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[amba]

Bit of advise please guys.

Over the last few months I have been trying without sucess to locate my  coolant level drop.If I top the level up it will drop by around 25mm over a period of say a week or 800 miles.The rate of this loss is not altered by having the heating on or off and the HBV has been thoroughly check and it is not the cause as I cannot see any evidence of staining nor can I see it leaking when engine is running and various heat settings are set..or set to low.

I have recently replaced the oil cooler and the plate has been sealed correctly..dowty bridge washers renewed and checked..washers correctly fitted onto oil cooler banjo bolts...thermostat housing replaced and 0 ring fitted along with a bead of oil cooler sealant around thermostat base just to be sure..coolant transfer pipe and both 0 rings seals renewed so think I have covered all bases along with a new heater matrix and seals around February when I also replaced both HBV to bulk head pipes along with the short pipe from the rear transfer pipe.Drivers side exhaust manifold gasket has also been done so new seal fitted to transfer pipe...although in truth I do seem to recall coolant level was dropping before all of the above had been done so have I missed something obvious ?

The coolant never drops below mid point nor have I had the low coolant warning appear so it seems to get to a certain point then stop. Today I have pressured the system to 18psi and left it for several hours to see what drop occured.It went down to around 14psi then didn,t got below that point despite releasing pressure and retesting several times.

I cannot see any signs of lost coolant but when the tank is filled to the full mark and I have driven car for a while you can smell coolant pressumably burning off from the exhaust so it must be leaking but no amount of pressure testing will reveal the area.

If the HG was the cause and it was allowing a small amount of coolant into the bore would this burn off with the smell .?

Any pointers of where else for me to look.

[tunnie]

Is it a 3.0?

[amba]

Nope Tunnie ,its a 2.5 circa 1998....you thinking the issues with that era and HG on nearside rear corner too ?

[YZ250]

Nope Tunnie ,its a 2.5 circa 1998....you thinking the issues with that era and HG on nearside rear corner too ?

Sadly that's exactly where my previous 1998 2.5 HG went. The engine heat vaporised the coolant loss so it took me ages to find the leak as no water ever made it to the floor. When I took that head off, the HG had rotted from the waterway to the outer edge.    The only tell-tale sign was a water mark on the offending area. I obviously did both HG's while I was at it. I sold the car soon after as I thought it was becoming troublesome, I didn't know at that point that it was relative to the year of manufacture. 

[ffcgary1]

check the rad,
it could have split the plastic side tanks, check just below the rad fan switch as there is a seam in the plastic and common for it to leak here.
Gary

[amba]

That was starting to become my thoughts too as its been doing it for a fair while now but never bad enough to get too hot or bring up warning light.

Don,t think given cars age and mileage that replacing both HG is really a sensible financial option so looks like I have 2 options then.

1..just live with it hoping it never gets any worse as I do check coolant regularly and its concentrate is at 50/50 only ever being topped up with the same mix.

2..if it gets worse I suppose an additive..snake oil  .might hold the tide at bay for a while especially as all pipes/radiators etc are clean so I do know there is no restrictions within system to make it any worse as far as flow is concerened.

[amba]

Cheers Gary...wouldn,t a pressure test show that up though ?

Would have expected to see coolant leaking out of a cold system pressured up to 18psi

[YZ250]

You may be able to see a white water mark at the nearside rear of HG with a mirror and a torch. 

[omega3000]

Bit of a mystery that one , before i replaced the coolant bridge seals i too smelt coolant in the car but since fitting new ones its stopped . Mine was losing water and over heating and was traced to a partially blocked rad but the old rad i took off was fine it just needed all the connections tightening up , ie the rad fan switch and another one near it  ..difficult to spot while on the car . Mite be worth trying to nip them up  And check the drain tap for drips , mine dripped overnight gradually and difficult to spot ..nipped that up and all ok 

[gstylebaby]

I have some coolant leak kits that i have put togther just not got round to popping any info up as yet but was going to offer them on here and on the bay.  Its a dye you put in the coolant and you use a u.v light to check. The kit is a bottle of the dye and a small l.e.d tourch.  I got the dye sent from the states so its not any cheap rubbish if your interested mate drop me a p.m.
Lee.

[cem_devecioglu]

Cheers Gary...wouldn,t a pressure test show that up though ?

Would have expected to see coolant leaking out of a cold system pressured up to 18psi

may , may not.. in my case fire rings were intact..

[amba]

Given the coolant burnt off smell I am convinced its coming from soempoint around the back of the n/side head.

Now as I have replaced every pipe/seal and almost every other thing that hold coolant I am really starting to think the worst and expect the HG to be the root problem.

As the only other telltale is that the coolant level is dropping albeit when it gets to a certain level is seems to albut stop,I am really thinking that just the routing topping of coolant and the putting up with the smell is my best and least difficult of all the solutions available to me.I am not sure if I really want to be proved it is the HG as that will be more work than the  car warrants now.

Thanks for help guys.  

[cem_devecioglu]

have you checked oil cooler and thermostat area ?

[amba]

Both oil cooler and thermostat replaced few months ago and both totally coolant tight...although the loss of coolant was evident before they were replaced.

[gstylebaby]

What yo mite be happening is that has the engine gets hot its letting coolant drip out from the rear of the head and then when the engine is cold resealing again so it becomes some what of a nightmare to find.  My elite has the same problem as yours and ran it for awhile just kept topping it up.  Lucky its never got any worse i'm going to do the job now its off the road and i'm using my estate.