Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: grain.ben on 15 November 2013, 21:09:53
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As above, came out this morning too find a puddle under the car, looked underneath, coolant dripping from the drain plug area, cleaned it up, left it for a few minutes, drip, drip, drip, ahh crap!
Got a sneaky suspicion its the drain tap O rings possibly? as per searching on here.
kept an eye on it all day at work, put a small bucket underneath, 11:30am engine hot, no leak, checked at when I finished work tonight at 8pm, leaking, about 50ml in the bucket, so it leaking when cold. To add, we had a hard frost last night, so something to do with cold weather, cold coolant. Ive put the bucket back under the car for tonight and will check again in the morning.
I have a very large selection of O rings here, but need to take the plug out to inspect, so I might get the AA out to sort it for me instead, as I have no spare coolant or a tub big enough to drain it into, any thoughts on all this??
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89580428/OOF/P1000221.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89580428/OOF/P1000222.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89580428/OOF/P1000223.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89580428/OOF/P1000224.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89580428/OOF/P1000225.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89580428/OOF/P1000226.JPG)
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You wont be loosing much coolant if you swap over plugs as quick as you can and catch any liquid in a pint glass? Could try and keep your finger over end before fitting new one. Can top it up with water and be fine I reckon.
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thing is, I need to take the whole tap out, inspect the O rings, replace if need be and plug it back in, I only have two hands ;) and no assistant ;D
that's if it is the O rings :-\
Oh also, I don't have a new tap either
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Thanks but I had assumed that. I mean pull the plug out, keep your finger over the hole and put the replacement plug in. You could catch the coolant in a container and put back into the system once new plug is replaced so any coolant loss would be minimal. I'm sure you could do it without a problem.
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no replacement plug though :-[
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It drains from that pipe to the side, so two holes to plug... you won't catch anything like all of it in a bucket either :-\
Might get away with a new plug/ o rings, but budget for a new rad imho :-\
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It drains from that pipe to the side, so two holes to plug... you won't catch anything like all of it in a bucket either :-\
Might get away with a new plug/ o rings, but budget for a new rad imho :-\
that's not what I wanted to hear, especially at this time of year ::)
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Looking at the subframe it's been leaking a while :-\
There must be at least two seals on the drain screw, one where the head meets the radiator, and one where the tail seats inside :-\
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Apologies for not reading properly::)
- Can you borrow a bucket from neighbour or get a few 2 ltr water bottles?
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Looking at the subframe it's been leaking a while :-\
There must be at least two seals on the drain screw, one where the head meets the radiator, and one where the tail seats inside :-\
theres been no leaking until this morning, well, that I noticed anyway, maybe it started slow over a few days then got quicker :-\
There are two O rings on the plug, theres a picture on here but cant find it again.
Apologies for not reading properly::)
- Can you borrow a bucket from neighbour or get a few 2 ltr water bottles?
That's ok, its late, tired eyes?? ;)
Yeah will have to borrow something in the morning ;D
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ahh bingo, found it
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=85083.msg1105595#msg1105595 (http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=85083.msg1105595#msg1105595)
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Pure tired eyes and brain on auto pilot :P Hope it is just the plug..... some like radweld / some do not.
PS
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=85083.msg1105595#msg1105595 (http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=85083.msg1105595#msg1105595)
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haha, beat you to it ;D
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Our fleet mechanic at work very very kindly gave me a shed load of these to try, I hope it is the O rings, and nothing else
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89580428/OOF/P1000227.JPG)
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Nothing to lose from trying :y
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Nothing to lose from trying :y
This is true, when I take out the plug, how much coolant will come out? all of it? or some?
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About 6 litres if my efforts tother day are anything to go by ::)
Proper engine holds about 10 litres, not sure about the desmond :-\
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About 6 litres if my efforts tother day are anything to go by ::)
Proper engine holds about 10 litres, not sure about the desmond :-\
Ok, I shall see what I can sort out in the morning/weekend, cheers chaps :y
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Lol. Best of luck :y
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Taa muchly :y
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Carry a 50/50 mix in a 5L bottle in the car, when I flushed the heater matrix on the 3.2, I got about 4L is back in, you may find it drops as the car is used after a big change :y
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When mine did that I tightened the plug a little more with a pair of pliers.That was a year ago and it hasn't leaked since. If you need another plug to put O-rings on give me a shout.Im sure I have a couple of spare ones somewhere. :y
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If the expansion cap stays ON, and the expansion tank is correctly filled, then the amount of coolant that will leak out will be restricted by the vacuum in the system, provided you don't allow the system to "glug" a lump of air back in ... ie .. be quick and a finger over the holes as you remove the old tap ... on which there are TWO o-rings .... :(
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When mine did that I tightened the plug a little more with a pair of pliers.That was a year ago and it hasn't leaked since. If you need another plug to put O-rings on give me a shout.Im sure I have a couple of spare ones somewhere. :y
Worked for too for a while :y.Then my rad split at top and had to replace rad ::)
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UPDATE= just been to inspect, it did indeed start leaking over night, but not as much as i thought, the leaking was very minimal, so for now, i poured the small amount of coolant back into a spare container, washed the bucket out, got my pliers and gently nipped up the drain plug (as it was slightly loose) and put the bucket back under there, i will go out in a few hours to see if nipping the tap up has stopped the leak for now.
Cheers Albitz, will keep that in mind, you might just well get a pm over the weekend though depending if its stopped or not :-\
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I always drain mine into a kitchen bowl, which goes easily under the car. It seems to hold a gallon, which is all that comes out. Putting hose on the outlet pipe there is very little coolant loss.
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I always drain mine into a kitchen bowl, which goes easily under the car. It seems to hold a gallon, which is all that comes out. Putting hose on the outlet pipe there is very little coolant loss.
Which is what ill be purchasing this weekend for problems i have like this.
I should really go through everything i need really ;D
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I always drain mine into a kitchen bowl, which goes easily under the car. It seems to hold a gallon, which is all that comes out. Putting hose on the outlet pipe there is very little coolant loss.
Pattern rads don't always have the outlet for a hose :y
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IVE DONE IT :D :D :D I hope ;D :-\
got the bits I needed to recycle my coolant this morning, opened the expansion tank, attached my hosepipe to the radiator drain, unscrewed the tap, flowed nicely into my spare 5lt bottle, the rest into a washing up bowl, let it drain, pulled the tap out, went inside to inspect the O rings, and the smaller one at the top had a flat spot on it (suspect), so replaced both O rings, the top one was ever so slightly smaller than the bottom one, went back out, inserted into hole ::) ;D , it was a lot tighter fit than when it came out, tightened it up. Started filling the recycled coolant back into the tank, 6lts later, started the engine, aircon off, normal blowers on HI and fan full speed, let it run for 10mins while squeezing the top hose to expel any air bubbles, all seemed ok!
Conclusion = im sooo hoping its the O rings and nothing else, so ive put my bucket back under the car and will go inspect later then its fully cold. At the moment, its not leaking :) , and hopefully it wont anymore.
P.s, this is the first UNAIDED and UNSUPERVISED job ive done on the car without any help apart from the forum :y :y Ill be so happy that achieved this on my own if the leak stops. :D
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That's good news :y
Fingers crossed its fixed. You can think of some other jobs to tackle now!
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Yep go for an easy job like cambelt kit & water pump change on a 4 pot :) :) :y
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Cheers Radar :)
Update = just been to have another look now that the engine and coolant is cold, and hey presto, NO leak or dripping or wetness around the drain :D
Only way to be sure is to leave it tonight, check again before i go to work in the morning, use the car to and from work and check again, just for peace of mind, but its looking good :)
Yep go for an asy job like cambelt kit & water pump change on a 4 pot :) :) :y
I might think about that in 10K time ;)
The few of you that have met me personally, know that im not very confident in doing car work on my own, but today was a milestone for me :) , though this job ive just done, most of you will say that its pish easy to do, ive just done it for the first time. The confidence is growing. 8) , next jobs will be an oil change (which ive done before) and a full coolant change.
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That's great. :y
From when I met you I left with the impression you apply sensible logic to the task in hand (I remember chatting about stereos at the Wycombe meet). With this approach i'm sure you will be doing plenty more tasks successfully in no time at all :y
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Last Update.
Replacing the O rings worked and now its all dry as a bone (after keeping an eye on it all week), no coolant loss anywhere :D :y , just glad i didn't have to fork out for a new radiator.
That's great. :y
From when I met you I left with the impression you apply sensible logic to the task in hand (I remember chatting about stereos at the Wycombe meet). With this approach i'm sure you will be doing plenty more tasks successfully in no time at all :y
Cheers for that Radar, ive always been like that, but not when it comes to the car, but the confidence is building all the time and I hope to take on more challenging tasks, eventually ;D ::)