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bigcheez
P Plater
24 Posts
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 Posted - 19 Mar 2006 : 12:38:22 AM
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Alright heres something that may trip you out.
Doing my regular maintainance 3 days ago, I found everything was fine.... except for the coolant in the tank. I don't drive my car very often as I am studying and take the train to save money on petrol and parking. So after being driven a maximum of 200km since I drained and replaced my previous coolant last December I was suprised to find the cooland level smack bang on the minimum line.
It may be worth noting that in july of last year I did have a leak which was patched up professionally. Heres where it gets trippy.
After scouring my engine for about an hour I couldn't find a single leak, anywhere. I parked it in the garage with a large tray underneath to catch anything. Nothing. I scoured the engine again for anywhere a leak could be getting pooled in a niche or something. Nothing to be seen.
Aside from an invisible leak, all I can think of is that its evaporated as the summer has been real hot here in WA this year.
Im not the best with this sort of thing, but I'm not clueless either, but this sh*ts got me miffed.
Save my precious green liquid please!
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mouce
National Driver
1525 Posts
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Posted - 19 Mar 2006 : 10:50:31 AM
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I have the same thing with mine. No matter how much I top it up, the coolant always drops back to the "COLD" line. Now that to me makes sense, because as it heats up, there needs to be a certain amount of air in the tank, otherwise it couldn't work properly. If there is too much water in there, any of the excess will cause the pressure in the system to be too high, and a small amount will vent out through the pressure cap on the tank. This will continue until there is just the right amount of water in the system.
I actually tested this on a few VN's and the same thing happened each time. Fill it up (a bit above the cold line), take it for a drive (even 50km will do it most times), park it and let it cool down, lo-and-behold, the coolant magically finds its way back to the "COLD" line. Mine has done it for the four years I've had it, first time it happened I spent about 3 days going over everything, trying to find where it went.
Keep and eye on the coolant level, if it keeps dropping then you have a leak, if it doesn't keep dropping, then I'd say that it's just working normally.
Evaporation won't do it, the VN's run a pressurised cooling system, i.e. It's a completely sealed system. |
Bite off more than you can chew, and chew like hell - Peter Brock (1945-2006) |
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bigcheez
P Plater
24 Posts
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Posted - 19 Mar 2006 : 12:38:21 PM
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Cheers again mouce!
I'll keep an eye on it. I'm probably going to take it to a radiator specialist and make sure its all running smoothly anyway as the last year its been geiving me nothing but trouble.
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mouce
National Driver
1525 Posts
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Posted - 19 Mar 2006 : 3:31:37 PM
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| What kinda trouble, other than dropping the coolant level? |
Bite off more than you can chew, and chew like hell - Peter Brock (1945-2006) |
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bigcheez
P Plater
24 Posts
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Posted - 19 Mar 2006 : 11:35:51 PM
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Well in july of last year I had a leak which I had patched up. So its possible thats come undone.
Other problems are just things like over-heating and the temp gauge not responding correctly even after I changed out the thermostat.
I plan on also changing out the temp sensor and sender in the near future to solve the latter.
I think a trip to the specialist should have everything looking good though. |
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mouce
National Driver
1525 Posts
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Posted - 20 Mar 2006 : 11:10:07 AM
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| From memory there's actually two temperature sensors, one for the gauge, and one for the ECU. And more to the point, are you sure that the gauge actually works properly? If it's anything like my tacho it is fairly sticky and takes a bit of a tap to get it to start working. When I first got the car it took me ages to work out why the fuel gauge, tacho and speedo weren't working, turns out they were just a bit sticky. |
Bite off more than you can chew, and chew like hell - Peter Brock (1945-2006) |
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bigcheez
P Plater
24 Posts
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Posted - 20 Mar 2006 : 1:10:14 PM
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I know what you mean mouce, my fuel gauge is exactly the same. Sometimes have to hit it to show the actual level.
I'v tried the same with the gauge itself and doesnt seem to have much difference. I do know it works however because the gauge went almist got to the red H on the occasion I mentioned last year whith the leak. Also, it usually sits on the first mark on the gauge now, second after long drives.
I know its not accurate because it will go up 1 and a half marks and then go back down to 1, then up to 2 and then back to rest on 1 and a half. If it gets too hot it still lets me know which is good.
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mouce
National Driver
1525 Posts
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Posted - 20 Mar 2006 : 3:18:26 PM
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My temp gauge moves around heaps, when I'm crusing on the open road, it sits there just around the first mark, if I'm sitting at lights for more than about 5 minutes, it'll jump up to half way. When the fan kicks in, it comes back down one notch.
Even on a 45 degree day with the aircon running flat out, on the open road it sits about the first mark.
So it's quite normal for the gauge to move around like that.
Clearly it's working fairly well...otherwise it wouldn't hit the top of the dial when you've overheated it. I wouldn't be too worried about it, unless you have reason to believe the sender is faulty, I wouldn't be too stressed. |
Bite off more than you can chew, and chew like hell - Peter Brock (1945-2006) |
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michaelw
P Plater
15 Posts
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Posted - 28 Mar 2006 : 3:42:59 PM
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A small trick I noticed. I have a series 1.5. It has the overflow tank on the passenger side (surge tank on the drivers). When the overflow pipe is in the air stream (stuck through a hole in the engine bay so the fluid dosen't stait the metal) it will all get sucked out. Sit the pipe somewhen in the engine bay, all is good.
HTH
Mike |
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mouce
National Driver
1525 Posts
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Posted - 28 Mar 2006 : 6:52:51 PM
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| You're right on that one, but how the hell did you work it out though? |
Bite off more than you can chew, and chew like hell - Peter Brock (1945-2006) |
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davep
P Plater
43 Posts
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Posted - 29 Mar 2006 : 08:21:25 AM
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make sure after you fill up the coolant you bleed the system, on S1 cars its a pain, but S2 with the bleed valve its easy. Air in the system can easily account for a big drop in coolant levels as it works its way out.
-dave |
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bigcheez
P Plater
24 Posts
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Posted - 01 Apr 2006 : 9:15:55 PM
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Well, I was right. After my battery died on me and put in a new one I took it for a drive to the missus house. When I got there I noticed a pretty substantial leak on the bottom of the engine where the leak I had a few months ago was. My assumtption is the job they did has come un-done.
If memory serves, the issue was a crack in the engine at some point. I've never been able to see it as its in such an odd position.
I figure I'll take it elsewhere this time and have the do a proper fix to it. I imagine welding a plate over the crack or something to that effect would work. Any thoughts to what I could do, or have done would be appreciated.
I'm pretty busy these days with work and film school so chances are I'll have to take it to get repaired.
Any idea what to ask for and how much it may cost?
Cheers! |
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