Possible coolant leak

[DrDrew]

Just come back from quite a long (dry) journey in the 133, and after shunting cars around to put mine back in the garage I noticed a little puddle and trail where mine had been and travelled. Crouched down and looked under the car but it's pretty dark underneath, even with the garage light so couldn't really see much.

Popped the bonnet and I can't see any coolant in the reservoir. Looked around and all else looked OK. I checked all the levels just before I left for the long journey as I topped up the wiper fluid and everything looked OK then.

The dealer I rely on is quite far away, so can anyone suggest a temp fix to get me there (along with a coolant type to keep topping up with) and/or anything else I should be checking with this.

Hoping I've noticed quick enough and nothing else has had lots of excess wear.

 

[singlespeed]

IMO. Any coolant would be better than nothing if you need to run it.

Premixed coolant is readily avaliable in different colours, from most motor factors or garages, so a match should be possible. If realy stuck, tap water, or water from a dehumidifier won't have lots of minerals in it.

First off, give the radiator top hose a squeeze and see if coolant rises at all into the reservoir. If not, follow that hose towards the engine where it connects to the waterpump, where you will see a dust cover like on a tyre valve... Hopefully you get water out of here, or else the top of the engine is dry and a warped head could be possible if you drive it.

If you do have coolant at the top hose or dust cover, refill the reservoir and get it looked at. If not, fill the reservoir with the dust cap removed untill coolant comes out from there... Then refill the reservoir.

 

[Peter]

oh, this sounds bad. Hope you'll resolve the problem soon and that there's a minimal or no damage!

 

[DrDrew]

Cheers Peter.

Thanks for your reply Neil, was very helpful

In the cold light of day, it appears I may have misjudged the cause of the problem. I couldn't see any coolant at all last night whilst I was in the garage (think I must need a new garage light) but after acquiring a torch this morning and having squeezed the pipe a little like Neil suggested I saw some liquid come back through. Then used the torch to check the level and found it pretty well full. (hope this shows it all-right)

I checked the oil (though I'm sure the liquid on the floor isn't oil) and that's full, as is the brake fluid and the screen wash bottle has still got the same amount of liquid in.

So, I've been trying to hunt down the location of where exactly the drip is emerging, hoping that might give some extra clue.

The drip appears to come out between the front edge of the silencer on the exhaust, and the near side triangular bracket you can see in the photo below. (taken from the passenger side, front of the car is to the left) I can make the drip start again by putting some weight in the passenger seat and letting the car rock a little.

Any ideas of what I could be looking for? or am I starting to search around for some kind of red herring? After this I would normally have presumed it was something along the lines of just water having collected somewhere whilst driving, but since the drive before it happened was ~2hours and completely bone dry I've sort of been ruling that option out.

 

[poweller23]

Does your car have air con if so u will get water dripping from that when it is in use witch is perfectly normal

 

[tommy89]

Does your car have air con if so u will get water dripping from that when it is in use witch is perfectly normal

+1 - a/c condensation? drips from somewhere near the exhaust heat shield.

 

[DrDrew]

I do have climate, though I don't believe I had the air con on last night outside of a quick bit at the start of the journey to de-mist the windows. Ta, hadn't thought of air con condensation

 

[tommy89]

even that small amount will cause a little puddle after a journey- pop it on while onthe next journey - what comes out will be pure water.

 

[133_Ads]

Seen something similar dripping from the bottom of mine the other day, it had just stopped raining so i assumed it was rain water that was just dripping down

 

[DrDrew]

Cheers all.

133_Ads, I'd ruled out general water collection as it had just been for a long drive on a hot dry day.

 

[singlespeed]

glad it was just not spotting the level correctly.

My first reaction was the aircon condensation, but saying the reservoir was empty changed my track. The location of the leak sounds about right for the aircon drain

 

[frediiii]

I think you can even spot the drain pipe in the picture