I think the greeny blue is the wrong kind of stuff. You want the organic stuff. I'm not sure if they are mixable.

Sounds like you have found the leak to me. Cooling system is hot, so the water evaporates quickly from slight leaks. Maybe have a look with the engine running and warmed up.

Certanly keep an eye on the level. Driving it if it gets too low can very quickly lead to HGF.

 

Hence my weekly checks

Thank you very much, I shall have a look with the engine running. I think I've got some orange coolant anyway (Halfords pre-mix) at home in a large canister.

I'll put some photos up when I can (Might be a bit too dark tonight though), so hopefully we can get this diagnosed and sorted before it becomes a proper problem

If I have got a small leak on this hose, I'm guessing it's going to be very slight - a 1cm drop over 500 miles or so isn't a vast amount of fluid per second coming out any gaps. Is there anything I can do to maybe show up the leak; a bit of newspaper around it or something else which will react visibly to getting wet? Or is that what the UV light's for? I've not used UV for diagnostics before so I don't know how obvious the effect I'm looking for is.

 

I must admit, I'm not too sure. I've not used UV to locate a leak before. The last one I had was ******* out, so quite obvious really.

 

I dont think you can use UV to locate a coolant leak, dye maybe. The UV thing is used on air con pipes though. Thats because the metal pipes wont allow it to get out unless there is a hole in them.

 

Brown oil is a bad thing!

It shows that it is contaminated with coolant so this may explain the loss you mentioned. Sound very much like the early signs of a head gasket problem I'm afraid.

The only other possibility is that it has had a previous failure and has not been flushed properly. Has the oil been this colour ever since you had it? If so, it might be worth changing the oil and filter and monitoring the condition.

 

Brown oil is a bad thing!

well, my oil has always been light brown/goldy colour ( not creamy ) since I got the car 8 months ago :err:

 

I did think brown was a little 'off colour' I must admit.

I've been planning to change the oil anyway; the oil was changed at the last service 5,000 miles ago and Haynes reckons it's due a change every 7,500.

Here's a couple of pics:

My oil filler cap

The suspected leak

Another shot of the same with a different camera settings.

The car's still under warranty, but if it *is* HGF and I need to sort it, I might still take it to an MGR specialist or have a crack myself & fit the LR gasket. Don't want to get ahead of myself though.

What do more learned folk make of the pics?

I've got some OAT antifreeze (it's pink) at home, so I've mixed some up 1 part anti freeze to 2 parts water. It looks a bit more red than what's in the header tank, but will this be okay to top it up with?

 

The brown staining under the filler cap is just a bit of discolouration. If the oil itself is brown, you will detect it by looking at the dipstick. I thought that was what you were referring to, so my previous post may not be relevant.

 

Ah cool. I assume it's okay to top up the coolant with my 1 part OAT a/f with 2 parts water mix?

When I wiped the dipstick on a cloth yesterday before dunking it, it looked a little brown to me. It didn't look like milkshake, just a lot lighter than I was expecting. I'll get another pic of what I'm on about today.


Many thanks,


Chris

 

50/50 is the recommended strength, but your's will be fine for topping up.

 

Thank you

I topped it up and it took about 500 ml to bring back up to the max. mark. I'm surprised how small the tank is - I was reading the Haynes manual and the entire cooling system from dry takes about 4.5 litres. From observation I'd say the header tank takes about 750ml from empty to max? I'd've expected it to hold more than that.

I was reading another thread about the header tank filler cap - I'm sure I did it up a little tighter this morning than the last time I checked it so maybe I was losing a little through that. I'd imagine what's coming in from the return pipe is pretty hot, and if the seal wasn't bang-on it could have been evaporating out? I'll keep an eye on the oil and coolant level and see how it goes in any case.

When I get a chance I'll give the cooling system a more thorough look-over for leaks, but I want the engine cold so I can poke and prod it without burning myself.

Anyone got any comments on the deposit I photographed?



Cheers

 

Replace the coolant tank cap, tighten all of the jubilee clips and replace all of those horrible crimp/spring hose clamps with jubilee types.

The deposits around the hoses is where coolant has weeped, the water content evaporates leaving behind the crystallised chemicals from the coolant.

Got your PM, is that 400 a diesel??

 

Cheers fella

Where's the best place to get the clips / cap?

Gem's car is a 420 GDSi, and being a turbo diesel aside, that's all I know about it

 

The jubilee clips are available everywhere, 45mm for the largest hoses, 16mm for the smallest.

I'll PM you later about the 420...

 

Cheers mate Hopefully I can have a look at the weekend, although my bike's crying out for a bit of attention if the weather's good. Still got lots to do on that service-wise.

 

Bring the car into the sitting room!!:dddc:

I have a couple of known good caps here, Halfords also do their own version.

 

You know me mate... if I would, I could

I have a 1st floor flat where I am now, and it's lease-hold so I think I might have difficulties knocking out a wall and putting a ramp or a lift in In the old place, even if I could have got the car through the door there wasn't quite enough room. Not sure why

One day, there will be room for all (maybe even the g/f once the car and bike have a home )

I'll let you know about the cap - I'll keep an eye on the level and replace those clips for the time being. Visually there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the one I've got, and seeing that evidence of weeping makes me want to sort the obvious stuff first If I'm down your way soon I might have one off you anyway though

Presumably if I remove a clip with the intention of replacing it, coolant is going to leak and I'll have to re-bleed the system? If so, I might look at the cost of replacing the hoses and tie it in with a coolant and oil change, do the whole lot at the same time.

 

Ahh a Banbit. Am I correct in guessing it's the 1200? I have an ikkle Kawasaki gpz500s. Gets me by when the weather's nice.

I could guess that you didn't live with the gf. Bikes in the house is something I've noticed they frown upon.

 

Nah, it was a 600 I don't have that bike any more. I've got one of these now:

Sadly that Bandit is no more - hit a patch of diesel, front wheel slipped, I shut the throttle and wallop, on the deck

Still, there's one less MkIV escort estate on the roads as a result, so it's not all bad

As for the g/f, I think I have possibly THE most understanding lady on the planet... All I got was a 'tut' when I stripped the brake calipers in the kitchen sink

 

Hmm that does look pretty. I spend most of my time thinking that a CBR600F would do me nicely. But then I also really like the look of theStret Triple...but none it matters anyway. I don't have the money for a new bike :-(

 

I don't have the money for a new bike either SRADs (i.e. GSXRs like mine) can be had for £1,500 these days. They're not worth very much.