Using a bit too much water...

[dnb]

I know most Griffs use coolant water, but ours is getting silly with it. 2 litres in 250 miles. (Much more than it used to use - how much does yours use?)

There's no sign of oil/water mixing and all the plugs looked OK when I changed them this morning. (car goes really well now )

I can't see any leaks other than the PAS one, so whatever's happening it must be losing it as steam somewhere. Do the pressure caps break? What's the lifetime of a radiator? Do I need to spend a small fortune on new hoses?

[Big Al.]

Take it to your garage and get them to pressurise the system, that should show up any leaks. Why replace the rad when it may just be a pinhole in a hose!

[jimbro1000]

I was thinking the same thing on mine until I finally spotted the notch cut out of the swan-neck. Turns out the engine mount had failed on that side of the bay!

No visible leakage as the resulting fine spray was going straight onto the alternator belt and redistributed over the entire engine bay. Biggest tell-tale was the windscreen needed constant cleaning on the inside!

[grm500]

Mine was using about 1-2 litres every 150 miles or so, asked for it to be checked out at last service.

Thought it would be hoses/unions/rad, turned out to be a small hole in exhaust port in head, so my service got a bit more expensive than planned for as needed head off, welding and re-porting offending area.

Hope yours is hose or something simple.

g

[simon.b]

You shouldn’t use any water if all is well.

It took me a few years to get mine right, there will be a leak some were and pressure testing may not find it. Try a new blue cap first (cheapest), it needs to be quite tight. In my case the radiator core kept pulling out of the end caps.

Sorry to be a downer,

Simon.

[dnb]

Don't worry Simon. Most things you talk about are in hand. I just want to make sure I'm not either missing something obvious or trying to solve the unsolvable.

I was told that they all use a bit of water to some extent.