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MG ZR ZS ZT Technical - ZR Coolant Problems

I have an 52 plate ZR120 1.8 non vvc (covered circa 70k miles) and have noticed that the coolant header tank seems to be running dry, bit worrying.

I check the coolant and oil on a regular basis as i am aware of headgasket and cooling issue with this engine.

There is no evidence of water in the oil (oil is clear not milky), so i think or hope that it is not a headgasket problem.

There is no obvious weeping from any of the coolant hoses that i can see.

Header tank seem to go down over circa 2 weeks or so.

Can any shed any light on this?

Cheers

Jim
Jim

Have a look around the water pump area and also the inlet manifold region, these are a possible cause of loss if you are not seeing any evidence on the obvious places like the pipes. Also have a look at the radiator, these can corrode and weep.
Martin ZT

Jim

Top it up with coolant if it needs a lot, there is trouble.

When the engine is cold take off the oli cap and have a good look for the dreaded mayonnaise

and when you next run the car and get the engine hot when you get home open the bonnet and have a look around. The loss of coolant into the atmosphere will show itself with steam, or at least a little weeping around the areas as mentioned above. Yes check the rad, these can leak through corrosion or through stone damage.



Neil

It may not be a Headgasket problem, some R25 and MG ZR'S have occured coolant leaks from the heater matrix inside the car, unfortunatley it is just as expensive to repair as a Headgasket failure
Martyn

Interesting thread as my wife's R200 has started to need regular topping up. As with Jim I have not been able to find any head gasket issues. However, I have seen white deposits around some of the hose ends.

A small bore cooling hose goes to the o/s end of the plastic inlet manifold shows white deposits.

Is worth taking the hose off putting a lick of silicon sealant around the stub and then refitting the hose with a proper jubilee clip?

The car has aircon to it is quite cramped under the bonnet.
David Witham

David
Try standing the car over a dry surface after a run and see what collects where underneath overnight - that might help pinpoint the source.

I have noted that my wife's R214 (1.4 16V) has started losing some coolant onto the drive from around the waterpump end so this will be investigated shortly.

The radiator was changed earlier this year, a little easier in this case as there's no a/c. Based on Martyn's comments I will also have a look at the heater unit, although it all appears dry in the front (unlike the back end which has started gettinmg water in with heavy rain - the boot seal maybe?).

Mind you, for an 8yr old car with admittedly low mileage at 50k, I still think it's record is fantastic - no HGF, and the only pre-emptive issue was replacing the inlet manifold gasket about 4yrs ago.

Martin ZT

Thanks for your comments on my problem.

The problems seems to have gone away. I had the system looked at at a garage and they found no problem and topped up the system to get the coolant mix spot on.

The garage did say that the coolant system may need to be filled and pressurised to remove and air.

I therefore now suspect (as the problems seems to have gone) that when i had the front bumper replaced due to small shunt that they removed the rad and didn't fill up in the correct way.

Fingers crossed she will go for another 70k miles problem free!

Jim
Jim

This thread was discussed between 28/11/2006 and 18/01/2007

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