‘54 plate td5 coolant loss

I am currently running a ‘54 plate td5 while I rebuild my 110. I cannot say I particularly like the td5, as it is difficult to see anything and has so far had far more issues than my tsi engine ever did. The latest of which is coolant loss.

There is no evidence of coolant loss but the level drops. There are no drips and the only evidence I can see (not removed all the silly covers yet) is where currently the bleed screw in the top pipe Is not fitted correctly. This is because the silly little plastic screw which came out no problem sheared half way through refitting it after topping up. I am waiting for an Ali one which should have arrived today and didn’t, so it currently heavily wrapped in tape.

where is the common places for these to leak so I can narrow down my search as there is nothing obvious I can see and there is certainly no puddle Or drips On the ground.

dag019 said:

I am currently running a ‘54 plate td5 while I rebuild my 110. I cannot say I particularly like the td5, as it is difficult to see anything and has so far had far more issues than my tsi engine ever did. The latest of which is coolant loss.

There is no evidence of coolant loss but the level drops. There are no drips and the only evidence I can see (not removed all the silly covers yet) is where currently the bleed screw in the top pipe Is not fitted correctly. This is because the silly little plastic screw which came out no problem sheared half way through refitting it after topping up. I am waiting for an Ali one which should have arrived today and didn’t, so it currently heavily wrapped in tape.

where is the common places for these to leak so I can narrow down my search as there is nothing obvious I can see and there is certainly no puddle Or drips On the ground.

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How much of a loss? My cousin had a similar thing happen with his bleed screw (td5) and it was leaking out of there, another place is the core plug, if your using pink oat and look by the exhaust manifold you should see it weeping and stained pink

I had a similar coolant loss on my old Td5 disco. I couldn’t find the leak anywhere until I removed the centrifugal oil filter and the head gasket had a leak at the back of the engine. It was worse when the engine was hot and the coolant dried before the leak could be seen otherwise.

Weirdly ever since replacing the rad a few years ago my coolant won't stay at the 'level' line in the expansion tank, but sits a half inch below. I've replaced tank and tank cap, but the level never dips below where it wants to sit now.
Could be the water pump starting to go (this is what happened on mine) or the rad or the factory fitted pipe clips tend to get weak after a time a will let coolant weep but not noticeable as a coloured leak. I've replaced most of mine with proper stainless screw type ones.
If in doubt get it pressurised and it'll show immediately.

The one I had was the centre core plug just along from the Fuel Pressure Regulator had corrode. Surprisingly easy to to move all the gubbins and get to them. Personally I wouldnt remove the oil dipstick - it does say you need to in the manual but I think that would cause u more pain in the future. The rotten core pig should come out easily enough, just put small screw driver thru it and pry it out. The other may be a little harder but controlled taps with a punch/screwdriver/chisel with just edge them out and then u can get at them. A doddle to put new ones in, I used a socket over them and tapped them in. I put some locktite round the edges before I fitted them.

Ive just noticed my oil cooling rad at the front has a small leak. The gift that keeps on giving. I feel your pain regarding the TD5 engine but to be fair its the same issues that crop up with them all. While you are doing the core plugs (if its them replace the fuel pressure regulator, it will go at some point, may as well do it now.

Hope this helps.

Stumpy

Little update on this although I di not have any pictures, I managed to find the culprit and thankfully it was a very easy fix. Behind the radiator on the passenger side there is a little plastic bottle type thing (no idea that is is for, what it does, or why it is there other than to make things deliberately more complex than the far superior tdi engine), two of the three the three spring clips attached to this had rusted through and allowed the pipe to partially blow. Other than the very limited access (again no as good as a tdi) a simple swap over for some proper jubilee clips seems to have solved the problem.

dag019 said:

Little update on this although I di not have any pictures, I managed to find the culprit and thankfully it was a very easy fix. Behind the radiator on the passenger side there is a little plastic bottle type thing (no idea that is is for, what it does, or why it is there other than to make things deliberately more complex than the far superior tdi engine), two of the three the three spring clips attached to this had rusted through and allowed the pipe to partially blow. Other than the very limited access (again no as good as a tdi) a simple swap over for some proper jubilee clips seems to have solved the problem.

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Could that have been the thermostat housing? The TD5 thermostat lives in a plastic container, separate from the engine, around about where you've just described.

I've had the fuel cooler leak on mine too. It's on the driver's side of the engine about halfway along.

Brown said:

Could that have been the thermostat housing? The TD5 thermostat lives in a plastic container, separate from the engine, around about where you've just described.

I've had the fuel cooler leak on mine too. It's on the driver's side of the engine about halfway along.

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Yes quite possibly, it fits the description and googline pic of it seems to match. Again what was wrong with the nice integrated aluminum housing all proper engines use?