Prestone top-up

[Breezy_Pete]

Getting the hose clips off and freeing the hoses from where they're attached will be awkward, possibly. Dunno really, never seen one. 

[Tomjones1995]

4 minutes ago, Wino said:

Getting the hose clips off and freeing the hoses from where they're attached will be awkward, possibly. Dunno really, never seen one. 

 

Oh right okay, I suspect with it being behind the engine it could potentially be an awkward job I suppose.

 

Thanks for the input

[Tech1e]

Disconnect the hoses and join Red I to Blue II

[Tomjones1995]

1 hour ago, Tech1e said:

Disconnect the hoses and join Red I to Blue II

 

What happens to blue 1 after its disconnected? Do I need to blank it off?

[Tech1e]

2 minutes ago, Tomjones1995 said:

 

What happens to blue 1 after its disconnected? Do I need to blank it off?

 

No, leave it open same as Red 1

[Tomjones1995]

42 minutes ago, Tech1e said:

 

No, leave it open same as Red 1

Okay thanks. Just to clarify, disconnect red 1 hose and connect to where blue 2 is now and take the 'blue' hose off altogether leaving both blue 1 and red 1 holes open? Also is this just a five minute idle test or is this a drive for a couple of days test?

 

Sorry for all the questions, just trying not to make any costly mistakes after £800 been spent already. Thanks

[sepulchrave]

49 minutes ago, Tomjones1995 said:

Okay thanks. Just to clarify, disconnect red 1 hose and connect to where blue 2 is now and take the 'blue' hose off altogether leaving both blue 1 and red 1 holes open? Also is this just a five minute idle test or is this a drive for a couple of days test?

 

Sorry for all the questions, just trying not to make any costly mistakes after £800 been spent already. Thanks

 

I think you'll find that the work that's been done was necessary, your symptoms have improved dramatically.

The suggestion is that the EGR cooler may also have failed but was not picked up during the garage diagnosis. The exhaust gases present in the EGR system are at a far lower pressure than the combustion gases which lead to bolt stretch and HGF.

[Tomjones1995]

2 hours ago, sepulchrave said:

 

I think you'll find that the work that's been done was necessary, your symptoms have improved dramatically.

The suggestion is that the EGR cooler may also have failed but was not picked up during the garage diagnosis. The exhaust gases present in the EGR system are at a far lower pressure than the combustion gases which lead to bolt stretch and HGF.

 

Well I can say that so far I am not losing coolant quite as fast as I was, if at all but there definitely seems to be just as much pressure in the header tank as there was before. I'm monitoring the situation very carefully and will make sure to investigate the above mentioned components if the coolant does continue to drop

[sepulchrave]

19 minutes ago, Tomjones1995 said:

 

Well I can say that so far I am not losing coolant quite as fast as I was, if at all but there definitely seems to be just as much pressure in the header tank as there was before. I'm monitoring the situation very carefully and will make sure to investigate the above mentioned components if the coolant does continue to drop

 

Are you saying the header tank is still pressurised the following morning when the car is stone cold before you even start it?

 

The pressure from HGF on a PD is what blows the coolant out of the system, you can't see it happening but when your driving on full boost it's enough to pop the cap on the tank and allow coolant to be blown out.

 

Do what Tech1e suggests and short-circuit the EGR cooler to see if the situation improves.

[Breezy_Pete]

3 hours ago, Tomjones1995 said:

Okay thanks. Just to clarify, disconnect red 1 hose and connect to where blue 2 is now and take the 'blue' hose off altogether leaving both blue 1 and red 1 holes open? Also is this just a five minute idle test or is this a drive for a couple of days test?

 

That looks right to me; try it for a day, check for pressure the next morning. If there now isn't any problem, leave it connected up like that forever, or until you can be bothered to replace the cooler.

[Tomjones1995]

10 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

Are you saying the header tank is still pressurised the following morning when the car is stone cold before you even start it?

 

The pressure from HGF on a PD is what blows the coolant out of the system, you can't see it happening but when your driving on full boost it's enough to pop the cap on the tank and allow coolant to be blown out.

 

Do what Tech1e suggests and short-circuit the EGR cooler to see if the situation improves.

 

Yes there is still residual pressure in the header tank the following morning while the engine is stone cold. The video I posted above was done in the morning on a stone cold engine.

6 minutes ago, Wino said:

 

That looks right to me; try it for a day, check for pressure the next morning. If there now isn't any problem, leave it connected up like that forever, or until you can be bothered to replace the cooler.

 

Okay thanks Wino, IL try and do that towards the end of the week when I have more spare time and I'll post back with results. Thanks again

[sepulchrave]

23 minutes ago, Tomjones1995 said:

Yes there is still residual pressure in the header tank the following morning while the engine is stone cold. The video I posted above was done in the morning on a stone cold engine.

 

Ok, I'm not optimistic that the EGR cooler is responsible but it's definitely worth trying, bear in mind that the expansion tank cap pops at around 1.2 bar so any pressure you have left in the tank when the car is cold will always be about the same no matter what the source.

[Tomjones1995]

16 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

Ok, I'm not optimistic that the EGR cooler is responsible but it's definitely worth trying, bear in mind that the expansion tank cap pops at around 1.2 bar so any pressure you have left in the tank when the car is cold will always be about the same no matter what the source.

Yeah okay I'll have a go at it later on this week or early next week. Thanks

[Tomjones1995]

Just an update. EGR cooler is still in place, garage doesnt want to remove it because of eml lights etc. The turbo whining turned out to be a cracked EGR hose so I'm getting that fixed next week now. Coolant since I last messaged went below minimum but has next to no pressure in the morning so I'm completely baffled. I'm going to ask for another sniffer test because as you know it's been going on for months.

Edited 29 November, 2018 by Tomjones1995

[Tomjones1995]

If I wanted to test for HG issues still being there, do I just do a pressure test and sniffer test or will one of those be enough? I'm trying to rule the HG out so I can work on other issues with the car.

[Tomjones1995]

On ‎18‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 12:31, Tomjones1995 said:

If I wanted to test for HG issues still being there, do I just do a pressure test and sniffer test or will one of those be enough? I'm trying to rule the HG out so I can work on other issues with the car.

Bump, its going in tomorrow morning. Any advice would be appreciated thanks

[sepulchrave]

1 hour ago, Tomjones1995 said:

Bump, its going in tomorrow morning. Any advice would be appreciated thanks

 

Advice about what?

 

If you still have pressure in the expansion tank before starting in the morning then the HG is no good.

 

I feel like this thread is just going round in circles.

[LB123]

Quote

I feel like this thread is just going round in circles

The OP is going in circles but not really his fault at this stage. In mid November he did get the head skimmed flat and the head gasket replaced by his garage as was suggested but still seems to have water loss problems, although not as bad as before. He admits to mechanical inexperience and is getting a lot of advice but I think it is possible he may have had a poor job done by his garage. The reason I say this is the head job reduced the water loss but didn't stop it. Suggests it was the right diagnosis of the fault but repair not properly carried out.

Yes I would ask for another sniff test.

[sepulchrave]

57 minutes ago, LB123 said:

The OP is going in circles but not really his fault at this stage. In mid November he did get the head skimmed flat and the head gasket replaced by his garage as was suggested but still seems to have water loss problems, although not as bad as before. He admits to mechanical inexperience and is getting a lot of advice but I think it is possible he may have had a poor job done by his garage. The reason I say this is the head job reduced the water loss but didn't stop it. Suggests it was the right diagnosis of the fault but repair not properly carried out.

Yes I would ask for another sniff test.

 

The longer he leaves it the harder it'll be to get the buggers to put it right.

[Tomjones1995]

Thankyou @Lb123 & @sepulchrave for replying. As LB123 says I have gone with your advice and changed the head gasket, had the head skimmed etc costing around £800 and even though its improved, I am still losing coolant. I spoke to the garage and their pressure tester has broken just last week and does not have a sniff test. SO I have booked it in elsewhere for 10:30 this morning for a pressure test as hardly no where here has a sniff test. I know I needed a sniff test before for detecting exhaust gasses in coolant but would a pressure test give me any indication the hg gasket job was not done correctly?

 

I'm trying my best to get this sorted, yes this thread is going on forever but I imagine what its like for me having these problems going on forever

 

Many thanks,

Tom Jones 

[Breezy_Pete]

Did you ever bypass the EGR cooler to eliminate the possibility of that being the problem? It's not clear from reading the posts above whether you actually did or didn't try this.

 

 

[Tomjones1995]

9 hours ago, Wino said:

Did you ever bypass the EGR cooler to eliminate the possibility of that being the problem? It's not clear from reading the posts above whether you actually did or didn't try this.

 

 

No I didn't manage to do that because I wasn't confident enough to do it myself and the mechanic refused to do it. I've just got back from the garage and they said that the radiator had a pin hole leak so hopefully that's all it will be and that will be the end to this epic thread.

 

Thanks,

Tom Jones

[Breezy_Pete]

Fingers crossed for you Tom.

 

[TMB]

Good luck, hope that's all it is

[Tomjones1995]

Hi its me AGAIN. So very sorry about this. Driven 35 miles this morning, then sat on drive revving it to 2500-3000rpm for an unrelated vibration test i was doing, switched the engine off and thought il check the coolant seeing as its been about a week and there's froth everywhere, it had filled the header rank and over flowing when i opened it. This isn't normal is it?