Hi guys,
I have a coolent leak, I am unsure where it is so I need some help for places where it could be lol
A few days ago I had the coolent buzzer go off - this is never good lol and I found that the radiator was down about 250ml of coolent - this doesn\'t seem much?
I fully topped the fluids up, then took it for a drive to make sure there was no air bubbles in the system, although when I pulled the heater to \'hot\' there was a clunk (the flap moving inside the blower) and then a gurgle, the sort that you get when you take the rad cap off lol
There was a slight reduction in coolent in the system so I topped the rad up again - didn\'t take much at all.
I also filled that expansion/overflow tank up to FULL as that was basically empty and it says to top it up if it is low.
When the car starts up the top coolent hose is soft ie the engine isn\'t pressurising the system and then after the engine has warmed up this is then filled with hot water.
When I left it after topping it up from cold (both rad and expansion tank) they were both full.
I have just changed the headlight over on the drivers side as it had blow and so I checked the level. I found that the coolent is no longer in the filler neck of the rad (not sure how empty this is) and also the expansion tank is now half full.
There are no puddles under the car, all hoses have been checked for both the rad > engine, engine > heatermatrix and also the engine block drain plug.
Can anyone help me find out where all this water is going to lol I really need to get this sorted as im getting too scared to drive it incase all the coolent goes and I lose the engine :(
have you got an undertray? worth taking that off to see if any water there? then have some idea of where about it might be leaking?
check waterpump weep hole. hard to spot if it leaks there.
(i got a feeling you might all ready done this as you know more about cars then me lol)
Quote from: L18M;666862have you got an undertray? worth taking that off to see if any water there? then have some idea of where about it might be leaking?
check waterpump weep hole. hard to spot if it leaks there.
(i got a feeling you might all ready done this as you know more about cars then me lol)
What he said ^^
Check for spray speckles - I have to say that the pink antifreeze is ideal for spotting leaks as it leaves nice visible deposits after it\'s leaked.
It\'s also worth lifting the carpet in the passenger side to see if you\'ve got water in the footwell near the ecu. My heatermatrix has a small leak and over time it seems to leave the water in the footwell.
Quote from: TiddlesRX7;666893It\'s also worth lifting the carpet in the passenger side to see if you\'ve got water in the footwell near the ecu. My heatermatrix has a small leak and over time it seems to leave the water in the footwell.
Carpets are fine, the passenger side carpet is already lifted as the e-manage is being wired in lol
What I don\'t get is why the expansion tank has gone down, and also why it has leaked without the engine running?
Check to make sure the lid/hoses are on the right way around on the expansion tank... if this in correct it will push water onto the floor rather than into the bottle at the end of most runs...
How does the expansion tank work? all I can see is 1 tube going from the top of the rad to this tank - that will only open when the radiator overheats to stop the rad exploding lol its a 1.3bar cap. Is there another tube where this goes? I know the FC doesn\'t have an AST, so I am not sure how this expansion tank works and why it is losing fluid lol
After chatting to prof and looking in the hayne manual the 1 way valve for the top of the rad is a 2 way valve lol magic lol I have just gone out and pressure tested the tube (hold one end closed with a thumb and blow into the other end) and it holds pressure, so there isn\'t a leak there.
I have cleaned the expansion tank lid rubber and the radiator cap and seat on the radiator so they all have a good seal now. I have also cable tied both ends to their respective places to ensure that nothing leaks out when the rubber has warmed up.
I will drive the car tomorrow (with another litre of coolent to see if it actually stays in the car this time! The rad and the expansion tank are now full again - took another 250-300ml to fill both again.