1 litre of coolant - 120 miles - what's the likely cause...

My TD5 D2 ran virtually empty of coolant a couple of weeks back -
I got home by keeping an eye on the temp gauge and freewheeling as much as I could!

Anyway, I topped up the coolant last weekend (took the bleeder screw out, raised the header tank until coolant came out of the bleed hole, replaced screw, replaced header tank and then topped up)

This week I tried to check her and found a lot of coolant missing.
When I bled her (still hot and under pressure) I got a lot of air and the coolant level dropped further.

In all I'd lost 1 litre of coolant and I'd only done 120 miles.

This seems like a lot of coolant - is it an indicator of one of the following:

1 My inability to properly topup/bleed last week (I've done it a few times!)
2 A hole in the cooling system (I can see no evidence of this)
3 A problem with the head gasket - leading to high cost repairs

I don't want it to be 3 - so I'm hoping someone'll say that 1l of coolant is very unlikely to be a head gasket problem

Is it worth trying the WYNS stop leak solution or radweld before head gasket investigation.

Never
Unless yu want a bigger problem.

I'd say no.3

So there's no likelyhood of her only losing the coolant through a leak at a certain speed in such a way that there's no coolant stains

What's it likely to cost to get the head problem resolved - £500 or a lot more?

TaDa said:

So there's no likelyhood of her only losing the coolant through a leak at a certain speed in such a way that there's no coolant stains

What's it likely to cost to get the head problem resolved - £500 or a lot more?

Click to expand...

to check for a leak in the coolant system you could get the coolant system pressure checked.

As to how much for sorting a HG fault...... How long is a piece of string?

I rekon anywhere between £600 and £2500 depending on where you go and what fault is found.

I guessed that was where we were heading
The top end of that scale is almost the value of the car
hmm, with the problem its more than the value of the car.

Still I guess its more of an answer to my 'is she worth it thread' - Probably not

I'll see it through a pressure test and see where that takes me

Thanks all!

TaDa said:

I guessed that was where we were heading
The top end of that scale is almost the value of the car
hmm, with the problem its more than the value of the car.

Still I guess its more of an answer to my 'is she worth it thread' - Probably not

I'll see it through a pressure test and see where that takes me

Thanks all!

Click to expand...

Could well be your water pump. Sometimes difficult to spot as the spilt water doesn't always appear underneath the car but settles on the engine **** plate. Look down the r/h side of the engine to the bottom of the top hose.

Thanks Nigel - I'll not get my hopes up - but it'll be great if that was the problem - unless they cost 2k to fix too

I'm somewhat flumoxed by the thought the HG has gone as she is turning in a remarkable 28mpg (from twice weekly relatively aggresive(fast) 50 mile journeys)
Doubly remarkable considering how little TLC she has received for the past few years.

Wouldn't a blown head gasket adversely affect the mpg and/or the performance?
Or is it burning water and getting a boost?

check expansion bottle for cracks and try a new cap

I'll add them to the list - thanks - no obvious coolant leak stains around that area but I'll certainly look again.

But if a TD5 had a HG leak would the mpg/performance not drop significantly?

TaDa said:

I'll add them to the list - thanks - no obvious coolant leak stains around that area but I'll certainly look again.

But if a TD5 had a HG leak would the mpg/performance not drop significantly?

Click to expand...

Mine didn't. The only symptom was the over pressurised hoses.

Tell me more - my hoses are still quite squeezable when up to temp pressurised more than cold but not hard as iron - I was interpretting that as bad news.

I know! Stop hoping for the best - keep my feet on the ground - like as not its the HG

Ah! I had a read of this thread: Coolant exploded all over engine bay!!

I had a read through some other threads and have seen a few other things which interest me too...

What is a splitter test (as in one that would allow me to identify whether I have an HG problem)

Since the inside of my D2 frequently stinks of coolant - especially just before a its gone down a lot is it likely to be my heater core?
If so, where would the coolant leak.

Hmm, since the coolant is toxic for cats to drink how bad is it for humans to breathe ?

TaDa said:

Tell me more - my hoses are still quite squeezable when up to temp pressurised more than cold but not hard as iron - I was interpretting that as bad news.

I know! Stop hoping for the best - keep my feet on the ground - like as not its the HG

Ah! I had a read of this thread: Coolant exploded all over engine bay!!

I had a read through some other threads and have seen a few other things which interest me too...

What is a splitter test (as in one that would allow me to identify whether I have an HG problem)

Since the inside of my D2 frequently stinks of coolant - especially just before a its gone down a lot is it likely to be my heater core?
If so, where would the coolant leak.

Hmm, since the coolant is toxic for cats to drink how bad is it for humans to breathe ?

Click to expand...

Check your footwell carpets for moisture. If they are and smell of coolant you've found your leak.

Hi, This might be completely off topic, but I have just got my TD5 back after a breakdown. I thought it was the HG due to grey sludge in header tank. But after the garage did pressure tests they found it to be the oil intercooler. Rad was changed as well 'cos it was blocked up and unflushable.

The thing is the mech. thinks that this has been failing for a long time. Which reminded me that about 2 new years ago in Inverness the header tank ran dry without any trace of a leak and since then I seem to have been topping up with oil on a regular basis.

At no time did I think there was a problem( I ain't no mechanic) until it went pop. And it all became clear.

Hope this helps.

Rob

Excellent two more things to check when I get back home this weekend.

Forgive my ignorance but where would a litre of coolant go if it was a hg problem.
Would it make the engine oil weaker, burn off somehow?

I read on a pdf document I found on the internet that the coolant system has up to 9 litres of coolant. If she'd lost 3 litres is it possible that when I'd previously thought I'd topped her up with 2 litres I'd left a 1 litre air bubble that only became apparent when I'd driven 120 miles?

Maybe the top up process should be lift the expansion tank, bleed the system, replace, drive a few miles, repeat?

Heater matix can be air filled, can pee out of there anorl.

We had a leak on the heater hose at the bulkhead where it was rubbed through by a clip.

but we found it by pressure testing the coolant system.

Also the water pump can leak.

Engines sometimes run best just before the head goes , think steam engines ......

Hi, the exact same thing happened to me about a month ago on the M74 on the way to Glasgow! Lost all its water, the recovery people put shed loads in. I nursed it home and took it to the garage. It was the head gasket, cost the thick end of £500 to get it sorted and I did the EGR thing at the same time - works a treat now. However, it could have been worse as the head could have gone and I was quoted and extra £1k on top - that would have hurt

£500 sounds to be the entry point to this problem
I'm still hopeful that I'll find a leak - but steeling myself for the HG.

Can someone tell me what/how the 'splitter test' is performed/works?