[NBee]

Hi all.

I have a 2002 Rover45 1.4. I've started noticing that I'm losing coolant. On several occasions I've had to top it up with about a pint of fluid, and after a drive of more than an hour or two it's gone down again.

With my old Rover214, it may have had some problems over the years, but not once did I ever have to top up the coolant.

I assume something must be wrong here. What could be causing this? Where should I start looking?

Thanks for any advice!


Edit: I should add that there is no obvious sign of any leaks, and everything drives perfectly. The only water that does appear on the ground I'm pretty certain is from the air conditioning which I believe is normal.

 

[Kryt]

Having just repaired a similar leak, I'll mirror some of the advice I've been given.
Despite having no signs of water on the ground, check all jubilee clips, check the hoses themselves, see what condition they are in - if theres any that look rather rough, replace them - thankfully at not too large a cost.
Pop the expansion tank out (you'll have a small bore hose in the top and a large one at the bottom held on by jubilee clips) and check it for leaks with help from the kitchen taps. Trouble is, if this has a leak in it sits in a position where rainwater also collects disguising any actual leak. Run water through it, give it a good shake (this will help clean it out too) and see if everything is OK there.
What condition is the radiator in? If this is the problem, they are a cheap replacement at around £30 and quite simple to fit yourself.
Just avoid the K-Seals and RadWeld type liquids that claim to seal any leaks - I didn't, and I may be paying the price for that in the future.

Lastly (that I can think of) is there any mayo type substance in the oil tank (check dipstick and filler cap) or oil/mayo type substance in the coolant expansion tank. If so, you could be looking at head gasket failure : but no matter how many times you see that on the forums, thats going to be a very worst case scenario.

Hope thats of some help.

 

[NBee]

I started this thread a year ago, and it's time to revisit it!

I've been having regular coolant loss over the last year and a half, but the problem seemed to be very intermittent. Sometimes it would go weeks without me having to top up the coolant, so I generally forgot about the problem. Then a month ago, the problem reappeared. I only had to go on a short journey, and would have to refill afterwards, again without any signs of leakage.

It happened this morning, and my mate jokingly said "check for Mayo". Sure enough, we opened the oil cap, and it's covered in yellow goo. Also the dipstick. So would this confirm that I do indeed have a head gasket failure?

What bothers me is this. Ok, I can get the head gasket replaced. But was this the problem in the first place, or was something else causing the coolant loss originally and subsequently caused the gasket to fail? Maybe I'll never know for sure until I get the work done.

Secondly I'm wondering about doing the work myself. How specialist is this job? I'm not an experienced DIY mechanic, but I do have time on my hands at the moment. Would I need any specialist tool beyond the usual range of sockets, spanners and torque wrenches?

Thanks for any advice here.

 

[Kryt]

Heh, I sort of remember replying too, strangely as I can never remember anything

Don't write it off as a HGF just yet : oddly enough, I had the same sort of leak for the same period of time, and 3 weeks ago replaced the inlet manifold gasket, which solved the entire issue.

Although I didn't have to go as far as the head gasket, from a novice point of view I'd certainly give it a go myself with the time to play. No real specialist tools needed, but a decent torque wrench and a couple of extension bars will serve you well.

Also, it would be prudent to replace the exhaust manifold gasket, inlet gasket and all the O rings whilst you're at it - I think most gasket sets come with all these anyway?

Once you've got it all out, it will be fairly clear where the problems happened.

Of course, for the more technical advice theres plenty other people with the actual knowhow, but it just seems as if you're the same sort of level as myself and thought it might be worth adding my tuppence Worst that can happen, is that you get down to the head, forget where everything goes and end up running back inside to make a quick "Eek, what do I do next" post in here

 

[NBee]

Hello Kryt, thanks for your reply, today and last year!

I have a manual on CD which I got off the web - it seems to imply I may need some specialist tools for removing the camshaft gears - which obviously I don't have. This could be a problem for me...

 

[Kryt]

If memory serves, the tool you need is a camshaft locking tool - only a couple of quid from Ebay.

 

[AlanF]

while you are working on it check the heater control valve near the bukhead under the bonnet sounds like it could be that in winter mine doesn't lose any water coz the heater is on hot but when i put it on cold its starts losing a bit i noticed a slight drip from this its on the heater hose just before the bulkhead

Greed