Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Maintenance Guides => Topic started by: tgm147 on 29 June 2012, 15:46:09
-
Hi guys.
Finding leaks from the cooling system can be a real pain in the arse if they're hard to see or you don't know where they're coming from so I decided to make my own dye to add into the cooling system to help track them down. It costs a couple of quid at most but it's free if you've got a couple knocking round!
1 - Acquire yourself 4 or 5 of the fluorescent green highlighter pens. Green will be the most obvious colour to see.
2 - Crack them open over a bowl and you should get a fibre stick like thing in the centre. Pull these out (without spilling!) and place them into a bowl with a litre or so of water.
3 - Leave them to soak for half an hour to 45 minutes. This will wash the dye out of the sticks and into the water. It will be VERY concentrated though. Remove the sticks and squeeze them to drain the last bits out.
4 - Now empty the header tank in the car. This can be done however you like but I just put an empty bowl underneath and pull the hose off the bottom. Once empty, reconnect the hose.
5 - Tip the dye into the cooling bottle and start the car. Leave it to mix with the coolant for at least half an hour. Longer if possible. Take the car for a short drive if you can.
6 - Stop the car and take a look for leaks, ideally using a UV light/black light. UV bulbs can be had for a couple of quid from the internet or some art supply shops. They'll go into one of the older style hand held lights fine. Any leaks should be a glowing green colour.
7 - This one is optional. Add a bottle of coolant system flush to the header tank and leave it in for half an hour. Then do a coolant change as per the other how to guide. It's probably perfectly fine to leave the dye in the system because at the end of the day, it's just ink, however I haven't done this, I've always washed it out again.
Hope this helps someone! More fun than buying a conventional dye too!
-
Hi guys.
Finding leaks from the cooling system can be a real pain in the arse if they're hard to see or you don't know where they're coming from so I decided to make my own dye to add into the cooling system to help track them down. It costs a couple of quid at most but it's free if you've got a couple knocking round!
1 - Acquire yourself 4 or 5 of the fluorescent green highlighter pens. Green will be the most obvious colour to see.
2 - Crack them open over a bowl and you should get a fibre stick like thing in the centre. Pull these out (without spilling!) and place them into a bowl with a litre or so of water.
3 - Leave them to soak for half an hour to 45 minutes. This will wash the dye out of the sticks and into the water. It will be VERY concentrated though. Remove the sticks and squeeze them to drain the last bits out.
4 - Now empty the header tank in the car. This can be done however you like but I just put an empty bowl underneath and pull the hose off the bottom. Once empty, reconnect the hose.
5 - Tip the dye into the cooling bottle and start the car. Leave it to mix with the coolant for at least half an hour. Longer if possible. Take the car for a short drive if you can.
6 - Stop the car and take a look for leaks, ideally using a UV light/black light. UV bulbs can be had for a couple of quid from the internet or some art supply shops. They'll go into one of the older style hand held lights fine. Any leaks should be a glowing green colour.
7 - This one is optional. Add a bottle of coolant system flush to the header tank and leave it in for half an hour. Then do a coolant change as per the other how to guide. It's probably perfectly fine to leave the dye in the system because at the end of the day, it's just ink, however I haven't done this, I've always washed it out again.
Hope this helps someone! More fun than buying a conventional dye too!
probably cheaper, and a lot quicker just to buy a small bottle of food colouring ;)
-
Hi guys.
Finding leaks from the cooling system can be a real pain in the arse if they're hard to see or you don't know where they're coming from so I decided to make my own dye to add into the cooling system to help track them down. It costs a couple of quid at most but it's free if you've got a couple knocking round!
1 - Acquire yourself 4 or 5 of the fluorescent green highlighter pens. Green will be the most obvious colour to see.
2 - Crack them open over a bowl and you should get a fibre stick like thing in the centre. Pull these out (without spilling!) and place them into a bowl with a litre or so of water.
3 - Leave them to soak for half an hour to 45 minutes. This will wash the dye out of the sticks and into the water. It will be VERY concentrated though. Remove the sticks and squeeze them to drain the last bits out.
4 - Now empty the header tank in the car. This can be done however you like but I just put an empty bowl underneath and pull the hose off the bottom. Once empty, reconnect the hose.
5 - Tip the dye into the cooling bottle and start the car. Leave it to mix with the coolant for at least half an hour. Longer if possible. Take the car for a short drive if you can.
6 - Stop the car and take a look for leaks, ideally using a UV light/black light. UV bulbs can be had for a couple of quid from the internet or some art supply shops. They'll go into one of the older style hand held lights fine. Any leaks should be a glowing green colour.
7 - This one is optional. Add a bottle of coolant system flush to the header tank and leave it in for half an hour. Then do a coolant change as per the other how to guide. It's probably perfectly fine to leave the dye in the system because at the end of the day, it's just ink, however I haven't done this, I've always washed it out again.
Hope this helps someone! More fun than buying a conventional dye too!
probably cheaper, and a lot quicker just to buy a small bottle of food colouring ;)
Had thought of that but wasn't sure if it would glow under UV light like the pens do.