Coolant keeps running low/out..

slinxy

slinxy

slinxy

Soldato
Joined
3 Dec 2002
Posts
4,130
Location
Groovin' @ the disco
I got a replacement car this year, and it was meant to have a service... but when I checked there was no coolant in it.

So I filled it up with about 4 littes...
drove it around for about 3 months/1000 miles and it all disppeared from the reserve tank so I topped it up again with another 2 littes...
3 months later and a total of 3000 miles since I got the car and the reserve tank empty again, this time I've only filled up the reserve tank.
I've just done another 120 miles today and the tank is empty again...

The system must have been totally empty as I've been using the yellow stuff and it's not changed colours at all...
checked all around the engine no signs of any leaks..
checked the oil and it's black as it should be....
there's no white smoke coming from the exhaust...
no sweet smell coming from the car....
the pressuare seems to be good as I can hear the popping release of it when I take of the radiator cap..
no signs of the car over heating, the temp just sits in the middle of the gauage...
fans are working as expected...

It's a honda crv mk4 and the cooling capacity is meant to be around 6.2 littres + the reserve tank...
I've been driving around for the first time with the heating on along with the heated seats...

should I worried and get it checked out, or do you think it's just working itself around all the different systems?

Thanks
 
You absolutely should get it checked out. The leak could be somewhere you can't easily see. A competent garage will be able to pressure test it.
A properly working cooling system will use no coolant at all.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: mjt
thanks guys... I think I've suss'd it..
Just been out with a flash light and checked under the car, no signs of water.

opened the engine bay again.. one side of the engine is all dusty and dirty as you expect it to be. The other side (passenger), there's a small pipe that's nice. clean and damp... it's right next to the fan for the radiator with a large pipe above it.
I suspect that it's either the small pipe that's leaking or the big one above it that's dripping down on to it and the fan has been blowing it away.

hopefully it's a small repair and I won't have to bother claiming it under the warranty, as making claims are often a bigger head ache than it's worth.

Calling the local garage tomorrow, hopefully they are open and it's only a small job once they remove the front spliter and under engine cover..
 
slinxy said:
thanks guys... I think I've suss'd it..
Just been out with a flash light and checked under the car, no signs of water.

opened the engine bay again.. one side of the engine is all dusty and dirty as you expect it to be. The other side (passenger), there's a small pipe that's nice. clean and damp... it's right next to the fan for the radiator with a large pipe above it.
I suspect that it's either the small pipe that's leaking or the big one above it that's dripping down on to it and the fan has been blowing it away.

hopefully it's a small repair and I won't have to bother claiming it under the warranty, as making claims are often a bigger head ache than it's worth.

Calling the local garage tomorrow, hopefully they are open and it's only a small job once they remove the front spliter and under engine cover..
Click to expand...

Post up some pics, might be something as simply as a hose replacement, which you can very easily do yourself.
 
the mystery continues, the car has been at the garage all day, no visalbe leaks and it's not losing any pressure at all during the test.
they just getting the car up to running temps now and going to test it again... but it may be a case that the car was completely empty... and I've filled it up and caused an air gap somewhere, and it's slowly finding new places to go.

google said a normal trim holds 6.5 liters of coolant, mines got head seats, wind screen etc... and I've filled it up with about 7.5 litters so far..
 
yeah clean as a whistle, just picked it up with a clean bill of health while at running temps too.
it's been on the ramp for a good 2 hours with all the under tray removed and no signs of leaks, just need to keep an eye on it.
 
Dis86 said:
See I know this is a joke but i'm now thinking OP has been checking the washer fluid tank...
Click to expand...

I helped out the next door neighbour sunday morning as his car wouldnt start.

He thought it was his auxilary belt as that had last come up on his MOT but when I looked it was there so figured it was probably ok, but whatever. Charged the battery for an hour, car started, belt was running, so clearly not that, put a meter over the battery terminals and got him to rev the engine and the voltage went up, a bit, so figured alternater was good.

Anyway, the charger I used was like a 30 year old bradex thing, to be fair it still works, it has an amp meter on it. Anyway, put the charger on, said give it an hour or so. I get a text about an hour later he says hes checked and it was only 1 quater full..... bless him lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom