richie says, do the sniffer test and you'll know.

Mine also ran out of fluid at one time and after filling it up it took quite some k'se before the temp rose again. After having it filled up twice and allmost getting stuck somewhere in Germany I desided to get it checked out and this was the result. On low revs I managed to drive about 300k's before it got empty/hot again.

Good luck. I hope ít's not the gasket

Derk

TonyNesta

Thanks for the advice guys, it sounds like the head gasket

Its defo not the aircon condenser, seen that before, and not the coolant reservoir, no water around the battery area.
It seems to be coming from the area around the header tank, and I get a few hundred miles before it runs out of coolant.

Its back in Prosport tomorrow, I'll ask them to do the sniffer test and get my wallet ready. Bollox.

Cheers,

Tony

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

if it is around the header tank area.. the left when you look in the engine bay then perhaps the plastic (is pre96) header tank has cracked..

head gasket would cause the leak on the right by the headlight out of the over flow I believe.

911

Just a bit!
Mine would blow all the fluid out in 50 seconds flat, an air cooled Scooby...

911

fuz

water pipe to turbo (metal), the one that goes underneath will take about 2 hours to leak on pressure test

richieh

on thinking esp if its at the header not the top up tank(must read initial post thoroughly ) look closley around the tank for any sign of rusty coloured or crystaline deposits (a makeup mirror is good for the underside )
dont think that the water would leak from here if the head had gone i'd say new header tank reguired or new hose
tie a coin bag over the end of the overflow with an elastic band to eliminate that as a leak-youll see the coolant in the bag if its that
richie

TonyNesta

Its in Prosport now, after much faffing with the RAC - I have full cover, but they wouldn't take it from home to the garage - cost me over £100 to arrange a flat-bed !!!!! Gonna cancel their cover in 2 weeks - not used them for over 3 years, and the one time I do need them, I end up paying over a ton. They can cram it right up you know where.

Couldn't hold coolant long enough to get anywhere, so flat-bedded it to Prosport. Could clearly see water coming out of the rad, which I hadn't seen before, and believe me I looked, so the rad's gonna get replaced, then tested to see if the head gasket has gone as well. I have a feeling it has, and I feel a significant wallet-emptying moment approaching.

I know its 6 years old and 116,000 miles, and things will start breaking on it, but its been maintained regardless of cost - I'm ready to throw the towel in now, its cost me several thousand quid in the last 12 months and I'm sick of throwing money at it.

Pete at Prosport has been REALLY good, and sorted me out with a Ka (!) at no notice till mine comes back. At least I'm mobile I suppose - for the Bank Holiday weekend, ho hum !

Will let you all know the outcome.

Cheers,

T

minor_threat

Good luck with it.

bighead

iTrader: (1)

Hey your v lucky that peter would do the work at such short notice (and a free Ka as well ) I could not even "book " my car in for some work ! that how busy there are

camk

I'd have thought you could have arranged for the RAC to pick you up at a friends after seeing the temperature problem and finding no water in it on the drive over there

richieh

if you are really lucky m8 youve just got a rad which has failed cos it would give these symtoms before finaly popping
dont worry about the mileage ive got 2 at the mo with 160k on a 93 and a 94
if youve sorted the stuff that wears out youll be fine
i spose its the labour thats the real killer -i do all me own spanner work so its not so bad for me , managed to get my rad recored for £70 when it went last year
good luck and think how much youll enjoy it when you get it back after the ka
richie

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

151,000miles on mine.. they run and run or fail early on imho.. treat them right and years of fun.

Also do all the work on mine myself..

Sounds like a new rad and hopefully that's all..

Worst moment with this car was on the motorway and suddenly realising it was only foggy behind me..

onto hard shoulder, tower of smoke out of every bonnet vent into the sky like nothing I had seen before, police car there in 20seconds flat, was spotted on the survalence camera.. I waited for the smoke to die down and then me and copper opened the bonnet with a tiny fire extingher.. no flames.. copper gives it the turbo gone blah blah blah.. all the smoke was indeed coming from the turbo.. looked closer with the torch around the engine bay other than the source of the smoke to see everywhere under the bonnet is covered in water.. traced it to a split pipe.. copper had left by then and said he would see me in about 30minutes when he passed back again.. well 5minutes after he had left I had the pipe patched with an old piece of pipe and a pipe clamp and topped the water up with the two litres in the boot (for emergencies) and was off on my way again.
It didn;t leak for a week running the quick fix whilst new coolant hose was on order.. lol