Coolant leak
 

Hi. I have a coolant leak when the car is under load I think.? I have a wrx bug eye wagon 2002. Have changed all hoses,new radiator, thermostat.. the car can tick over for ever and a day and no sign of any leak.. I can drive for several miles park up and then water leaks from somewhere. Underneath the radiator area. Upon inspection everything is dry. To touch . Could it be the bottom hose that just need to be tightened a little more or the new radiator failing under pressure?? Anyone have any ideas?:wonder:

Check the thin metal overflow pipe running across the top of the radiator. I had a similar problem and found that it was that

Hi. There is no sign of anything leaking fro the top anywhere? It seems to be at the bottom somewhere?

you sure it's not the headgaskets going and putting too much pressure into the cooling system?

Mmm. That was in the back of my mind. Hopefully not. I have no other signs of head gasket failure? How would I find this out? Rather than doing the job unnecessarily? If this is the case where would the coolant be leaking from? It deffo looks like the bottom hose area to me

The header tank cap seal was worn on mine and so it leaked out coolant through the overflow. Replaced header tank cap and was fine after that.

even if you cant see a wet patch, is there any signs on the rad etc of white dried areas? sometime the rad ends or the little plastic pipe at the top split, and fire water out under pressure, but as its all hot in there it dries quickly, but there should still be signs of it drying.

hth

I will strip it down and get under it , see if I can see anything,it certainly seems like its forcing coolant out from somewhere when it’s under pressure? No dried staining on the rad from the top looking down..but plenty on the radiator support running underneath it on the right hand side...?

the extra pressure will normally vent from the weakest point in the system, last one I saw it was around the thermostat housing but thermostat, lower hose and clips were all changed to no effect as they weren't the problem. Pressure and sniff test on the cooling system showed that it was no longer holding pressure and exhaust was getting into the coolant system.