P38A Diesel losing coolant.

Grrrrrr · Wednesday at 07:41

Still losing coolant.

Viscous fan roars and seems to be OK.
Thermostat replaced.
UV dye put in coolant but no sign of it coming out anywhere.
On a 10 mile run I am losing a litre of coolant.

The only place I can think it is going is the exhaust via the head gasket - which was replaced 2 years ago. Anyone else got a better idea?!

kermit_rr · Wednesday at 08:05

Cabin heater is the only other place

kermit_rr · Wednesday at 08:22

A litre over 10 miles is a lot. Is there no steam from the exhaust?

Rubberknees · Wednesday at 08:22

kermit_rr said:
Cabin heater is the only other place

I had leaking heater matrix a few years back. Easy to notice though, carpets were wet

Datatek · Wednesday at 10:08

Grrrrrr said:
Still losing coolant.

Viscous fan roars and seems to be OK.
Thermostat replaced.
UV dye put in coolant but no sign of it coming out anywhere.
On a 10 mile run I am losing a litre of coolant.

The only place I can think it is going is the exhaust via the head gasket - which was replaced 2 years ago. Anyone else got a better idea?!

Cracked head is sadly a possibility, HGF is pretty rare. Temperature on the gauge normal?

Grrrrrr · Wednesday at 11:17

Datatek said:
Cracked head is sadly a possibility, HGF is pretty rare. Temperature on the gauge normal?

Temperature bang on 12 o'clock except when the coolant runs out.

****ing it down here at the moment and I am back at work tomorrow. If the weather is fine at the weekend I'll pull the glow-plugs and put compressed air in the cylinders and see if anything is pushed out the expansion cap.

I'm seriously considering just bunging some K-seal in.

Grrrrrr · Wednesday at 11:18

kermit_rr said:
A litre over 10 miles is a lot. Is there no steam from the exhaust?

Not noticeably although the other day I thought I saw some when I first accelerated up the bypass.

Mark Piercy · Wednesday at 11:39

Get yourself a sniff kit for the coolant reservoir @Grrrrrr have you checked the "easy to get at" hose behind the engine?

kermit_rr · Wednesday at 12:47

Mark Piercy said:
Get yourself a sniff kit for the coolant reservoir @Grrrrrr have you checked the "easy to get at" hose behind the engine?

You imply exhaust gases getting into the coolant causing over pressure, blowing coolant out of the overflow.. while possible, there would be lots of dye evidence and the hoses would be rock hard?

Mark Piercy · Wednesday at 13:00

Actually a good point and it would overheat to boot... But at the cost of a kit to verify its not the issue. I would invest in one

Grrrrrr · Thursday at 19:53

Mark Piercy said:
Get yourself a sniff kit for the coolant reservoir @Grrrrrr have you checked the "easy to get at" hose behind the engine?

I shone the UV torch round there after putting the dye in but nothing glared back. Nothing on the floor either.

I did have the head off 2 years ago so I would have checked that pipe very carefully on refitting. Damned if I can remember now what it looked like!

Grrrrrr · Thursday at 20:24

Mark Piercy said:
Get yourself a sniff kit for the coolant reservoir @Grrrrrr have you checked the "easy to get at" hose behind the engine?

I assume you mean the hose I highlighted in yellow?

One picture is of the block after I took the head off. The other picture is of the head before I put the cam in and refit it. In true style I forgot to take more photos, even of the final result!

Grrrrrr · Thursday at 20:25

Note the ever-versatile sock. Invaluable when rebuilding engines.

Mark Piercy · Friday at 04:15

Grrrrrr said:
I assume you mean the hose I highlighted in yellow?

One picture is of the block after I took the head off. The other picture is of the head before I put the cam in and refit it. In true style I forgot to take more photos, even of the final result!

View attachment 332650
View attachment 332651

Yip, that's the bugger, mine had a pin hole in it so i replaced all the hoses being the original ones

Grrrrrr · Friday at 07:39

Mark Piercy said:
Yip, that's the bugger, mine had a pin hole in it so i replaced all the hoses being the original ones

I went back out last night, scraped the frost off and rechecked. That pipe looks pretty new. I reckon I must have replaced it, just in case.

In other news, the boot button was frozen solid so is clearly letting in water. Another job for the list!

Datatek · Friday at 07:59

Grrrrrr said:
I went back out last night, scraped the frost off and rechecked. That pipe looks pretty new. I reckon I must have replaced it, just in case.

In other news, the boot button was frozen solid so is clearly letting in water. Another job for the list!

The boot button used to freeze regularly on mine, that is why I fitted a different button that is sealed, a fraction of the cost of the genuine article but looks just like the real thing unless your button is a chrome one.

RangeRoller dt · Friday at 09:10

If it’s trickling away with the dye in it go out one dry night and give a thorough look over with the UV. Around exhaust, under front around the rad, passenger footwell, engine bay.
Got to be going somewhere?

Grrrrrr · Friday at 11:17

RangeRoller dt said:
If it’s trickling away with the dye in it go out one dry night and give a thorough look over with the UV. Around exhaust, under front around the rad, passenger footwell, engine bay.
Got to be going somewhere?

Do that regularly. Dark when I go to work and dark when I get back. Perfect for UV torch. I can see the air-con pump has leaked a lot!

Yes, got to going somewhere. My feeling is the exhaust gases would kill the dye.

Grrrrrr · Friday at 11:18

Datatek said:
The boot button used to freeze regularly on mine, that is why I fitted a different button that is sealed, a fraction of the cost of the genuine article but looks just like the real thing unless your button is a chrome one.

Yes, I saw that post at the time and made a mental note. Doesn't look too bad a job.

Dippypud · Friday at 11:28

kermit_rr said:
Cabin heater is the only other place

Even if it leaks and then travels to fall to the floor at another point on the vehicle ...

Check heater hoses not only in the cabin also ...

P38A Diesel losing coolant.

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