Do I have a problem?

[JiM B]

I’ve owned my FD for just under 3 month’s now and haven’t had any real concerns / problems. I’ve been check both the oil and water on a weekly basis and top the oil up most weeks. When removing the cap from the centre radiator filler cap the level is always at the top. Once the cap has been removed and after a couple of seconds the level drops by about an inch. This has always been the case, so rightly or wrongly I have not worried about it.

Last night I checked the oil and water again. The water level this time dropped by about 2 inches so I mixed some anti-freeze and water (about 50:50) and topped back up. The level then dropped again about 2 inches, so I topped up again. The level again dropped by about 1 inch, so I topped up again. This time the level remained at the top.

I also checked the expansion tank just behind the driver’s side headlight, this was on the full marker.

Other points of concern now thinking back which might or might-not be related:

1) When starting I get a plume of white smoke from the exhaust and when ticking over white smoke is produced but not excessively. However the white smoke stops after a couple of minutes ticking over.

2) Also from the exhaust just after start up I do get beads of water on the inside of the exhaust pipe and on my hand should I place my hand over the exhaust pipe. Again once the car has warmed up this also goes away. However this could just go away as the water is evaporated in the FD’s very hot exhaust temperatures.

3) About a week ago after approximately a 50 mile drive and sitting in my car on the drive I noticed what I thought was a small wisp of either steam or smoke appear from the drivers side of the bonnet. I immediately popped the bonnet and had a look, but I couldn’t see anything wrong. This has not happened since. Could this have just been water returning to the expansion tank and maybe a little escaped via the overfill hole and dropped onto something hot?

4) Over the past couple of weeks I’ve also noticed that once I have turned the engine off and about a minute has passed I can hear water gurgling around the system. Whilst I don’t think water movement is unusual as the car cools down I do think it’s strange that I can hear air movement as well.

Am I just being paranoid and linking all these things together or do I have some sort of problem just around the corner?

Thanks for you help,
James.

[ds2000]

It sounds like you\'ve just burped out a pocket of air and there is still a little bit trapped in there.  When I was test starting my car I used normal water and ran the car for 40 minutes, everything was fine.  Once I drained it and refilled her with coolant, I then ran her again for 20+ mins, this time after shutting down I could hear the coolant boiling, its quite a scary sound

I let her cool, turned the ignition on and had the low coolant buzzer going off, I topped her up and burped her again and this time no nasty noises.

If you are really worried then get the water system pressure tested

[JiM B]

Ok Thanks,

I think I will try following some other advice I have read on the MRC posts. Like, topping up the water again, starting the engine and keep topping up as required. Hopefully once the car is up to temp I shouldn\'t see any bubbles rising.

I take it to burp the system I just need to give the top and bottom hose to the radiator a squeeze?

Cheers,
James.

[ds2000]

It\'d be nice if it were that simple

If you change the coolant my advice is to keep a couple of litres extra in the boot and top it up after every drive until she sorts herself out.

I found that running the car with the rad cap off and the heater turned up to full helped quite a bit

[RemarkLima]

I saw this and it looked rather useful:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LISLE-SPILL-FREE-RADIATOR-FUNNEL-KIT-FILL-COOLANT-SPOUT_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ43998QQihZ009QQitemZ190036578188

Has anyone tried it to bleed a coolant system? Apparantly, you fill the system as much as possible, attach this and fill it up then just run the carand it\'ll bubble away to itself until it\'s pretty much bled... I\'m trying to find somewhere in the UK that does them, but for a tenner they can\'t be bad?

[gsb876]

With the water level you have to remember water expands when hot so if you fill right to the top and the overflow tank is also full to the top when the water is heated you will lose some out of the expansion tank through the overflow hole, thus when you check the next day it will be slightly lower.

The white smoke on start up is normal mate also the beads of water are gonna be normal this time of year where dampness is seeking in.

Keep an eye on it and watch for anyother signs, i had my rx for over 3yrs always paranoid at every little noise but it never went wrong :Ladys-man

Gurj

[JiM B]

Thanks for all the info.

I have found out that the level the coolant is dropping to is actually the correct level for the coolant to be. So now I have been filing it up beyond this point I have also started to notice the expansion tank has been bleeding off coolant.

So I think from this point on I will keep an eye on the level to see if it remains constant.

I think this is a simple case of change in weather and me being a bit paranoid :spank .

[gsb876]

Sometimes its better to be paranoid as you keep a better eye on things, and hopefully catch things before they do go wrong.

Good to hear its a simple issue  :Giggle

[nikp]

Sometimes its better to be paranoid as you keep a better eye on things, and hopefully catch things before they do go wrong.

Not how my fiance sees it! It really bugged her whne i kept being paranoid about my coolant: I was proved right though, there was an issue, and it did need a rebuild! :p

[ds2000]

^ lol I bet that went down even better

[nikp]

Not to mention: I think i need a single turbo!

[ds2000]

:-P

Is that need or want?

[nikp]

Well, kind of both: my twins had too much free play in, and I saw how they were all plumbed in and didn\'t like it. Greg had a GT35R going cheap, so it all made sense really! :p

[ds2000]

That sounds pretty much how I justify things