slight water loss

hi guys i have an m plate v8 disco. after recently having a major service i checked all fluids a week or so after and noticed my water seemed a little low (still visable in the expansion tank) so i deceide 2 keep my eye on it since then ive had 2 top it up again only bout 1/4 of ltr . theres no water in my oil and the water looks as is should too . since the service shes run like a dream no smoking and the temp gauge stays at a steady 1/4 warm. any ideas guys?

So when you saw it low, have you only put 1/4 of a litre in since then?

What was the engine temp like when you did this... stone cold or had it been on that day etc...

You checked the rad for any little leaks around pipes and joins?

Could just be you lost some in the serivice depending on what was done, did it have the coolant changed? Could it have been drained for some reason or another and you almost always loose some when draining it...

Keep an eye on it, if it doesn't loose anymore put it down to being distrubed during the service...

hi yes i topped up after the service . had a full flush n replaced anti freeeze during the service. it holds the temperature fine never goes over a 1/4 warm n well pressured when i take the cap off the xpansion tank.heater all works fine too

Well there you have it, they didn't top it up like you and I would if we had done it ourselfs, that means going back to it after its run a little, then cooled to see what the levels sit at, as there is always a little air that gets purged and the water takes its place, they just want to do the job and tick it off.

Hi my TD5 does the same using about 1/2ltr of water about every month, no drips, leaks or boiling up,what I have noticed is the heater has a bit of a damp smell every now and again but I put this down to the air con, someone mentioned it could be loosing it through the heater matrix but there are no wet carpets or damp anywhere in that area and the brand new cylinder head that was put on was preasure checked before being fitted, the water level never drops below a mark I have put on the header tank every time I check it, could it be finding a new level? she runs sweet as a nut day in day out even pulling fully a laden trailer most of the day, any clues guys, oh and just bought an egr blanking plate off fleebay so looking forward to seeing if that makes any difference to the running of things.

On a different note my air con fans are staying on all the time even when it's not being used could this be a faulty switch?????

Ian

sqwirral, squirt a good helping of wd40 on you egr bolts while you wait for the plate to arrive...

Will do battenburg, that bottom bolt looks a bit of a sod to get to, can see the magnetic hexi screwdriver coming out of retirement

Tools are what seperate us from the rest of the animal kingdom... but you may not turn it with a screwdriver... I scratched my head for a while as my allen keys didnt give enough torque. mini ratchet did it though

Yeah I know what you mean I was just thinking about getting the bolt started then swapping over to a ratchet, I'll have to stay off the pop the night before so I dont get "jazz hands" and end up dropping the bolt I'll get a box of Hamlet just incase .

You wont need the hamlet..!
The only smokin you're gonna be doing is burning diesel in that mid range torque after you've got it fitted in...

This water loss baffled me on my 95 V8. Used to check coolant level and find that it had dropped about an inch below line and then would top up. Carried on doing this and assumed it was losing water and so had all hoses checked and engine pressure tested etc for cylinder head - all fine. It was recently serviced and coolant was on line - about a week later it had dropped about an inch below line again. Been checking it every week for last 4 weeks and coolant hasn't dropped any further. I can only assume that it is finding a new level as it is not losing any more water

Something has brought me back to the heater matrix for my answer, since the weather has warmed up my heater has been on cold and the level hasn't dropped at all, if I'm right where is the water going as there's no damp in the car and no drips on the drive.

Ian

I had similar problem on mine, after having an engine rebuild it also had new radiator.
It was fine for the first 6 months, then was having to top it up every 2-3 weeks. it had been dropping an inch at a time.
So when i had a look around it almost straight away, theres a filler plug on right hand side on top of the rad. It had come loose a couple of turns.
Drained and flushed the system, filled it back up, tightened the filler plug that was loose. think i've topped it up once not long after i had done, in about 4 months.

get a set of short allen key bits and use the 6mm bit with a long ring spanner.
mine came out easy first time. good luck. Beni

sorry my last post was to sqwirrel about his egr bolts. Beni.

On my Dads V8 we had the same problem with water level going down and no drips on the drive. i found the t piece where the lpg system was heated was leaking but only when the engine was runing. pulled it apart cleaned it and now we have no problem.