Possible small head gasket leak
Discussion
Have had this as an ongoing problem for over 12 months at least
Vovlo V70 D5 52 plate
Top up water to mark on header. At various random time intervals get the low coolant light, and after incrreasing the revs by droping a gear, it goes out !
Check header hose and it is rock hard, like under pressure
Slowly release cap and lots of bubbling an leakeage of water as it returns to header tank.
Even leaving it overnight the system still has a good amount of pressure andwhen cal releases water returns to header tank
Running car when temp and cap off sees movement of water and not bubbles, nor does the water look/smeel contaminated
When sysem is cold and i top theot up i have to do a lot of hand pumping the top hose before i feel water in it
Having had a head gasket go i would expect the water to be blown out of the system, but this appears to be such a small ingress of air it slowly pumps the system up
The sytem gas been drained and radflush used, but no effect
so is there a sure fire 100% guaranteed to work ingredient i can stick in the system to seal this leak.... if there is one. It really is beginning to do my head in
So any suggestions>
Vovlo V70 D5 52 plate
Top up water to mark on header. At various random time intervals get the low coolant light, and after incrreasing the revs by droping a gear, it goes out !
Check header hose and it is rock hard, like under pressure
Slowly release cap and lots of bubbling an leakeage of water as it returns to header tank.
Even leaving it overnight the system still has a good amount of pressure andwhen cal releases water returns to header tank
Running car when temp and cap off sees movement of water and not bubbles, nor does the water look/smeel contaminated
When sysem is cold and i top theot up i have to do a lot of hand pumping the top hose before i feel water in it
Having had a head gasket go i would expect the water to be blown out of the system, but this appears to be such a small ingress of air it slowly pumps the system up
The sytem gas been drained and radflush used, but no effect
so is there a sure fire 100% guaranteed to work ingredient i can stick in the system to seal this leak.... if there is one. It really is beginning to do my head in
So any suggestions>
I've recently had the exact same thing. With a lowered water level I could drive normally. If I accellerated the temp guage would shoot up and the top hose would balloon. Compression test showed all cylinders the same but drained coolant had a shiney 'petrol' film. I took the head off and there was a small leak from one cylinder into the coolant.
silverfoxcc said:
get the low coolant light
Do you know what sensor triggers that? Perhaps you have a fluid level sensor in the header tank. In that case I'd look into what the actual level in that tank was to see whether that was actually the problem. It may be a cooling system problem, but equally you may be chasing an electrical problem.
When mine had a head gasket leak, rather than a hydrocarbon sniff I used lime water and bubbled the gases coming out of the header overflow through it.
This worked a treat and is very cheap - to make lime water just get some lime, shake it up with water and then pour off the clear liquor. Luckily I have an old house (as well as an old car) so I have lime hanging around....
It looks in your case you don;t get many bubbles but you might try it on a fast idle before they show up.
This worked a treat and is very cheap - to make lime water just get some lime, shake it up with water and then pour off the clear liquor. Luckily I have an old house (as well as an old car) so I have lime hanging around....
It looks in your case you don;t get many bubbles but you might try it on a fast idle before they show up.
adam quantrill said:
When mine had a head gasket leak, rather than a hydrocarbon sniff I used lime water and bubbled the gases coming out of the header overflow through it.
This worked a treat and is very cheap - to make lime water just get some lime, shake it up with water and then pour off the clear liquor. Luckily I have an old house (as well as an old car) so I have lime hanging around....
It looks in your case you don;t get many bubbles but you might try it on a fast idle before they show up.
Please post some more info on this test, I don't understand it but it looks good, thanks in advanceThis worked a treat and is very cheap - to make lime water just get some lime, shake it up with water and then pour off the clear liquor. Luckily I have an old house (as well as an old car) so I have lime hanging around....
It looks in your case you don;t get many bubbles but you might try it on a fast idle before they show up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limewater
It goes milky with CO2, and assuming your engine makes that, it will be in the head gasket leak gases.
It goes milky with CO2, and assuming your engine makes that, it will be in the head gasket leak gases.
adam quantrill said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limewater
It goes milky with CO2, and assuming your engine makes that, it will be in the head gasket leak gases.
Thanks, this is clever and I like cleverIt goes milky with CO2, and assuming your engine makes that, it will be in the head gasket leak gases.
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