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[MaxV6]

Damn Damn Damn and thrice Damn and funky chickens.


Just had a call form the Garage over the road.

okay , My Elite's serious coolant escape....

Other than knowing that it seems to be coming from somewhere close to the bulkhead, on the mid to  lower nearside of the Engine bay, right back at the rear...  they cannot as yet find the leak without stripping out a load more stuff.

Since they're aware that funds are limited , and they're also short on time themselves (Builders start work tomorrow on their New MOT bay, so they're minus the work shop till Monday) they thought they'd call and see if i could garner any clues form you excellent chaps as to what might be the problem....   to minimise the time involved.


it also means that i won't be able to drive it anywhere at all at present....   which is a complete frigging pain in the arse....


ARGHHHHHHHHH  

I REALLY don't need this right now !!!!!!!!

ARRRGHHHHHHHHHH  0a[38n vpoas89y4t cpw9s5 ygpowsy5lijqbntluszg l9ag49 q8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any brainwaves most gratefully accepted./

 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Whats hard about taking the wipers and scuttle off....then pressurise the system using a tester and see where its coming from....if its that much it must be a hose...

[MaxV6]

Well, according to them....  there's the pollen filter housing and some other bit in the way on top, and the exhaust in the way from below.....  

I think it's the combination of that and the lack of time....  given that by now even if they found it, they couldn't get the part today... and they're closed till Monday after 5 , for the builders....

Henry (Las jacarandas) has loads of Pipes... probably a complete set , but.....  he's down by heathrow....


Bggrit.

[nixoro]

Have you had any work done to the HBV if you have could a pipe not have been connected properly and has now decided to come off so to speak

Maybe worth a look :-/

[MaxV6]

cheers Nix,  sadly that's the first place they looked, as they did replace the HBV for me a month ago....   but this leak is definitely on the NEAR side... and HBV etc is on the off side..

[Marks DTM Calib]

Well, according to them....  there's the pollen filter housing and some other bit in the way on top, and the exhaust in the way from below.....  

So basicaly they are not interested in doing it anyway......coz they are wrong....take the scuttle panel off having removed the wipers and you can see down the rear enough to get a better idle of where the leak is....pressurise the system and see where Niagra falls is coming from......less than half an hours work.

[MaxV6]

and it's right up against the bulkhead......   or inside the transmission tunnel.....  apparently

[MaxV6]

fair enuff Mark... thanks for the tip off...

Hmmmm


What to do next.....

[sophos9]

unlucky mate and yep they are wrong...

There are loads of potentials in that area, HBV, rear coolant pipe, oil cooler plate...

Mark is right, scuttle off or just whip the inlet manifold off, takes next to no time

Good luck

[Martin_1962]

If not HBV I'd guess at one of the rubber hoses behind the engine, scuttle off and wipers off you should see.

[The Barge Captain]

I'd guess at the big coolant pipe at the back of the block just above where the gearbox bell housing meets.  There is a o ring in there which can fail.

[Marks DTM Calib]

I'd guess at the big coolant pipe at the back of the block just above where the gearbox bell housing meets.  There is a o ring in there which can fail.

Not known to fail....and if it did the water loss would not be a torrent....tends to be a very slow loss at this point.

I suspect a hose....maybe the throttle body heater hose.....the trouble with stripping the inlet is that you have to disconnect cooling hoses and it makes pressure testing harder....hence take the scuttle off and look as a starter for ten.

[MaxV6]

Right perhaps time for a more measured and detailed description of the problem

while I used the term "serious" that is a relative term....  it's not a complete Niagra , empty the entire system in 1 minute jobbie....

here's how it presented....


over the last month or two, there's been a slow steady loss of coolant, but with no external symptoms to speak off, just losing a litre every 2 days or so...  

then , the other day, I drove the 1.2 miles to the post office, and when I pulled up, there was a significant amount of steam escaping from the bonnet edges... on the front and near side and rear nearside

as far as i can tell, it only began to escape after the thermostat had opened and the whole system "comes online" as it were , after the engine reaches nominal operating temperature.

The Steam is obviously from somewhere low down , on the right (viewed from the front) near side of the engine...  even I worked that much out.....   and, seems to be right back up against the bulkhead from what the lads at the Garage told me...  

their assertion was that even with the cowling off, and the system pressurised,  they couldn't immediately or directly see where it was coming from....   fair play, they haven't charged me a bean for looking....   so wrong or not, at least they're playing fair and honest.... and My initial cursory inspection was curtailed as I couldn't see though the clouds of steam either... I'm guessing they pressurised it by running the engine, and weren't expecting quite so much steam....
They're quite happy to do further disassembly next week , and fix the thing for sure... but they're aware of my situation.. so they figured it would be in my best interests to let me have the thing back with their findings so far, and if I can sort it over the weekend...  they're happy about that.....

Trying be fair, the Gaffer there is away on Holiday, and the builders start tomorrow at 8am building the new MOT bay.... so I guess they're trying to clear the decks while short handed, and figured I'd not be too upset to get it back un-fixed , I think they assume that because I live over the road, and they know we're a bit short on cash (that is also relative term.... we have income , but our outgoings right now are about the same as our income... leaving bugger all for emergencies or luxuries, or indeed, much else... )
  , that they'd be doing me a favour....  they've always treated me fairly and well in the past... although not always as quickly as i'd like  so I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.....  

Back to symptoms and the car...



There's NO ingress of steam or water in to the interior as far as I can tell....  hopefully ruling out the heater matrix and associated pipework...

I've consulted the Haynes book of Lies, and found it to be in chocolate fireguard territory... again.....   no images or diagram showing what pipes go to and from anywhere....

and I can't see what's under the top layer of pipework either....

Xray specs would be handy about now....

[Marks DTM Calib]

Running the engine to pressurise the system is not the correct way to do things in a garage for diagnosis....they should have a bit of kit that replaces the expansion tank cap and allows you to use air to pressurise the system...that way you can look for water.....

Trying to trace steam in an engine bay with the engine running and associated belts etc creating turbulance is a mugs game!

[X30XE]

My omega lost about a litre every few days towards the end of its lifespan. Turned out it was the coolant bridge between the two blocks/heads at the rear of the engine.  Also sprayed water into the DIS pack and finished that off.