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MG MGF Technical - Loosing Coolant

All

I have been losing collant. When checking at the weekend I had to put around half a pint in. I will check later. What is the procedure to check for:

Head Gasket
Pressure cap
Inlet Manifold.

Or could it be something else. Thanks

Steve

Also check waterpump. Mine was leakin about a year ago. Resulting in a slow loss of coolant.
There were stains of dried coolant on the motorblock underneath the waterpump.

Other possibility: Hoses under the car whihch lead to the radiator.

Regards
Beat
Beat Fischer

>Head Gasket
Usual (hate that word!) place is over the top of the alternator, so look at the sump - is it wet at the front on the drivers side?
But you could be leaking water into the oil, in which case the oil will be milky
But you could be leaking oil into the water, in which case the pressure cap will have goo on it
+others see later

>Pressure cap
Water around the tank - but if a new cap doesn't fix this, then you could have HGF exaust into water

>Inlet Manifold.
Water being 'burnt', so steam from the exaust after the car has been running for a while (you should expect it for the first 5 mins). But again, if you are getting water into the oil, then it will evaporate from the oil into the inlet manifold, so a steamy exaust is not ness IMGF

>Leaky rad
Water on the floor at the front of the car

>underbody water pipes
water droplets on the underbody water pipes

>hoses
usually front of the engine, but passanger side

>hose clips
usually at the underbody pipes, at the rear, but also occasionally in the passanger compartment (you would be able to smell it quite badly.
Will Munns

Under 'leaky rad' check the radiator bleed screw as well as the radiator's condition. The screw is plastic and can easily be damaged/deteriorate to the point of allowing coolant to escape.
Dave Livingstone

Leaky cap usually shows as loss of coolant after the car has stopped and the engine coolant temp rises and the coolant expands. This normally shos up as a small pool of coolant under the middle of the engine. It took 3 radiator cap changes before I stopped this happening.... something to do with poor quality control. The other critical item is coolant level, it sould be between the 2 levels on the stepped guage directly under the filler. If it is filled to higher than this level you will lose the amounts you describe in one or two runs.
Phil Stafford

Funny you should say that Dave - I had a text over the weekend from someone to say that he had exactly the problem you've just described!

Should be reasonably simple to spot this problem: open the front bonnet, and look at the area around the rad bleed screw. If bubbling coolant is evident, then you've got your culprit!
Rob Bell

Thanks All. I take a another look at the weekend and see what it could be.
steve

This thread was discussed between 19/01/2004 and 20/01/2004

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