water leak ...argghhhhh !

[nigelw]

I took some friends out for a quiet ! ? ..run in my 3R and then parked it back in the garage that night ...next morning there was a pool of radiator water on the floor that seems to emanate from around the middle of the engine underneath (hard to tell cos its running off the floor ) ...anyone any experience of problems in this area (chaffing of pipes , hoses etc ) ? ...is the underfloor easy to take off ? ...cheers for any advice guys !

[V6GTO]

Are you sure it's not just condensed water from the AC?

Martin.

[nigelw]

pretty sure because it tastes of anti freeze , the header tank level has gone down and I dont think I had the air con on that night . I'm hoping to put it on a ramp next week , drop the floor and pressurise the system but I was just wondering if there was a "known" problem in that area ?

[alex s]

nigelw said:

pretty sure because it tastes of anti freeze , the header tank level has gone down and I dont think I had the air con on that night . I'm hoping to put it on a ramp next week , drop the floor and pressurise the system but I was just wondering if there was a "known" problem in that area ?

The only "common" problem with the cooling system seems to be the rad itself(splitting at the welds)
Undertray is just a LOAD of self tappers to get it off. If it has not been taken off before you might have to drill out a couple that have seized in.
But in theory it should be removed at each service(although this does not always seem to be the case)
The hoses coming out of the tunnel would be the first one I would be checking due to the heat from the front turbo.
HTH
Alex

[nigelw]

thanks for the advice ....I think it might be a steady job taking the floor off ...it seems like it could be all too easy to strip the thread for the self tappers either on the way in or out .. I suppose a better fastening system would have cost a lot to incorporate on the car ..shame ...by the way , does anyone know whether the standard (Bilstein ?) shock absorbers are adjustable ?

[Adrian W]

Most water leaks are going to exit through the holes in the undertray, id check the hoses aroung the header tank, not forgetting the big one underneath. A common place to get water leaks is the turbo's as noble use Pirtek hose that is only rated to 105 degrees and therefore splits.

[nigelw]

thanks for that ! ...that's good info as to where to look !...bit gutted cos my play toy is off the road till I fix this and the weather is mint at the moment here ! .....

[Shegs1]

I had this problem with my car and got it checked out at local garage. The fault was due to old hose that was leaking due to expansion caused by excessive heat generated in the cooling system.It was leaking past the jubilee clip which couldnt be tighter if it tried. I renewed all the old hoses and then had the cooling system tested. Worked fine since. Might be a good idea to upgrade the hoses if you have the same problem.Hope this helps.

[joust]

nigelw said:

does anyone know whether the standard (Bilstein ?) shock absorbers are adjustable ?

Nope.