my 2010 fabia has done 1300ml and keeps losing coolent in the last year it has droped down to the min 5 times , the car is still under warranty and i have had it down to arnold clark 5 times they say they have pressure tested it 5 times and cant find a leak , this time they gave me a new cooling tank cap saying it might be the seal in the cap that is leaking

can any one help or recomend why this is happening

thanks

Edited 5 July, 201213 yr by stevehay

Is it G12+ coolant it needs and is this all it has had added,

other than distilled water to the correct ratio?

Is it possibly getting overfilled and then setting its own level?

*what i mean is sitting above or on minimum when cold can be just fine,

and not going for sitting at maximum,

bend down and look horizontally at the level*

?? or is the level going right below minimum once the car has been run to full running temperature,

then parked and allowed to cool.

No cap removed or anything untill it is back cold.

Is that when the level has dropped??

Does it go below 'Minimum'?

If not why are you worrying?

'They' need to take it in and run it, its a warranty issue if it is loosing coolant.

They need to check the hoses & clamps, heater radiator, fill bottle, thermostat and everything else.

Best not to tamper yourself.

*has it only had G12+ coolant added?*

george

PS. Sorry.

Missed that Arnold Clark bit.

Thats the Problem right there, go to a Garage that does Skoda with actual Mechanics!!

Edited 5 July, 201213 yr by sk4gw

Hi mate all that has been put in the car by arnold clark has been g12+ , i only know that i check it every month and i do look at it in the morning and after a run in the car , i have also took the cap off to check the level , i take the car to arnold clark and they pressuer check it and fill it up and say they cant find any problems , i dont know much about cars but i have had a octavia and a superb and i never had any problems like this , the last thing i want is for my warrenty to run out and i have to pay for it my self thats why i am worrying , i feel like arnold clark are just topping it up keeping my car for 2 days and then saying theres nothing wrong with your car , is it normal to go through so much coolent when its ment to be a sealed system

Sorry about all my waffle,

Simply i am asking does the Pink Coolant go down to the 'Minimum' mark and stay there.

Or are you or they topping up and it goes back down to the minimum?

??Does it actually loose fluid once at the' minimum' line and run for a few days, and the cap not reopened.?

Just get the car booked in and get a Courtesy Car untill yours is right.

Just dont go to Arnold Clark and their Trainees that they were moaning about the standard of Youth Education last month.

Contact Skoda UK and arrange another Dealership to do the Warranty work.

*Maybe 'Thomson Potter Skoda' in Burrelton between Scone and Coupar Angus,

recently taken over by 'John Clark Group Specialist Skoda' Dundee And Aberdeen,

but very good!!

Sorry i do not know the Edinburgh Skoda garages or any good ones.

Many of us have complained and moaned about Arnold Clark Workshop staff for years for many locations..

This is where their masterminds are trained.

http://www.gtg.co.uk...omotivetraining

http://www.gtg.co.uk/newsroom

He was totally right IMHO, and then the pillock failed to turn up, sums up 'AC' !

http://www.bbc.co.uk...litics-18180095

george

Edited 5 July, 201213 yr by sk4gw

they ( arnold clark) are topping up and it goes back down to the minimum? this is the 5th time i have had it into arnold clark for the same thing and they keep saying theres nothing wrong , they say the have fitted a new cap for the coolent bottle this time this was after having my car for 2 days and me having to take the bus everywhere

The level in my Fabia has settled near the top line on the header tank when cold.

However my previous Audi A4 was like you describe - fill to upper level on header tank and after a couple of weeks or a long run the level when cold would be back near to the low level line. However it only dropped further very slowly.

I only topped up once or twice between services if the level was below the minimum line and then only to about 1cm above the minimum line.

Almost every vehicle i have had sets its own level and since engines and cooling systems got Self bleeding it became even more so.

*If your car can not keep its Coolant level sitting at 'Minimum' and it drops below that you need to find out why & if fluid is Leaking out or getting thrown out of the exhaust.*

My Fabia is sitting now on Minimum, and if i was to put it above that now i would not be surprised if tomorrow it is sitting at minimum.

But i am not going to overfill the Header Tank to see.

I will drive it and if it heats or over heats there will be expansion into the tank,(If there is air in the system then thats becomes steam and expends & needs some place to go)

because that is what the header is for, then as the coolant cools the coolant is drawn back into the Cooling system which is sealed.

You can overfill and then the cap opens and can allow escape of fluid via the overflow pipe,

that why there are pressure caps,

& thats how a level will be set.

So fluid gets ejected & a level is set. it should only allow hot air and pressure in the form of steam to escape.

Or,

there is a leak in the system & if fluid goes then air is quite possibly coming in,

But then the system should 'Bleed' out that air and stay sealed.

It needs to be found tho if the system leaks and they are checking it you say.

It is maybe going to be the Head Gasket or head than needs checked, but more likely a Water pump gasket or similar.

*Do not overfill & do not keep opening the cap, set at Minimum level and if coolant is lost, there is a problem.*

I had one Granada Scorpio that i ran hard everyday & it was a fussy car,

and if you put a half pint extra coolant in the tank it would huff and puff untill it was back to its own level.

I sold it to a guy after using it for 2 years and it was a perfect car.

One week later he was on the phone, he did an Antifreeze change and the gaskets went on the heads.

He had filled it to Maximum, even tho i had warned him.

george

Edited 6 July, 201213 yr by sk4gw

If the coolant disappears without any trace it is likely that it goes into cylinders. I had this issue on 2.5 Subaru STI engine. The problem could not be diagnosed under normal procedures, but as time passed it grew worse and finally lead to head gaskets replacement. The way it might work is: There is a tiny crack in the head gasket which allows the coolant to go into cylinders when the car is cold, and allows the exhaust gases to escape into cooling system when the car is driven hard. The process is very slow at the starting stage. But eventually the level drops to minimum level and stays there. I cannot say that this is exactly your case, but coolant liquid is a physical matter and cannot dissappear without any trace (unless stolen). One of the ways to diagnose this problem is to run a test to check if there are any exaust gas traces in coolant liquid (it is easily done by most garages) Run this test after a bit of hard driving with turbos at high use. Just revving a standing car won't do. The result of the test will clearly give you ways to fix it.

It does not get 'Stolen',

but if there is air getting into a system because liquid is escaping and expansion because of steam, the pressure cap open & allows the escape of the expended air (Steam).

In an Overheating s,ituation a cap, in the old days a Radiator cap, & stiil now on a radiator or on a header tank the Cap opens and that little rubber pipe is where the 'fluid' is ejected.

This Fabia does need correctly tested & it will probably need done by Trained or qualified Technicians.

It is not 'Rocket Science' & it is not even 'Advanced automotive engineering',

its basic mechanics and needs checked and fixed.

george

Edited 6 July, 201213 yr by sk4gw