My 98 Felicia 1.3 GLI seems to be losing coolant. The level has dropped to just below the minimum. There is also some fluid on the front facing side of the engine block but I can't really tell what it is. I'm going to top up the reservoir and drive it a bit to see how fast it's leaking but as I'm new to cars I'd appreciate a bit of advice from experienced hands.

Hi Aliton.

Is there "mayo" inside the oil cap? It could be the head gasket.

Try dry off the fluid using a cloth, particularly at the joint between the cylinder head and block, and see if it appears again (you may be able to see this with the engine running without driving around). Be careful though, drive too far with no coolant and you may warp your cylinder head and make other damage which will be more expensive to repair.

:)Does the engine run well? How long/many miles does it take for the coolant level to drop to where it's at now?

Please add some antifreeze to any water you put in too

On the bright side, it may be nothing more than a leaky hose.

The same thing's happening on my felicia. The coolant always seems to disappear into thin air. I discovered before that it was the actual coolant cap that was leaking and my garage said they'd fixed it, but still it disappears

There are two places coolant can go when it "disappears" and they are out of the engine (e.g. leaky radiator, hose or core plug) or into the engine (usually head gasket blown).

To check whether the coolant is leaking out of the engine, a garage will pressurise the coolant system with a pump and visually check the hoses etc. and repair/change whatever needs it. If the pressure drops and no coolant is visibly leaking, then it is going into the engine.

Check your oil level and if it is higher than the max level then that's where the coolant has gone.

To test the head gasket, a garage will "compression test" the engine and this will determine whether exhaust gasses have burnt through the head gasket & created an opening between the coolant system & the oilways or into one of the cylinders.

In the case of coolant getting into one of the cylinders, it is usually expelled through the exhaust. This will happen until either the coolant all disappears & the engine catastrophically overheats or the opening gets so large that coolant floods the cylinder and the engine stops rather abruptly or will not turn over to start.

Whichever of these is the case, do something about it sooner rather than later.

HTH

I'll hopefully be doing a headgasket and radiator replacement on a 1.3 felly this weekend- I'll try to get pics and make a guide so you can see symptoms and actual damage:thumbup:

Engine seems to run fine except for one occurence. It wouldn't start after I stalled it. It just coughed and spluttered. Started fine again 3rd go. Thats when I opened the bonnet and discovered the missing coolant. I topped up the coolant this morning but haven't had a chance to see how fast it is leaking.

I did check the oil and it looked like it was at the max level. I've done about 2000 miles in it and haven't refilled it. Is this normal? There's no 'mayo' under the filler cap.

If you filled to max level and it hasn't risen above that it's a good sign, and so is the absence of "mayo".

If you can't see any leaks with the engine running I agree with Pysyzgy that you should let a garage

1) test the coolant system and

2) test cylinder compression

Although changing a head gasket is basic mechanics it's not a beginner's job and it can be pretty expensive having it done by a garage. So it makes good sense to start with thorough diagnosing.

Before you spend money,Just use k-seal ,leave the coolant cap loose, (sure you'le loose some coolant but keep an eye on it) take it easy for the next 100 miles, and then see how it is for a while after tightening the coolant cap

The oil level not falling may or may not be normal. Only you (or the previous owner if you've not had the car long) can really answer that, but it's quite possible to have an oil level on a car that's done 70_000 miles or so that's not using significant oil between services.

As Psyzygy says, the time to worry is if you find the "oil" level rising, since that definitely means there's a leak of coolant into the oil system.

Before you spend money,Just use k-seal ,leave the coolant cap loose, (sure you'le loose some coolant but keep an eye on it) take it easy for the next 100 miles, and then see how it is for a while after tightening the coolant cap

I have a 325i touring BMW with a Ksealed head (the 2.5 likes to crack them!)

Prev owner did it, and its always in the back of my mind..

Better take a day, do a comp test and stripdown/replace HG if required. its about £40 for gasket set and new stretch bolts

sounds like something very simple to me. I would check all hoses by squeezing them when the engine is hot and look for leaks as it may be a loose jubilee clip or split hose. Also check the radiator for coolant stains as this can leak at the edges despite being aluminium.

The next check to make when hot is to make sure that the radiator is hot at the bottom. If not it may have let in air whilst coolant was down or at any leaking point. Other option is head gasket but check the basics before doing anything else

I did check the oil and it looked like it was at the max level. I've done about 2000 miles in it and haven't refilled it. Is this normal? There's no 'mayo' under the filler cap.

It's good that your engine hasn't used any oil It means it's not worn out . It's also good news that there's no emulsified oil ("mayo") under the oil filler cap.

Next questions are: Has the coolant level dropped again? And is the coolant in the expansion tank "clean" with no dirty oily kind of deposits?

Oh and when was the coolant level previously checked?

I'll run it over the weekend and see if the level drops. I last checked it in the summer so I've no idea how fast it leaks. The coolant didn't exactly look clean : it did have a yellow oily tinge to it. I'll take another look.