Wife just informs me this morning that the car has been saying 'warning check colant manual!' for the last 3 miles before she got home.

Checked it & there was no visable colant in the resovouir.

I know it was full the other day as I noticed it was pink in colour (G12?)

Filled it upto the brim with just normal water this morning from the hose pipe,so not sure how much took to fill, not too much i guess. Don't think the system was drained, just nothing in the resovouir.

Went for a few mile drive to warm the car up (with 5 litre bottle of water in the boot if required).

Checked the resovouir, still full, but this time its pink, so i guess the water has had time to mix with the colant in the rest of the system.

I also noticed that what appears to be the bottom radiator hose (as you look at the car from the front, bottom left hand side) appears to be a little worn & there is a build up of water around the bottom of it. Also bits of water splashed around the front of the engine. Guess its been dripping onto the belts, which have flung it around?

Only had the car sine Bank holiday monday & done about 1.5k. maybee it's been leaking all along, who knows? No warranty with the car as the garage was too far away to bother with.

Does anyone have ETKA & can take a few screenshots of the parts for the cooling system for a 55 plate 1.9TDi Elegance Edition 100 please?

Cheers,

Pete.

The reservoir should be topped up to the max. mark with a 50/50 mix of G12 and de-ionised water, not filled to the brim. Expanding coolant may damage the pressure cap relief valve.

Radiators are a big weakness on the B5.5 and usually leak at the bottom corners. The best replacements are Nissens - available from GSF.

A thorough pressure check of the cooling system is advisable before diving in. Both radiator hoses (top and bottom) are on the LH side of the car.

rotodiesel.

As Roto said you should pre mix the AF and only fill it to the middle seam mark of the bottle, to do some checks look around the bottle where the hoses are for leaks, and get underneath to see if there is coloured chalk anywhere around the bottom pulley housing, this will mean the water pump is on it's way and if the car is on 60k+ miles it should really be new timing belt time as well if the pump is leaking, 80k if not, check the rad for leaks and check the oil filer cap for mayo, and finally when shes warmed up make sure water isn't coming out of the exhaust pipe, if you have either seek pro help as it will probably be head gasket.

Another vote here for radiator failing, I've done 3 now on Superbs...

What I thought was a bottom radiator hose, was actually the pipe that runs along the bottom of the radiator from the turbo to intercooler, so thats ruled that out, LoL.

Whatever it is, it's leaking onto the belts getting thrown around the front of the engine / bay.

Take some rad and engine bay shots and post them here mate, that way the eagle eye may spot it for you and be able to circle it for you in a later post.

So far, it seems to have not leaked anymore, this really is weird!

So far, it seems to have not leaked anymore, this really is weird!

Could be the cap wasn't on properly before and the pressure forced it out.

Below are a few pictures I took today while a friend changed the radiator for me.

Cheers,

Pete.

Edited 26 September, 200916 yr by pete69zx
added pictures

SHould have mentioned this before posting the piccies of the new radiator...

I had the system pressure tested today.

The radiator guy suggested that the system would probably run @ about 9PSI & he tested it @ 15PSI.

This showed a small leak on the front left hand side of the radiator (as you look at the front of the car)

New rad is a Nissens, from EuroCarParts for £56. (all in)

Cheers,

Pete.

Hi Pete, just a suggestion when you do pics in future, they need resizing 1st, you can do this several ways, in XP you can download a windows powertoy or use Nero, the ideal size is 640x480 for shots and it uploads quicker.

Anyway glad you seem to be getting there anyway regarding the car.