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View Full Version : Where the fook's my coolant going?



mikeymikewakey
28-03-2006, 18:40
This engine is peeing me off now!
Ive had to refill my header tank twice in 2 days now.
Ive unscrewed the oil cap, checked for any milkyness or whiteness - and theres nada! the oil looks terrific!
I cant see any leaks anywhere but yet my headtank keeps going down and nearing empty! lol
Any ideas? Im condifent its not the head gasket <prays>! lol

Justin..
28-03-2006, 18:44
iirc, it can still lose water through head gasket and not neccesarilly contaminate the oil so, either u got a leak or a bust h /g :(

mikeymikewakey
28-03-2006, 18:47
Well the temperature gauge goes a bit high when the head tank nears empty. Whats gonna happen if I keep refilling it? Ive left the car running now while i have my tea, and im gonna check for leaks while its under pressure. If it is the h/g, is there anyway I can cure this before it does actually go?
Does it sound like my h/g is buggered?

Mike

mikeymikewakey
28-03-2006, 18:58
Just checked and no leaks anywhere and no puddles of water underneath the car.
Ive just checked the oil reading and it is eating alot of oil but there is no water contamination at all and Ive just held a board up against the exhaust and there is no water coming thru the exhaust.

Im severely confused, wheres my coolant going??? lol

Mike

measor
28-03-2006, 22:18
I think ive got the exact same problem as this!

Gav
28-03-2006, 22:22
if ur h/g has gone ur temp will rise straight up within few mins of it being on idle
milky residue in ur oil

and would sound like a bag of shit

from experience :wink:

Lunner
28-03-2006, 22:34
you shoudl get smoke from your car even when its warm, prolly less when idling tbh, get a mate to follow when driving it and tell you

Oil will go down and water will too if its HG, chekc for a white mayo like substance unde the oil filler cap, and an oily like film on the surface of the coolant.

May not have all these, might just be one or 2

mikeymikewakey
28-03-2006, 22:43
if ur h/g has gone ur temp will rise straight up within few mins of it being on idle
milky residue in ur oil

and would sound like a bag of s**t

from experience :wink:

Yeah Im real sorry to hear about that mate.
Theres no milky residue in my oil, doesnt sounds like shite and my temp doesnt go straight up either. My car doesnt smoke either!
It goes up when the header tank is near empty, but still runs fine.

Mike

Gav
28-03-2006, 23:32
then u deffo havent got a blown h/g mate so fear not

u cud have a leaky pipe

before my 1st rebuilt my water bottle was leaking and i didnt know cuz my subframe was catching all the water :D

MatBrown
29-03-2006, 01:33
Is the system bled properly?



Mat.

Swervin_Mervin
29-03-2006, 10:03
This happened on mine. Replace the header bottle cap. Could be a faulty seal and blow off valve. Cured mine.

Lunner
29-03-2006, 10:10
I'd tend to agree with mat, air in the system.

Ru teh car with the cap off the header tank till the fan cuts in, if you have any air locks wthis sould get rid of them

Coops
29-03-2006, 10:24
when i first replaced my coolant it kept going down for cupla weeks, its airlock in the system mate most likely like mat n lunner say!

it'll settle itself out eventually, just keep topping up! 8)

Swervin_Mervin
29-03-2006, 10:27
Mine kept going down. Had the Renault experts tellling me it was my HG on the way out. Had people on here tell me it was an airlock. :wink:

1 new cap later all was sorted.

Obviously cheaper to check if it's an airlock first though.

Lunner
29-03-2006, 10:30
if the cap is faulty the temp will go high all the time, not just when its hot, and it will only loose fluid when its really hot.

His is only going hot when its nearly empty, hance not faulty cap, system needs pressure to maintain a low temp, as liquids/gasses under compression reamin cooler than ones at room pressure.....A level chemistry for ya lol.....actually used it :lol:

Swervin_Mervin
29-03-2006, 10:34
Well it worked on mine and mine wasn't getting hot.

Purple
29-03-2006, 10:52
Just checked and no leaks anywhere and no puddles of water underneath the car.
Ive just checked the oil reading and it is eating alot of oil but there is no water contamination at all and Ive just held a board up against the exhaust and there is no water coming thru the exhaust.
Usually don't see puddles of water as they blow off as steam.

How's much OIL are you losing? That would worry me more. Normally, you should only lose about half litre over 1000 miles of spirited driving, or something like that.

Swervin_Mervin
29-03-2006, 11:19
Checking up on the old pressure/temp relationship, since I thought pressure cookers worked on the principle of allowing higher temps to be attained.

Basically the pressure in the system allows the coolant to remain in liquid form to a higher temp. i.e. the boiling point is raised.

The reason it could be the cap is that the cap contains a blow off valve and if this becomes faulty it has to vent somewhere. I'd bet that somewhere is going to be the seal on the cap.

McPikie
29-03-2006, 11:59
Normally, you should only lose about half litre over 1000 miles of spirited driving, or something like that.

:oops: :oops: :oops:

Best get my stem seals done then

Purple
29-03-2006, 12:22
Normally, you should only lose about half litre over 1000 miles of spirited driving, or something like that.
:oops: :oops: :oops:
Best get my stem seals done then
Perhaps I should clarify. That's for public roads driving, mostly changing up between 3.5 to 5k. If you track drive often or cruise all day long at high rpm (say, more than 4.5krpm), you should lose quite a bit more.

McPikie
29-03-2006, 12:30
Ah, that's probably why then.

I blart it to work in the mornings, quite often in the 5rpm rev ranges, and then do a 30mins motorway stint on the way home at about 100mph.

Purple
29-03-2006, 12:42
Ah, that's probably why then.
I blart it to work in the mornings, quite often in the 5rpm rev ranges, and then do a 30mins motorway stint on the way home at about 100mph.
Heh, thought that might have been the case. :wink:
Far too many rev-limiter jockeys here; I have to remember not to carelessly use term like "spirited driving". :D

clowo16v
29-03-2006, 14:03
I had a leak from the thermostat housing and it was spraying onto the exhaust so I never noticed a leak as it was going off as steam.

I just lobbed a can of radweld in and it sorted it.

See ya

Matt

MAXIBOY
29-03-2006, 16:26
put the rad weld down and step away

mikeymikewakey
29-03-2006, 18:34
Radweld??? Arg!!!! Is Saddam back out of nick??

Im gonna change the header tank cap as Ive had alot of people tell me away from this site aswell that it could be that.
Ive also had suggested my heater matrix has a leak - but the carpet on the inside isnt wet or damp so I thought cant be that.

I think gunnergibson is giving me a compression test on friday night.

I filled it up to the top with GTX Magnatec, 7-8 days later its just under half. I do alot of hard and fast driving and that obviously doesnt help.

I properly bled the system this morning and it still went down. I will keep doing it until I run out of water or I get pissed off, whichever comes first lol.

Cheers Guys!

Mike

steveos_16valver
30-03-2006, 12:55
right yea could be header tank cap or header tank like mine threw me few a few weeks y my level keep going down then i was tooping up the coolant and i noticed just before i took the cap off a slight leak from the joing on the top of the tank (possibly that ??)

also these thing are a bitch to bleed if youknow any 1 that works for a garage ask to borrow a GRAVITY BLEEDER the best thing since sliced bread bleed system use the bleeder and go have dinner come out an shazam its bleed :)

also try a block test to test the h/g