Coolant Leak

[ACB82]

Help/knowledge required

Last week after driving home i stopped at our local shop and on return noticed a leak under the car which is a 98 Chim 450 approaching 40k with a full TVR service history. When i got home (about 700 yards up the road) the leak had stopped, the top up pot was empty and the swirl tank had only lost a small amount of water.

Had a closer look on Sunday - re filled the system and took her for a short run, got home and the car hadnt lost any fluid!! Let her cool down and then re started, warmed her up and went for a 20 mile run, got back and left the car to run on the drive and there was a leak. It seemed to happen when the heater was turned off.

Then let her cool down again and then went to refill the system, with the swirl tank and top up pot open the leak started again. Got the car up on jacks and had a look underneeth, the leak is coming from/running down near the oil filter but couldnt see exactly where the coolent is coming from!!

Do you guys have any ideas or suggestions?

The chest gasket was changed about 10 months ago, i dont thrash the car (although dont drive slowly) could it have gone again?

Im not the most mechanically minded so your help would be appreciated.

[That Daddy]

Possibly waterpump,or waterpump gasket/s,try to get a local garage to do a low pressure test(meaning make sure they dont ramp up the pressure some of the paper gaskets may yield)then look under or around the pump with a small mirror(they should have one of those too)good luck

[ACB82]

Cheers, any other iders please??!!

[P100]

Hi, I would suggest a coolant pressure test.
Yr local garage should be able to do this while you wait.

This will pressure the system up to slightly above the normal operating pressure then wait to see if there is any pressure loss or water leaks, it is very effective when seeking for elusive coolant leaks.

Hope this helps

Cheers Roy

[SimonV8ster]

ACB82 said:

Cheers, any other iders please??!!

I overfilled mine recently before a long trip and found that there was a bit of a leak coming from the pipe at the bottom of the radiator where it joins the next section. Wasn't obvious at first as I guess it was under a bit more pressure and as it was hot it dried up after being stood for a short while. Might be worth a look down there.

[wedgienauld]

Top up all your fluids to normal levels, (water and oil). I assume your temp guage is functioning correctly as you will need to refer to it from time to time during tis procedure. Sit your car aside ideally in your garage, where you can stand and keep an eye on your engine as you run it up to normal operating temperature. Watch out you don,nt burn yourself and be careful with the fan belt: with the aid of a torch consider the front cover gasket and the area beneath the water pump, (where a samll drain hole exists to identify a failing pump). Have you experienced any sqealing from the fan belt or the ignition light coming on when driving along - in my experience signs that all is not well with the bearings in the water pump. It appears from these forums that the Griff and Chim are rather suspectable to failure i these areas.
You may note seepage from the drain hole in the botom of your pump - and or you may find that water bubbles from the front cover gasket. Good luck