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MG MGF Technical - Coolant loss

Ok chaps im a newbie on here (am yorkshire regional rep on fregister site) so be gentle.
Have a 98 VVC, had HGF early 06 replaced and repaired, replaced radiator Nov last year,
over the last two weeks have been around a cm of coolant loss every day,
no signs of another HGF no milky dipstick
no smell of fumes from coolant cap or discolouration of coolant.
heater blowing out hot air.
Temp is ok no loss of power.
Ok so could it be leaky water pump and/or coolant underbody pipes?, after i give her an hours run and pull back on the driveway there is no signs of dripping underneath????????
Surely if the pipes or pump where leaking it would show signs of dripping wouldnt it.
Any ideas anyone?
S M Renwick

with 1cm loss I would definitely expect some signs of leakage, however, they may show up in the morning rather than immediately after parking.

is there any smell in the car?
Will Munns

only when the mrs gets in sorry bad joke, there is sometimes a faint wiff of petrol but only sometimes and nothing strong will
S M Renwick

ok, so it's probely not the heater matrix which would leave a sickly sweet/slightly burnt smell in the cockpit.

places to look are
Behind the rear wheel, drivers side for waterpump seal
Behind the driver, front of the engine for HGF
Centre line of the car for pipework
around the water filler cap for overflow (no pressure held by cap)
Or mist from the exhaust even after the car is warmed up for HGF internally.
Will Munns

I've just discovered a leak on my underbody pipes, or rather it was spotted whilst on the ramps during an MOT test.... and the pipes are only 18 months old!! The leak is from a cracked weld on the rear most bracket and was not visible to me when the car was on the ground. I too replaced the radiator in November and I had noticed I was still losing a tiny amount of fluid but couldn't find the leak (until now) - I suppose I was looking for leaks at the hose connections and hadn't thought of checking the brackets. Might be worth a look...

Just bought a MS Stainless Steel replacement!!
Mark Clayton

Ok had it in the air yesterday and found..............NOTHING absoloutly zilch so am as baffled as ever
S M Renwick

Was the engine warm when you were underneath? If there is a small leak, e.g. a weeping water pump, the heat of the engine block will evaporate the evidence before it reaches anywhere visible. Might be worth running the engine from cold for 30 seconds and then switching off and leaving it for 10 minutes, then repeating. Any coolant that drips off the bottom of the timing cover will collect on the subframe and be easily visible.
Mike Hankin

Mine was leaking from the heater into the floor on the driver's side. You had to lift the carpet and see the green dampness soaked into the underlay to spot this. It wasn't obvious otherwise.
Mike Howlett

Ok so its got worse.
Mechanic mate had a look yesterday, we cant find any leak of any description anywhere, so off i went instantly it started blowing out cold air from vents - "bugger" i thought, ran it to work ok but used more coolant - topped up ran it home, got up this morning and have bled the system with the following result,

1) Radiator Bleed point ok with nice hot water coming out.
2) Bleed point next to engine ok with nice hot water coming out.
3) Bleed point on bulkhead under windscreen area, eventually got air outta it but its only running out with COLD WATER???????

Still no signs of milky mayo dipstick, power still good, there was drips of water coming outta end of exhausts but not vast amounts,
Carpet in foot wells ok and dry.
The only real sing of a leak of any kind was if you stand under the car and face the back end, where the drivers side chasis leg that runs the legnth of the car meets the front wheel arch liner there was some water coming out of the round holes in the leg and from between the liner and body but it was clear and didnt taste of coolant so we ignored that as maybe washer jet fluid.
I did notice this morning after a 20 mile run that when i parked in the garage and stopped the engine the exhaust sounded like there was somthing drip drip drip on it but coz of the heat it isnt going anywhere else and burning off, but as im paranoid it might have been that ting ting noise a hot exhaust gives of.
S M Renwick

I had a similar problem.
Coolant loss traced to a pin hole in the engine inlet hose caused by chaffing against the clutch slave cylinder mounting bracket. It's quite difficult to spot the pressure of the bracket seemed to seal the pin hole.
Ken Waring

Did you have coolant loss from bottle was there any leaks on the floor and / or blowing out cold air
S M Renwick

Ok so problems everywhere part 179
So today i have spent all day bleeding the coolant system 9 times!!!!!!!!!!
(i apologise for the temorary lack of supply of coolant at your local motor accessory shop its down to me) eventually managed to get hot water coming outta my heater matrix bleed point but still no hot air from cabin heater so i decided to take her for a run and 2 miles into that run with the heater position on hot it started venting yukky coolant fresh cut grass smelling steam outta the cabin vents - with the switch on cold no steam so im reliably told by my mechanic my heater matrix or the pipes leading into it are probably buggered this also answer why i am getting a very minimal amount of loss in my expasnion tank as well - ANYONE CONUR?
What sort of job is replacing the matrix and can anyone point me towards an explanation or piccys on how to do this?
S M Renwick

This thread was discussed between 07/03/2007 and 12/03/2007

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