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[Shimmy]

Hi there,

last night when I went to play football (10 miles away) during the last mile the coolant warning light came on and the temperature had jumped to 110c.  I decided to coast to the football car park as I was nearly there, didn't misfire.  As I parked up I checked the coolant tank and it was empty, looked under the car and there was a quite a large steady stream of water running from what looks like O/S bottom of the radiator.  I decided to leave the engine to cool and reinspect after I played football.

90 minutes later armed with several bottles of water I start filling the coolant tank until it reaches the level, I run the engine for a few minutes, no leaking.  I decide to refill my bottles and drive the 10 minutes home carefully with a friend following and my eyes fixed to the temp gauge.  The temperature stays at normal 80-90c operating temperature and I make it home to find no water has leaked at all? 

Reinspected this morning and found the coolant tank very nearly empty and there is now a steady drip from the same spot, bottom of radiator area driver's side.  I checked the HBV and it all seemed dry, no mayo in the oil cap.

Before last night the car has very rarely needed much coolant topping up, owned since last summer and needed about 500ml topping up in total.

Any ideas chaps?

[tunnie]

Check / take off the coolant hose connections to the rad, these parts are plastic, and where the coolant pipes clip on it. Its not unheard of them to crack 

[duggs]

Strange that you haven't had any replies...logically either the rad OR pipes going too or  from have a small leak. Can you put her up on ramps to have a better look to see where exactly she's leaking from.

[Boiler Man]

I know you have checked it, but keep a close eye on and recheck the HBV.

I have had this twice before on the HBV and the crafty little bu##er doesnt leak all the time. It can go for a day or two and start again for no reason.

What can happen is it leaks, water drops onto the chassis, then stop leaking and the only evidence is water dripping from underneath.

Just a suggestion.

[Shimmy]

Just had another look, still dripping a little bit from the same place.  Checked all the pipes I could including around the HBV and all dry whilst losing some water.  I guess it's going to have to be the radiator or perhaps a seal of some sort has gone near the bottom of it?

Here's a quick pic of the leak, I've circled where the water is falling from.


Still can't quite pin down where the leak is originating from or what is causing it.

[tunnie]

have you taken the coolant pipes off the rad, inspect the plastic pipe that molds to the rad.



Really check the larger ones.

[Boiler Man]

Sorry to persist. But just try feeling underneath the HBV. Then check if your hand is wet.

If it's not I will shut up.

[duggs]

There u have it I think. Given the location and the number of pipes stuck to the rad....bet at least one of them is flubbered. Odds are that one of the pipes has split.

[Shimmy]

have you taken the coolant pipes off the rad, inspect the plastic pipe that molds to the rad.


Really check the larger ones.

Apologies, not taken the pipes off to check.  Think I can only access 1 large one without having to take bits off which I'm not overly confident about, I've only ever done oil and filter changes on the omega.

I did feel for any damp on and all around the pipes though whilst the car was still leaking and all felt dry to me.

Think I'll just have get a garage to have a look at it, unless there any willing OOFers nearby?

[Entwood]

A little trick that sometimes works ...   dry everything off as best you can with papertowels/old cloths. Then get some coloured papertowel ... KimWipe - the light blue stuff is best - wrap pieces around the joints where the pipes join the rad, and around the HBV if you wish, anywhere you want to check. either leave for a couple of hours if its a static leak, or run the engine if it only leaks under pressure. Then check the pieces of towel..... light blue towel changes colour to dark blue when wet ... so it may well show which pipe is leaking ....

HTH 

[Abiton]

Have a look at the little hose that runs back to the expansion tank (extreme-top-right of tunnie's pic).  The pipe that comes off that spigot gets disturbed slightly when the airbox lid is removed to change the filter.

If that looks dry (and all the other hose/plastic joints on that side do too), another possibility is that the seal between the alloy and plastic parts of the radiator has failed. Another member griff2494 (or something like that) had this issue within the last month or two.  Dunno whether he managed to repair it with sealant.  If you search 'Members' for users with names starting with 'griff' you'll find him, then look at his last few posts.  Sorry, bit too drunk to do this for you just now. 

[Gaffers]

I have managed to find some coolant leak inspection dye you use a UV light to id the source of leaks.  I leave the US in a couple of days so let me know if you want me to get you some 

[Shimmy]

Thanks for all the help so far.

Slight update.  Booked the car in for tomorrow morning to get it looked at.

I've been driving it a little bit in the mean time for about 20 minutes at a time, and whilst it doesn't lose much water whilst driving it will continue to leak whilst there is pressure in the system.  So for example if I park up for a couple hours after a 20 minute drive I need to top with around 2 litres of water.  It stop leaking when the engine is cold and there is no pressure in the system. 

Still leaking from the same area, so I'm thinking at worst I will need a new radiator.  If that is the case should I let the garage source and fit, or should I get my Vx TC out and get an OEM one, or is there a 3rd party one I should be looking at?

[RobG]

Source secondhand or get one new from here
http://www.carcooling.co.uk/products/Radiator_Vauxhall_Omega_B_3175_cc_2001_03_02_01_08_03_3_2_i_24V_Automatic_vehicles_with_or_without_A_C_653_460_28mm_KZ_EK_12OL461-86000-1245.html

[Shimmy]

Source secondhand or get one new from here
http://www.carcooling.co.uk/products/Radiator_Vauxhall_Omega_B_3175_cc_2001_03_02_01_08_03_3_2_i_24V_Automatic_vehicles_with_or_without_A_C_653_460_28mm_KZ_EK_12OL461-86000-1245.html

Cheers Rob