Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: atann on 19 May 2017, 23:40:44

Title: Coolant loss
Post by: atann on 19 May 2017, 23:40:44
I've lost about 2 litres since Christmas. Car over heated, as I hadn't checked the level recently. Only covered 1200 miles since then. Luckily I was 5 min from home. I could see the vapour coming from the engine bay, open the bonnet as soon as I was home to cool the car. Two questions, why would I be losing so much coolent and have I damaged the engine? The low coolent message came up just before I got home. Thanks for any help.
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: Lazydocker on 20 May 2017, 07:19:52
Clearly you have a leak... I'd check the HBV as I've had one Fail in spectacular style and it's a common fault.

Will you have damaged it? Possibly, but you won't know without running it. It's unlikely but there is a possibility.

Oh, and this should be in Omega General Help so may get moved by an admin :y
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: atann on 20 May 2017, 14:33:26
Clearly you have a leak... I'd check the HBV as I've had one Fail in spectacular style and it's a common fault.

Will you have damaged it? Possibly, but you won't know without running it. It's unlikely but there is a possibility.

Oh, and this should be in Omega General Help so may get moved by an admin :y

Thanks for the reply. So what and where is the HBV?
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: Migv6 le Frog Fan on 20 May 2017, 15:15:43
Heater bypass valve. Fist sized black plastic thingy, which looks like a bit like a spaceship. Located at the o/s/r of the engine, almost under the bottom of the screen. A bit awkward to get to without removing the plenum from the top of the engine.
A study of the maintenance guides should provide the info you need.  :y
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: Andy B on 23 May 2017, 10:47:00
Clearly you have a leak... I'd check the HBV as I've had one Fail in spectacular style and it's a common fault.

Will you have damaged it? Possibly, but you won't know without running it. It's unlikely but there is a possibility.

Oh, and this should be in Omega General Help so may get moved by an admin :y

Thanks for the reply. So what and where is the HBV?

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90574.0  :y

A HBV might leak or ot depending on what heat setting is selected  ...... it might leak on cold or it might leak on hot ... there's no defining setting.  ;)
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: atann on 23 May 2017, 23:20:29
Clearly you have a leak... I'd check the HBV as I've had one Fail in spectacular style and it's a common fault.

Will you have damaged it? Possibly, but you won't know without running it. It's unlikely but there is a possibility.

Oh, and this should be in Omega General Help so may get moved by an admin :y

Thanks for the reply. So what and where is the HBV?

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90574.0  :y

A HBV might leak or ot depending on what heat setting is selected  ...... it might leak on cold or it might leak on hot ... there's no defining setting.  ;)

Climate control has been turned off for the last two months?
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: Andy B on 23 May 2017, 23:26:10

Climate control has been turned off for the last two months?

That won't  prevent coolant from going through some part of the HBV though  ;)
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: atann on 24 May 2017, 18:01:45
Tried Radweld today and topped up with 2.5 litres of coolant. Car keeps the coolant level until it gets up to temperature, then the level drops to the bottom of the coolant resovior and the low coolant warning appears on the dash. Once up to temperature any coolant added is going straight through the tank. Put another 2 litres in once the engine was cold, just in case, same thing. The hand book says the capacity is 9.6 litres, so I'm guessing the system is still holding at least 7 litres? The smoke from the engine, is that the coolant burning off? Any help would be great, thanks.
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 24 May 2017, 18:11:33
Tried Radweld today and topped up with 2.5 litres of coolant. Car keeps the coolant level until it gets up to temperature, then the level drops to the bottom of the coolant resovior and the low coolant warning appears on the dash. Once up to temperature any coolant added is going straight through the tank. Put another 2 litres in once the engine was cold, just in case, same thing. The hand book says the capacity is 9.6 litres, so I'm guessing the system is still holding at least 7 litres? The smoke from the engine, is that the coolant burning off? Any help would be great, thanks.
Why? Chewing bubblegum would be more effective...
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: atann on 24 May 2017, 23:09:18
Tried Radweld today and topped up with 2.5 litres of coolant. Car keeps the coolant level until it gets up to temperature, then the level drops to the bottom of the coolant resovior and the low coolant warning appears on the dash. Once up to temperature any coolant added is going straight through the tank. Put another 2 litres in once the engine was cold, just in case, same thing. The hand book says the capacity is 9.6 litres, so I'm guessing the system is still holding at least 7 litres? The smoke from the engine, is that the coolant burning off? Any help would be great, thanks.
Why? Chewing bubblegum would be more effective...

Worked on my Rover 75 coolant leak😀
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 25 May 2017, 09:13:37
It might stop a leak, but it will bugger up the cooling system as a whole... I would wager that you sold the Rover very soon after :-X
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: Stige on 25 May 2017, 12:13:05
It might stop a leak, but it will bugger up the cooling system as a whole... I would wager that you sold the Rover very soon after :-X

I have also had similiar experience with said stuff, it did stop my radiator leaking but also started to cause overheating as it clogged it up aswell, new radiator fixed everything after.
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: TheBoy on 25 May 2017, 19:02:50
Find the leak, not put in snake oil bodges ;)
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: atann on 25 May 2017, 23:11:09
It was the HBV. Got another one and pipes, being fitted Tuesday. Hopefully the Radweld won't damage the system, as it's lost most of the coolant? Could the HBV loss explain the climate losing its gas after a month of regasing?
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: atann on 25 May 2017, 23:12:21
It might stop a leak, but it will bugger up the cooling system as a whole... I would wager that you sold the Rover very soon after :-X

No, I got another two years with no coolant problems. Was scraped due to loads of work needed to pass the MOT.
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 25 May 2017, 23:41:58
It was the HBV. Got another one and pipes, being fitted Tuesday. Hopefully the Radweld won't damage the system, as it's lost most of the coolant? Could the HBV loss explain the climate losing its gas after a month of regasing?
The radweld will be sludged up in the heater matrix.

As for the aircon gas... totally unrelated... either of the two valves or weeping condenser, or all three. Might as well throw a new rad in as it's no extra labour.
Title: Re: Coolant loss
Post by: atann on 01 June 2017, 23:19:40
Got it back today. £20 for the valve and pipes of EBay, £90 labour, £10 two litres of coolant. Just need to get the climate gassed now😀