Coolant dropping...

[maverick25]

Hi Troops,
Over the past 4 months or so Ive noticed that the coolant level has been dropping ever so slightly. As I regularly check my engine levels I just top it up.
The engine seems to be running fine with no extra noise or any symptoms.
Could this be the start of the head gasket going?
As I said the drop is minimal but enough to have to top up every 2 weeks or so.
The car is 15 months old and has recently been serviced.
Cheers.

[bernie_eccle]

Not sure about the S2 but on the S1 the levels on the header tank are marked Min & Max. They should really read cold & warm. If you fill it to the top mark the car will eject the extra coolant to take you back nearer to the min mark. I am sure this is mentioned in the manual. If you are aware of this and you really are loosing coolant it may be a loose rad clip. I have had this on both sides of the rad on my S1. Not too tricky to fix. I could see the leak by looking up to the rad through the front grill with a torch.
Finally may also be a symptom of HGF but I would expect the problem to be getting worse. Have you taken the oil filler cap off? Is the oil imulsified in the cap? What does the oil look like on the dip stick?

[fergusd]

As the irritating multimillionare microdwarf bernie says () . . . read the manual, the coolant level shoud sit at minimum when stone cold, if you top it up above this, it will drop . . . it generally stabilises at minimum . . .

If you're already at minimim when cold then you ave a leak . . .

If it's HGF it's very unusual to see coolant in the oil . . . so do not rely on that as a diagnosis, at all.

Fd