Hi trusty Briskodians,

 

I've been losing coolant for a few weeks now, but I'm not doing many miles so not overly panicked yet.

I've now had a good look and i would say it appears to be coming from the underside of the reservoir itself.

Is it easy to get the bottle out to have a proper look, or is it likely to be something else?

Thanks for any advice.

 

 

Edited 8 January, 20197 yr by Regsmyth
Spelling mistake

if you remove the fixings from the tank you usually have a good amount of play on the hoses to take a look at the underside

And coolant bottle leaks arent exactly uncommon... or it maybe a perished hose end attached to the bottle..

Doesn't the overflow for the cap exit the underside of the tank ?

Possibly faulty pressure cap ?

Coolant system over pressurising due to HGF ?

1 minute ago, BashRacing said:

Coolant system over pressurising due to HGF ?

My first thought, I must admit.

Check for residual pressure in the expansion tank when the engine is stone cold.

Ok well i checked under the water bottle, and there's no obvious split in the hose, but the overflow outlet looks a bit crusty.

I suspect you're right about the head, or head gasket.

 

Taking in to local garage tomorrow for them to take a look.

 

Guess I'm going to have to face the dilemma of an expensive fix to a cheap car... (and probably further age related problems) or bite the bullet and save the pennies for my next one....

Well, they K Sealed it.

They couldn't prove it was definitely hgf, but that was their conclusion. With any luck it'll get me to MOT time in May, and then if it's all still sealed, it'll be cam belt time. If not, time for the next one, hopefully without all the niggling issues that this one has (sticky vanes, no air con, leaky sunroof, temperamental c/l).

 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

 

If the garage has done a few Head gaskets on 1.9 tdi's they can be done in 5 - 6 hours start to finish as long as the head is still flat,

so that's probably £200+ in labour + head gasket and bolts at £70 + coolant and oil change at £50 + timing belt kit & water pump £120

so you're probably at £600 with the vat.

 

so it's probably going to kill the car if it's a bit of lemon already with other faults but then what good diesel car can you buy for £600 that won't need more money spending on it anyway.

And three days later, losing water again. Game over :(

 

 

Thinking about it - the idea that K seal in the coolant could somehow stop high pressure hot combustion gases from getting forced into the water is ridiculous!

Doh.