Right, this is a bit of a strange one.

I was driving to the shopping centre the other day and I noticed my car was overheating a little. It was 32 degrees outside (I live in Italy at the moment) so I thought nowt of it really. On the way home it was overheating a bit more so I got home quickly.

A few days later I went to the pub in my car and by the time I got there the temp was way up near the top :( I was in the pub for quite a while so it had time to cool down. When I got out I noticed a puddle under my car. About quarter of a mile away from my house the temp was at the top, so I pulled over onto a car park and waited for it to cool down a bit. Set of again and ended up rolling upto my house because I didn't like how hot it was.

I got up the next morning to find a big puddle under my car :(:(

All this happend the other week, and I only got round to looking at it this weekend. This is where it gets a bit strange. On Saturday I poured 1.5 litres into the rad and straight away it started coming back out of the bottom quite quickly. Problem is I didn't have a jack so I couldn't see exactly where it was coming from. At a guess it was from the pump/thermostat area.

I got a jack today, jacked it up and poured more water in..... and...... nothing! not a drop came out. I filled it up and still nothing. Started it up, left it running for a while and still nothing. I took it round the block for a thrashing, got back still no leak.

I don't understand how it can piss out one day, then nothing a couple of days later.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

 

Rob.

Rob

 

to start with, you need to check your coolant level daily. (or after every run)

 

If you find you have a continuous leak then you can start checking the obvious places for leaks.

 

Steve E

Hello Mate,

 

There are two rubber hoses that fit on the end of the thermostat housing, if you look at the metal pipes that hold your temp senders and see where they go into the block, that is where they live!

 

What you have to do is to get a mirror and angle it to look into that recess and see if it is coming from there?

 

Mark

let the car warm up for longer ,you will probably see it release fluid again,sounds like a pipe connecting to ya rad.

like the guys said bfr keep an eye on it,its not good to have ya temp go right to the top,the nissan gauge is crap so you could of done some damage????

good luck

Alot of these leaks tend to only happen at a level you notice them when the engine is shut off, best bet is get it hot, not just warm proper hot, then watch it cool, and listen for bubbly noises and leaks it you hear it bubbling its pulling air in somewhere and if most likeley a perished or lose hose.

 

Good luck.

Rob this is exactly what mine has been doing for nearly a year now. Hopefully in the next month or two I will be able to get it sorted.

 

Sometimes I come out of Tesco to find a puddle of coolant running from back of the engine and just behind the front wheel like a mini river.

 

Doesn't do this all the time though. I reckon it's either one of the turbo coolant feed pipes or a hose under the plenum.

 

I think I'm going to have the plenum off and replace all the coolant hoses with brand spankers, new water pump and thermostat and cam belt at the same time.

 

I've replaced or had rebuilt just about everything on the car so I may aswell finish off in the same way I've started. LOL :D

something i noted when trying to bleed the rad of allt he air.

 

I take rad cap of at night when car is cold and leave it of over night , gravity works its wonders and int he morning fill it up and then leave it again and do this for a few days untill the car needs no water.It worked a treat for me and rad is properly bled.

Could very well have an air bubble in the system.

 

One thign to note dude, is not to run it while its to hot as you will end up doing your heads in (been there done that lol) from what i have seen, the stock temp gauage only moves if engine goes up 15 degrees or so.

you dont want it running hotter than 105-110 degrees or your in shit street.

Originally posted by Timmy_Turbo

 

I've replaced or had rebuilt just about everything on the car so I may aswell finish off in the same way I've started. LOL :D

 

lol we should start a club for new cars soon :D

isnt there a bleed screw on the top left of the radiator my mate used this to get the air out

Originally posted by beermonster

isnt there a bleed screw on the top left of the radiator my mate used this to get the air out

 

Yes;)

Only reason why I've got away with the leak for so long is I can keep a close eye on the temp with the Techtom. I can see each degree of fluctuation in the coolant temp whereas the stock gauge does nowt...useless really! ;)

LOL don't think gravity changes much over night, it's probably because the water cools and contracts ! :D

 

Originally posted by 300z

I take rad cap of at night when car is cold and leave it of over night , gravity works its wonders and int he morning fill it up and then leave it again and do this for a few days untill the car needs no water.It worked a treat for me and rad is properly bled.

Could very well have an air bubble in the system.

...water pump bearing seal. It'll go big time just when you don't want it to. Mine was leaking so I kept topping it up, then in a traffic jam on a French motorway last summer it decided to let go big time. Funny thing was that after I'd topped it up a few time it's rate of leak slowed down. It still leaked and it still got replaced. About £54 to buy and a good day (if you're as slow as me) to fit.

 

good luck

 

Jack

I had this problem for months - couldn`t find leak.

Then changed both top and bottom rad hoses - no more leaks!

Not saying this is your problem - just worth a thought.

If hoses are any more than 6 or 7 seven years old they should

be changed anyway.

 

Mark

If you dont find the problem and keep on just topping up you are inviting corrosion problems in ally parts and in your heater matrix unless I guess if you keep adding anti freeze with corrosion inhibiters. Fresh water's oxygen rich.

 

The 2 top connection to cylinder head hoses are a favorite and make it look like water pump. They are not that hard to change either.

 

They go every 3/4 years. I have it on service records.

Originally posted by WillieO

If you dont find the problem and keep on just topping up you are inviting corrosion problems in ally parts and in your heater matrix unless I guess if you keep adding anti freeze with corrosion inhibiters. Fresh water's oxygen rich.

 

The 2 top connection to cylinder head hoses are a favorite and make it look like water pump. They are not that hard to change either.

 

They go every 3/4 years. I have it on service records.

 

same happenend to me, left hose split, it had swelled enously, 10 quid for 2 pipes, a couple of hours work and it was sorted, worth changing anyway cos they will go eventually.