Intermittent ACE leak - diagnosis/advice needed...

My D2 is leaking ACE fluid...

The first I knew it was when SWMBO calls me about the yellow warning lights - I tell her to drive home slowly.
(I now know this was possibly wrong and could knack the pump, stop the belt turning and satll the engine - but we seem to have got away with it)

At home I saw that the header tank was empty.
I knew it had not been empty a couple of weeks ago as I regularly look under the bonnet to top up the coolant.

So I thought - top it up and see where we go.

Well less than 100 miles later the header tank was way below min.
Thinking this might be a airlock problem - man do I live in denial - I topped it up again.

Now she is low again - not empty - but below min.

She stays full for a while and then ducks to below min and then stays below min for a while before I top her up again.

Given the speed of the emptying when it happens I fear a 'high-pressure-side' leak but I'd have thought that if this is a hole in a high pressure pipe or in one of the connections at the unit under the driver's door it would be all the time - and would just empty each time I took her out.

Now, there is fresh oil on that unit (and I've cleaned the grime off to get a better look next time) so its probably down there.

So my questions are, at last (!!)

1. Has anyone else seen a such sporadic high pressure leaks?
2. Is this possibly some sort of 'jolt' behaviour where the coolant spews out at high speed when something jars after a pothole or somesuch?

The ram inside the drivers side wheel arch, mine leaks from there it was intermittent to start with until it got to the stage where it leaked all the time.

Once I moved the rubber boot I could see how damp the ram had become.

Thanks

There is definitely new oil around the unit under the driver's door.

But then there is oil on the underside of the hand brake drum.

I can see how oil might get from the handbrake onto the unit but not the other way round.

So maybe I'm looking at a ACE leak at the ram like you suggest and an oil leak from the transfer box through the handbrake.

I guess another good look see is in order.

TaDa said:

Thanks

There is definitely new oil around the unit under the driver's door.

But then there is oil on the underside of the hand brake drum.

I can see how oil might get from the handbrake onto the unit but not the other way round.

So maybe I'm looking at a ACE leak at the ram like you suggest and an oil leak from the transfer box through the handbrake.

I guess another good look see is in order.

Click to expand...

Get some brake cleaner and give the Ace block a good clean and let it dry,then run the engine and see where the leak is,could just be one of the pipe seals although they are a bit of a pain to change and around 20 quid each

no obvious leaks from pipes - but still leaking ace fluid.

There looks like an ACE leak from the underside of the ACE block - so I'm wondering if the filter is clagged/leaking - is this possible?

The front ram seems dry - not seen any other leaks anywhere else - mind, the huge fuel pressure regulator leak I have would mask the few tens of millilitres I lose every 100 miles or so