On the way to pick my nipper up from school i smelt the dredded sweet smell of antifreeze,and had steam escaping from the bonnet scoop,as it happens it was right outside the school,so pulled over,opened the bonnet and steam was rising from the o/s near the turbo/downpipe,couldnt see any obvious leaks...... picked the lad up and tootled off home a just round the corner,opened bonnet and again could see no leaks,had to pop out for half an hour so left the car and went in the wifes,came back and checked the coleant level,lost about quarter of a liter,removed the intercoolerr to get a better look,but again could see no leaks,tightened everything i could,but nothing obvious,topped up and ran the engine to temp,rad fans came on several times and level is ok,so im stumped as to what the loss was now..... initialy just before first signs of leak i was just driving noemal with the odd blat,but nothing over a couple of seconds on boost,i know the rad sometimes throws a leak when warm as it splits,but when checked cannot identify the problem......any other ideas? gonna check again when i get to work in the morning to see if the level has dropped.

 

mate had a leak on a bugeye not sure if same on a classic with different turbo possition but might be worth checking the bottom metal coolant pipe from the turbo as sometimes this can rub on the block and over time makes a crack then with heat expands then leaks etc

 

sometime the top raidiator hose will leak (it not visable unless under load)

happened twice on my P1...you will smell it in the car as well

 

Well went to work this morning and checked the car.no leaks apparent,parked up opened the bonnet and started looking for anything,car was warm,gauge reading correctly,fans came on top and bottom hoses warm so rad not blocked,then all of a sudden i heard a spray of coolant and then steam rose from the turbo area,then just as quickly stopped.... carried on revving the engine at around 2ooo rpm and again a small spray of coolant then stopped as quick as it started.... deff not the radiator and im almost certain its around the turbo,so poss the metal pipe as previously suggested....... funnily enough i had a similar problem about 14 months ago,coolant loss heater blowing cold,couldnt find a leak and stopped and been fine since........... bloody strange


Any one else care to comment on a possible cause?

 

ahh did you find the problem this is exactly what is happening to mine?

 

heater matrix pipe?