Hi folks,

 

My car has been pretty reluctant to start and has had a coolant loss for a wee while, my mechanic has said he can't see anything obvious and to keep an eye on it, but I'm getting a little concerned.

 

The symptoms are as follows:

 

2009 Diesel VRS 2.0 TDI CR, 68,000 miles, original cambelt and water pump.

 

1.  Car often won't turn over, battery has been checked and is apparently 85% efficient.  Sometime it will go after a few attempts but will then stall again unless revved.  Sometimes the lights will flicker.

2.  Light grey smoke will then proceed to emit from the exhaust when the engine is revved for a period of time.  Time depends on how much acceleration is used to "clear it", lots of accel = big cloud but quicker dissapation.  Smells like exhaust rather than a "sweet" smell.

3.  Coolant:  Car is now to the point that a 20 mile drive will cause the coolant to go from max fill level in the expansion bottle to warning light coming on.  No obvious "wet patches" but a little difficult to spot with our current lovely weather.

4.  Car heater is very variable and often will not produce any heat into the cabin at all.

5.  On occasion when shutting off the engine a high pitched whistle can be heard from the engine area.

 

Things I have spotted:

1.  Engine temp sits at its usual position (90ish degrees???) when warm and doesnt fluctuate.

2.  No loss of power at all.

3.  Oil looks normal.

4.  Not noticing any "exhaust" smell when opening the expansion bottle, but then I havent really stuck my nose in it.

5.  Once running and cleared its throat all is fine and no different from usual until the water coolant light comes on.

 

Ive done the usual googling of possibles and got the usual scale of possibilities, from leak in a host to daemonic posession..... With varying degrees of wallet denting.

 

Anyone experienced the same and have a disagnosis?  Any help greatly appreciated!

 

Cheers folks!

has the thermostat been changed? 

 

if its on the original cambelt and esp water pump after 11yrs even at low mileage they need replacing anyway due to age related deterioration. the pump is probably knackered anyway, but its also a good place to start leak finding. there and the obvious - radiator cracks.

 

If you can't find any leak, & with the symptoms of coolant getting into a cylinder ( engine won't turn over ), it sounds like a head gasket leak, or possibly an EGR cooler leak, with coolant getting pushed into the inlet & cylinders.

 

As a check, I would try blanking off the EGR as it comes out at the front of the engine. ( quite easy )

 

It will put the engine into " limp mode " but you can still take it for a drive.

Then leave it overnight & see how it starts the following day.

16 hours ago, Harlequin said:

3.  Coolant:  Car is now to the point that a 20 mile drive will cause the coolant to go from max fill level in the expansion bottle to warning light coming on.  No obvious "wet patches" but a little difficult to spot with our current lovely weather.

 

High possibility that coolant is getting into the engine through a failing head gasket. When the engine is hot, cylinder gases will pressurise the coolant bottle and expel coolant through its pressure relief valve in the cap.

When the engine is off but before the coolant cools down, the coolant bottle will be still pressurised and will force coolant into one cylinder via the failed head gasket.  On starting, your white smoke is the coolant being exhausted from the cylinder which has the gasket problem.

 

You could try getting a test made on the coolant for absorbed combustion gasses but make sure you use coolant from the bottle before you top it up again.

It is a minor gasket leak at present (no apparent loss of power) but may get worse quite quickly.

We had coolant lose on a 2012 Yeti and, as recommended on this forum, we changed the water pump. It was leaking badly according to the mechanic. Issue now solved.