Where has my coolant gone???

[abo]

2004 167k PD130

 

I've had a slightly leaky heater matrix (coolant smell in the car when the heater is being used), and the coolant level warning displaying. 15 year old car, I didn't fancy paying loads in garage labour or spending a whole day getting the dash in and out so I chucked some radweld in and topped the coolant off yesterday, then drove for a while with the heater turned up.

 

This morning, I thought I'd run the car and see if the smell had gone. When I popped the bonnet I noticed the coolant had dropped to just below the minimum. Odd, but I topped it up and ran the car stationary until the heater started to warm up. Some smell at first, then it faded away. After a few minutes, the coolant light came on again. I checked the header tank and the coolant had dropped back down to below the minimum. No fluid under the car, no steam out the exhaust, no moisture that I can see inside the car and nothing in the oil.

 

I'm going to top it up again and take it for a drive at lunchtime, but does anyone know where the coolant might have gone?

[Normski55]

Have you checked the oil? Hope it's not milky.

[Normski55]

Sorry, obviously didn't read it properly. Oil is good.

 

I had a similar problem when I had the water pump changed. Rang the garage and they said sometimes you get an air lock which doesn't come to the top straight away. It turned out to be a hose weeping in the end.

[abo]

Yup oil is good  though due a change soon...

 

I just took it out for a couple of runs up and down the dual carriageway to get fully up to temperature. The gauge got up to 90 and then no more, which is what is has always done. I ran the heater the whole time and no smell. When I got back I checked the coolant level and there'd been no light and no loss.

 

I'll just keep an eye on it over the next few days and see what it does. Still wondering where it is/was going though lol

[sakta]

The issue is Radweld and anything like that is rubbish, it won't work. The only fix is to go to a garage and get it properly fixed, else it'll come back 

[KenONeill]

2 hours ago, sakta said:

Radweld and anything like that is rubbish, it won't work.

Well, I've seen Radweld fix a brick through the radiator, and still be holding 2 years later.

[sakta]

20 hours ago, KenONeill said:

Well, I've seen Radweld fix a brick through the radiator, and still be holding 2 years later.

I suppose, all I meant was its not an ideal permanent fix as leaks can happen from anywhere such as the piping and not just rads

[KenONeill]

On 04/05/2019 at 11:19, sakta said:

I suppose, all I meant was its not an ideal permanent fix as leaks can happen from anywhere such as the piping and not just rads

Fair enough; I'd not recommend it for pipe leaks either.

 

Oh yes and @mac11irl - I'll take vote ups where I can get them, but I honestly wasn't joking about the "brick through radiator" incident.