hmmm hot day, coolant leak!

[Jovic82]

hmmmm, noticed a bit more coolant on the floor tonight. i think i may have worked out where it is coming from. it no longer leaks from the caps, the new ones have sorted that out. but it looks like it may be coming from a thinnish pipe that runs off the top of the expansion tank. it doesnt just let water out by the tank though (like an outlet), this pipe runs right across the engine bay(along the engine crossmember) to the other side of the car i think and has what looks like a join piece in it that could be leaking? does this sound normal?

was hoping to get the car mapped soon but im not gonna bother if the engine is shagged!

any help is appreciated

cheers
~Nick

[Jovic82]

anyone

[nikp]

It is sounding like the familiar coolant seals that have gone - but your best option is to get the coolant system pressure tested.

It may not be the seals though: lots of things can make it appear that way. I know Martiny had similar issues, but i think his is going ok now.

[banned advertiser]

The pipe you are discribing sounds like the ast, the caps that have now sorted your pressure problems out is now settling the water/pressures in your coolant system, you will probably find that its now pressurising itself and will only allow x amount of water in the system. It does this by pushing water to the ast and if that over fills it sends it back to the overflow tank (plastic tank by drivers headlight), if that over fills it will chuck it on floor.
A pressure test would be the quickest and easiest way to put your mind at rest, or providing you are not getting the buzzer on and keep an eye on levels, I would just keep an eye on it, fix the joint if you think its leaking from there and let the system settle itself, which I have had myself and has taken sometimes 2-3 weeks to do.
RX coolant systems seem to be easily upset and can take a while to get the balance back, some cars do it almost immediately.

[Jovic82]

thanks nik and gary, that explains a few things. the car does seem to run fine still, no smoke etc and starts fine hot or cold. the buzzer has not come on yet which i know can be the start of problems. i wouldnt say there was a lot of coolant on the floor, maybe 1-2 tablespoons but you never can tell if there was more as it may have evaporated on a hot journey.

i will arrange apressure test for the car asap to sort things out. if the seals have gone or are going what would be the result of the pressure test?

Thanks for the help guys

Nick

[Mr J.T]

{\']Take the rad cap off, let the car run and warm up - if the water starts spurting out its not lookng good - suppose that shows the system is pressuring up

thanks for that mate, i checked mine today all fine

[Jovic82]

just did it aswell and no bubbles at all! just very slowly started overflowing but def no bubbles!

[Mr J.T]

yup yup same here:) just started raising up clean

[davegttph1]

ok getting a similar prob on mine, dime bar here thought I had a water leak a couple of weeks ago but realised its prob just my air con cooling down :rolleyes: anyway, after topping the coolant up and going for a run etc I popped the bonnet and I can feel coolant seeping (not pooring) out of the AST cap. dont think anything is coming from the filler cap though. So you think just replacing the AST cap will resolve my probs or is it something else like someone suggested an air lock. I c0cked up a few weeks back, checking my coolant etc and I topped it up via the AST and not the filler neck :rolleyes: would this have made a lock somewhere in the system? just a thought.

Thanks

[Jovic82]

update:

 as i said before i done the bubble test and absolutely nothing was coming up. took the car for a run down to brighton and when i parked up the temps were at about 93 degrees. i turned the car back on about 2-3 mins later and the temps had risen to around 112 degrees , so i left the fans running and she came back down after that. my question is that -  is it usual for it to rise that much that quickly once turned off? or would be this be evidence of seals failing? (i still have not lost any more coolant and had no buzzer yet!)

obviously im concerned that if i turn the car off and it reachs a temp above 117 degrees, then it is going to totally cook the engine!

cheers
Nick

[M@r]{]

yeah thats just heatsoak, its normal.  Just make sure you dont hammer it until it reaches a normal temp.

[Jovic82]

cool cheers mark, was going to do a complete coolant change and flush as it looks like the coolant is very very thick. might just be worth starting a fresh. has anyone ever used shell glycoshell?