Coolant Loss

[Ritmo 0 1 Cars]

I have a 90 1.6 gti with a coolant loss problem

I travel 50miles with it each day but it has been losing coolant with every journey!!

the fan comes on when it reaches running temp, when I leave the car at work in the morning the fan is running on but the coolant starts to leek out from the expansion tank overflow untill it is empty!!!

I need to fill the expansion tank prior to making my journey home .

It seems to have exsesive preasure.

I would welcome any suggestions as to what this could be, the car runs well at the moment just this coolant problem that needs to be fixed soon.

thanks in advance.

Ritmo

[steve@cornwall 100]

I have a 90 1.6 gti with a coolant loss problem

I travel 50miles with it each day but it has been losing coolant with every journey!!

the fan comes on when it reaches running temp, when I leave the car at work in the morning the fan is running on but the coolant starts to leek out from the expansion tank overflow untill it is empty!!!

I need to fill the expansion tank prior to making my journey home .

It seems to have exsesive preasure.

I would welcome any suggestions as to what this could be, the car runs well at the moment just this coolant problem that needs to be fixed soon.

thanks in advance.

Ritmo

 

You sure you're not overfilling it? What happens if you don't refil?

[Richie-Van-GTi 74 2 Cars]

as above, see if it levels out with some ion the expansion tank. Failing that get a sniffer test done as it sounds like your blowing head gasket out to water jacket.

[Grim.Badger 15]

iirc this can be caused by air locks in the coolant system.

Run the engine with the expansion cap off and see what happens, if it contantly bubbles and overflows then I'd suggest you've got a HG leak, the same goes for if you have exhaust fumes coming out of the coolant.

These engines seem to run absolutely fine with a blown HG so I'm afraid that's not a good judge on the health of the engine.

[Edp 67 3 Cars]

Sounds like an air lock to me.

[Ritmo 0 1 Cars]

Thanks Guys,

When the coolant comes out of the tank it empties completly!! and all the warning lights are on when you go to start the car hence the need to refil every time so its not leveling out as suggested!, I have tried running the car at temp with the cap off and there is no bubbling and on exhaust smells!! so doesn't suggest a head gasket.

If this is a blockage in the system then where do you start looking?? it almost seems like the water that I put in every time gets pushed back out! does this mean a blockage in the radiator? ort somewhere else?

Oh the heater matrix is starting to leak as well!!!! in to the back of the mp3 player as I found out when it didn't turn on thismorning!!!!

Ritmo

[fletch 0]

Just bleed through the system. Not sure where the bleed points are on the 205 but the 306 has one on heater matrix hose, thermostat and rad

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

Just bleed through the system. Not sure where the bleed points are on the 205 but the 306 has one on heater matrix hose, thermostat and rad

205 GTi bleed points

 

Graham.

[Guest justinhincks87]

I would get a compression done on your cylinders. but first of all i would bleed the system and jst see if that works. if not i would deffinately say your headgasket has blown

[welshpug 1,666]

sounds like the leak onn the heater matrix is introducing air into the system which expands far quicker that water, hence pressurising the system and forcing it out at the weakest point (which may well be the 15+ year old expansion tank cap rather than the tiny hole in the heater matrix)

[Rob_the_Sparky 10]

sounds like the leak onn the heater matrix is introducing air into the system which expands far quicker that water, hence pressurising the system and forcing it out at the weakest point (which may well be the 15+ year old expansion tank cap rather than the tiny hole in the heater matrix)

 

The water in the matrix is under pressure (due to head of water) so air is very unlikely to go in but water will come out and footwell gets wet/radio gets killed. Oh and they run absolutley fine (no air locks) without the expansion cap sealed - have done this deliberately on more than one occasion to preserve a radiator long enough for me to replace it.

 

However, a gentle head gasket leak will push exhaust fumes into the coolant and can create air locks in the system as a result. I had a heater go cold due to an air lock for this very reason (on a diesel but the principle is the same).

 

Rob