Help!!!!!! Water leak
Discussion
Please help!
I have a water leak front drivers side dripping every 10 seconds or so...its dark here now & ive got to check the car out tomorrow, is it likely to be a hose or poss a new rad???? also, whats the best way to get to it? any suggestions or help would be appreciated...
cheers folks!
Brett
86 S3
I have a water leak front drivers side dripping every 10 seconds or so...its dark here now & ive got to check the car out tomorrow, is it likely to be a hose or poss a new rad???? also, whats the best way to get to it? any suggestions or help would be appreciated...
cheers folks!
Brett
86 S3
southenddc said:
Please help!
I have a water leak front drivers side dripping every 10 seconds or so...its dark here now & ive got to check the car out tomorrow, is it likely to be a hose or poss a new rad???? also, whats the best way to get to it? any suggestions or help would be appreciated...
cheers folks!
Brett
86 S3
Brett,
It could be a hose, or it could be the 17yo radiator, only further investigation will tell. I suspect the radiator as they really weren't the best quality to begin with. Rather than buy new, consider having the existing one recored. There are many local shops which do this work. I had similar problems this spring and had mine recored with three, rather than the stock two cores. Price - $250USD w/ a 5 year guarantee. Hope it's the hose though. Happy Motoring! Jim'85TE
Cheers Jim
Strange thing has happened today....there was a big puddle last night, and i checked the water level today which was a bit lower than usual..ive had the car running up to normal heat & fans running but no leak!
it rained a little yesterday...maybe im paranoid and it was water running out from say the headlamp pod?!?!?
bizarre, hopefully i have self healing hoses!
Cheers
Brett 86S3
Strange thing has happened today....there was a big puddle last night, and i checked the water level today which was a bit lower than usual..ive had the car running up to normal heat & fans running but no leak!
it rained a little yesterday...maybe im paranoid and it was water running out from say the headlamp pod?!?!?
bizarre, hopefully i have self healing hoses!
Cheers
Brett 86S3
Silly question but have you chacked your front boot and headlight pods for signs of ponding or water?
In these cars the drainage holes are very small and soon get blocked up. When it rains your boot or headlight pod fills up with water. If it's partialy blocked then it'll drip out just like you say.
To clean them out you can use a paper clip. Mine was that block that i could actually see the one in my boot (full of silt). One is under the water bottle which just slides up out the way. The headlight pods are difficult to get to insitu but I managed to do mine. As soon as they were cleared water came gushing out. I quite often check my front boot, I think I need to buy a new boot seal but it looks fine. Maybe it's the front boot itself not seating right.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Dave Walters
In these cars the drainage holes are very small and soon get blocked up. When it rains your boot or headlight pod fills up with water. If it's partialy blocked then it'll drip out just like you say.
To clean them out you can use a paper clip. Mine was that block that i could actually see the one in my boot (full of silt). One is under the water bottle which just slides up out the way. The headlight pods are difficult to get to insitu but I managed to do mine. As soon as they were cleared water came gushing out. I quite often check my front boot, I think I need to buy a new boot seal but it looks fine. Maybe it's the front boot itself not seating right.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Dave Walters
. 
I've just had my radiator re-cored.
It was leaking along the bottom edge of the matrix, but only when the radiator was hot. This made the problem quite hard to trace.
Getting it re-cored was no hassle. SJ Sportscars turned mine round in less than a week.
Getting the thing off the car was rather more of a challenge, as I was working single handed and the radiator is bloody heavy with the three fans in place.
My car is an '87, so it seems that you are probably due a new radiator.
It is a time consuming job and very expensive in terms of labour. Best to do it yourself.
Whilst I was under there I replaced a couple of hoses and used stainless allen bolts for all of the duct fasteners, so whoever changes the radiator next time will have an easy job.
Most of the original fasteners were completely seized and many had to be cut off with the angle grinder.
If you decide to do it yourself and don't have access to a lift, then make sure that you use the jacking points to locate your axle stands.
I put mine under the front chassis crossmember, which meant that the radiator fouled them when coming out of the rad duct. This made the job twice as hard.
Good luck....
Pat
It was leaking along the bottom edge of the matrix, but only when the radiator was hot. This made the problem quite hard to trace.
Getting it re-cored was no hassle. SJ Sportscars turned mine round in less than a week.
Getting the thing off the car was rather more of a challenge, as I was working single handed and the radiator is bloody heavy with the three fans in place.
My car is an '87, so it seems that you are probably due a new radiator.
It is a time consuming job and very expensive in terms of labour. Best to do it yourself.
Whilst I was under there I replaced a couple of hoses and used stainless allen bolts for all of the duct fasteners, so whoever changes the radiator next time will have an easy job.
Most of the original fasteners were completely seized and many had to be cut off with the angle grinder.
If you decide to do it yourself and don't have access to a lift, then make sure that you use the jacking points to locate your axle stands.
I put mine under the front chassis crossmember, which meant that the radiator fouled them when coming out of the rad duct. This made the job twice as hard.
Good luck....
Pat
cheers pat.....
You dont live in Essex and have lots of time on your hands do you? lol
incidently i have 2 fans, and ive had a look under the car and still no leak, for future ref though it seems like a pain to get at working upside down, shame it couldnt have come out the top...
cheers again Pat
You dont live in Essex and have lots of time on your hands do you? lol
incidently i have 2 fans, and ive had a look under the car and still no leak, for future ref though it seems like a pain to get at working upside down, shame it couldnt have come out the top...
cheers again Pat
Gassing Station | Esprit | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff