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Losing collant...

1452 Views 9 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  wilddog, 
J
My mates MGF is slowly using coolant... having a rover I know about the dreaded cylinder head issues but this car is showing no signs of that... I also know about other places the coolant can get out (Inlet manifold gasket / Water pump) and there are no signs of that... Any ideas?
There is a strong smell of coolant from the engine bay area...

Cheers

Jon
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G
Could be any pipe really :doh:

No puddles on the floor or anything?

Best bet is to take the engine panel off, get the car up to temp and then have a look around. Be carefull though as obviously everything will be hot. If you can't find anything there then stick a large sheet of paper underneath and go have a cuppa whilst everything cools down again, check said paper later for signs of either coolant or dried stains from coolant.
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N
At the risk of stating the obvious it's got to be going somewhere. Is the smell actually in the engine bay or coming from the exhausts? If it's the exhausts then it's pointing toward the coolant getting into the cylinders.

If it's any comfort mine is loosing coolant too and I don't think it's HGF but I can't even smell anything so haven't a clue yet (although I still need to check the inlet....
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N
Might be worth checking the coolant cap , cheapest option and I dont think it's in your list
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S
+1 very good shout, always first port of call.

Two weeks ago I thought better check our coolant, took cap off, down a little bit, but nought special. What I didnt know was by removing the cap I had stuffed it, seriously overheated, new cap. all fine now.

For such an essential part of the cooling system, they are so bloody flimsy and have probably been the cause of thousands of head gaskets.

Philmgf and myself did suggest investigating the possibility of a replacement tank and cap from another model, but nobody thinks there is any need to do anything about it. So we just carry on with cars overheating because of a crap £5 cap. Strange When with a little research it could be sorted so very easily.
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steve1951 said:
Philmgf and myself did suggest investigating the possibility of a replacement tank and cap from another model, but nobody thinks there is any need to do anything about it. So we just carry on with cars overheating because of a crap £5 cap. Strange When with a little research it could be sorted so very easily.
Click to expand...
there's some nice alloy tanks around made by Forge (They do some model specific ones and a universal one too):-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORGE-ALLOY-C...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item53e3c455de

Sorry to the OP about this off topic bit :)
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1
The smell of coolant suggests an external leak which you should be able to track down eventually. Remember that you are only looking for slight staining.

If the inlet manifold gasket was leaking internally you would not be able to see it and only fitting a new gasket would prove it one way or the other.

I agree with above - the general poor quality of the entire cooling system must be responsible for many of the gasket failures.
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M
mine has been losing coolant recently too at a very slow rate with no signs of oil/water mixing. the car didn't overheat either.

took it to a rover specialist who found coolant staining around the front of the engine indicating the gasket was starting to fail.

i've had no running issues or 'mayo' and the car wasn't pariculary steamy either but i suspect the inlet manifold was the problem. the only hint was a slight tendency to run on 3 cylinders on start up.....again suggesting inlet manifold. mine is a 115 so these have the plastic manifold which can warp over time.

on removing the head it was found that the car had already had a gasket replacement as the mls gasket was fitted suggesting that the either original cause of the problem wasn't fixed or the overheating that occurred after i had the cam belt/waterpump changed last december blew the gasket.

i'm now £500 lighter in my pocket but so far the car seems to be ok.....i've also had a low coolant alarm fitted as a precaution.

i would investigate further before the oil/water start to mix.
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D
I had the very same promblem, with coolant loss and smell. It turned out to be the water pump, i'm now looking to get some quotes for the work.

It was only small amount at first and i could smell coolant every now and again. changed the pressure cap etc just kept a very close eye for any drips. It's now got worse and can claerly see it the water pump.

try this link, some great advice on here...

http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=379563

All the best, fingers crossed it's not HGF
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W
had the same problem, inlet manifold was tested by russell walsh by putting it under pressure and water poured from the inlet manifold gasket kaput! also found coolant running ever so slightly down from the gear box at the join with the cylinder head before and after the pressure test.

new gasket fitted no further coolant smell or loss of coolant
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