T350 - Leaking

[Diablos-666]

Whilst parking up last night I thought i noticed a leak on the floor where i reversed into the garage.

I had a look after parking up and couldn't see anything. Whilst at work today i asked my brother to have a look under the car to see if there is a puddle.

Sure enough he called me and said it was a water leak.

Now, I've just had it serviced and as part of the service had the coolant pipes changed to blue silican hoses.

Are there some easy checks / repairs I can do myself to fix the issue.

Would you recommend it getting loaded to my service garage?

[Targarama]

Make sure it isn't aircon condensation first.

Otherwise it sounds like one of the hoses needs nipping up, especially if they're now. Those silicon hoses are pretty stiff. Or it could be where the bottom hose comes from the engine, this is removed to drain the coolant and doesn't always seal that well on replacement. Or it could be your radiator... but since the others have been touched its prob a hose?

[Diablos-666]

I didn't have the air-con on yesterday so that wouldn't have condensated

Also, I've had a new alloy rad installed so it's probably not that.

I'll check the connections either side of the rad and also the connection from the engine.

Is there anything else I should look for. I suppose the first think I should check is the reservoir tank first and see if the level has dropped?

[Targarama]

Just feel under all the joints. One may be damp and identify the culprit. Tighten up all the jubilee clips you can find.

[Diablos-666]

Thanks Tref, I do hope it's as simple as that.

[shep1001]

If you can't find the 'wet one' then the garage that fitted them should be able to do a pressure test when cold that should find it. Silicone hoses must have high torque clips on them as when you tighten up normal clips they are not man enough for the job due to the pressure nneded to clamp the the thicker wall of the hose.

I want some new hoses too but at the moment I am with the if it aint fooked don't mess with it frame of mind.

Edited by shep1001 on Friday 2nd September 17:36

[Diablos-666]

Right it's def a coolant pipe leaking.

I think I've found the culprit and tightened as much as possible.

I've managed to get that bloody brass cap off.

I'm about to fill it with water until the expansion tank is roughly half full.

Should I then just wait to see if the leak continues or start the engine to get the water circulating?

[shep1001]

Diablos-666 said:

Right it's def a coolant pipe leaking.

I think I've found the culprit and tightened as much as possible.

I've managed to get that bloody brass cap off.

I'm about to fill it with water until the expansion tank is roughly half full.

Should I then just wait to see if the leak continues or start the engine to get the water circulating?

System will need bleeding if its lost a fair bit of coolant otherwise an air lock could cause engine damage or overheating. I woud add 50:50 water coolant rather than water alone.

Shep

[Targarama]

Do you have the second expansion chamber on the driver's inner wing? If so then fill the brass capped chamber to the brim, close it, run it for a bit and look once it has cooled down and top up again. If you've lost a lot of coolant you could open the bleed nipples for a bit with the engine running (one on each pipe to/from the radiate - loosen and let dribble, don't remove).

[Diablos-666]

Right, I've had to call it a night as it was getting dark in my garage (no power)

I potentially found thd leak. I could feel moisture around a fitting so tightened up the clip. It didn't feel that loose considering the size of the puddle.

I eventually got that brass cap off and started to fill. Didn't realise it takes so long and went a bit quick with the water. Maybe a cup full missed, so now there's drop of water coming from loads of places

I originally thought I could fill up from the expansion tank but wasn't sure so emptied that out and started again via the brass cap tank. Sorry for my crude descriptions.

I'm going to ring str8six up tomorrow and see what they say.

I'm not 100% comfortable doing it myself and want to make sure the cooling system is up to scratch.

I'll give it another go tomorrow morning. It's a bit of a bugger as I had hoped to use the car this weekend to take her for a good drive.

[Diablos-666]

Well had the car picked up today to go back to the garage.

As the guy drove it on to the low loader I noticed a leak from the back of the car too.

So now it's pissed out it's coolant and it's fuel.



I'm worried about her now.

[Targarama]

Diablos-666 said:

Well had the car picked up today to go back to the garage.

As the guy drove it on to the low loader I noticed a leak from the back of the car too.

So now it's pissed out it's coolant and it's fuel.



I'm worried about her now.

yikes! Did you have any other parts replaced at the rear of the car? Brake pipe? Fuel pipe? Hopefully the drip is something simple. Maybe the car is crying.

[Diablos-666]

Drip! I wish it was a bloody drip.

It's was like taking a lid off a filled bottle of water the amount that was coming out as he drove it on the low loader!

No other pipes were changed and the car has just had it's 6k service and passed it's MOT.

[gilbo]

Water/residue can collect in the rear diffuser which drips out when the car is tilted (e.g. Loaded at an angle onto tow truck) I'm sure you'll have noticed it after washing etc. This may or may not be the problem as I'm sure you'd know the difference between water/fuel etc. But, it may be nothing to worry about. Fingers crossed for the garage's diagnosis

[Diablos-666]

It was 100% fuel. I dipped my finger in it and had a sniff!

On a lighter note, at least I should see better mpg now

[Targarama]

Saw your car at the garage this evening, awaiting treatment. Hopefully it will be painless.

[Diablos-666]

The 2 main engineers have just got back from holiday so think there is a bit of a back log at the moment.

Will find out the outcome in a couple of days.

[Diablos-666]

Update: regarding the coolant leak - Jason said I must have fixed it as they can't see a leak anywhere.

Regarding the fuel leak - The line was bad so Jason kept cutting out mid explanation but sort of got the just. He was saying that a bolt had been rubbing on the tank and gradually wore it's way through to cause a tiny hole at the top of the tank.
I had brimmed the tank the day I saw the the coolant leak.
I had also driven on a makeshift ramp to try and fix the coolant leak.
The fuel must have slowly dropped on the diffuser so when the recovery guy drove it on to the ramp it drained down?

Anyway fueltank needs to be removed and welded up. Fun job for someone.

Hoping to have the car for Sat but it'll more likely be next weekend

[Targarama]

Well better getting this repaired than finding out the hard way!

[BCA]

With the tank out though, it is also an opportunity to try and sort the valve on the fuel pipe itself... every cloud.