Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: polilara on 10 March 2022, 13:26:23

Title: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: polilara on 10 March 2022, 13:26:23
Hello

Learned here that head gasket does not fail in Y26SE. I get coolant dripping above this (V6) oil filter. Perhaps it is coming somewhere else but where, colleague of me told that behind the engine there are many things that can be the cause.  It is not HBV. Is there any other potential places to look for? I do not have pressure tester. Can you recommend any from ebay. Several possibilities available so tips are welcome.
Title: Re: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 10 March 2022, 13:36:39
Coolant Bridge, oil cooler, thermostat... All in the V under the inlet manifold.  ;)
Title: Re: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: polilara on 10 March 2022, 13:40:04
Sure, thanks but does those leak like it came between cylinder and head. It is like head gasket leakage but coming perhaps from back. The area between head and cylinder is wet above oil filter at least.
Title: Re: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: Nick W on 10 March 2022, 13:44:16
Hello

Learned here that head gasket does not fail in Y26SE. I get coolant dripping above this (V6) oil filter. Perhaps it is coming somewhere else but where, colleague of me told that behind the engine there are many things that can be the cause.  It is not HBV. Is there any other potential places to look for? I do not have pressure tester. Can you recommend any from ebay. Several possibilities available so tips are welcome.


You're not going to use a pressure tester very much, so your actual requirements are minimal. The ones on Ebay are basically the same, so buy one with a decent delivery time at a price you like.


Head gasket failure on a 2.6 is entirely possible, but the water leak you describe is much more likely to have other causes as outlined by DG. This is a good thing, because fixing any, or all, of them is much easier and cheaper than replacing the head gaskets.
Title: Re: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: polilara on 10 March 2022, 14:07:23
Hello

Learned here that head gasket does not fail in Y26SE. I get coolant dripping above this (V6) oil filter. Perhaps it is coming somewhere else but where, colleague of me told that behind the engine there are many things that can be the cause.  It is not HBV. Is there any other potential places to look for? I do not have pressure tester. Can you recommend any from ebay. Several possibilities available so tips are welcome.


You're not going to use a pressure tester very much, so your actual requirements are minimal. The ones on Ebay are basically the same, so buy one with a decent delivery time at a price you like.


Head gasket failure on a 2.6 is entirely possible, but the water leak you describe is much more likely to have other causes as outlined by DG. This is a good thing, because fixing any, or all, of them is much easier and cheaper than replacing the head gaskets.

I agree, anything else than gasket, but very difficult to find. It is minor leakage. I can see this when engine is hot and thus high pressure in the system, only a couple of drops during filter change. When coolant level drops slightly under minimum level I believe that the leakage decrease, strange. I would say <1 dl/month. Idea was to pressurize when cold and try to see something when plenum off. Last time I changed thermostat I did not see any marks of leakage inside the V. And difficult to understand how the coolant can go to the exhaust side of the engine from center of V.
Title: Re: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: Doctor Gollum on 10 March 2022, 16:11:08
Thermostat transfer pipe exits at the front of the 246 head and on to the upper rad hose. Any leaks here could flow along the exhaust side of the Cam cover.

A half decent pressure test kit is readily available on Ebay for around £60.
Title: Re: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: Andy H on 11 March 2022, 10:16:31
There are core plugs pressed into the rear of the cylinder head. Not known of one failing on an Omega though.

I made a pressure tester from an old Omega A (Carlton in UK) pressure cap. The cap has a coolant level switch which I cut off and replaced with a Schraeder (tyre) valve which made it easy to pressurise the system using a tyre pump.
Title: Re: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: Nick W on 11 March 2022, 10:39:23
There are core plugs pressed into the rear of the cylinder head. Not known of one failing on an Omega though.

I made a pressure tester from an old Omega A (Carlton in UK) pressure cap. The cap has a coolant level switch which I cut off and replaced with a Schraeder (tyre) valve which made it easy to pressurise the system using a tyre pump.


You can also replace a hose with a section of inner tube that has the valve. This works well for testing that a radiator holds pressure.
Title: Re: Coolant Leak in 2.6 Y26SE & Pressure Tester Kit
Post by: addy on 11 March 2022, 14:44:06
When I had a leak, that I couldn't find on my omega. I made the pressure test cap in the maintenance section, then used a tyre compressor set to 15psi. It found the leak in the radiator.  The caps are cheap to buy, if you goto a tyre place they would probably give you a valve. If not they are cheap enough on EBAY.  The other advantage is you can look all around the engine as it doesn't need starting.

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90598.0 (http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90598.0)