My old bike transporter is suffering from a mysterious coolant leak. I took it to a garage and he couldn't find it and could only suggest putting in some radiator sealant. Anybody ever had this work ? What sort is best? Any other bright ideas?
Car is a diesel Meriva 1.7, crap car but great for shoving bikes in
I have this with my 2005 Berlingo HDI 2.0d too, I've unscrewed the oil cap and it's not creamy, which apparently is a sign of a head gasket gone, the level keeps dropping & warning light comes on, but no drips.... I just keep topping it up 🤔
Sometimes the best way to find a leak is to get the car properly warmed up, give it a good thrashing, pop the bonnet and see if you can see/hear any gases escaping.
If it's a beater and the above hasn't revealed the source, I'd advise carrying spare coolant with you, and a bottle of sealant if it really goes tits up.
Meanwhile, have a look at a Zafira "A" for the crap, cheap, bike carrier win!
Had this with my Octavia, coolant level needed topping up on a regular basis, then one day there was a cloud of steam when nearly home! Nursed it home, looked everywhere but couldn’t see a leak. Fortunately the bloke across from me works for Honda in the engine department, and builds his own racing cars, and he had a look. Found a small tube running between the scuttle and the top of the engine that had perished and split at the back, spraying coolant behind the engine. He fitted a new piece of heavy-duty fuel line with jubilee clamps in about ten minutes.
Had a Berlingo where one of the coolant pipes had split, coolant leak only became apparent when looking underneath at higher revs.
I have this with my 2005 Berlingo HDI 2.0d too, I’ve unscrewed the oil cap and it’s not creamy, which apparently is a sign of a head gasket gone, the level keeps dropping & warning light comes on, but no drips…. I just keep topping it up
If the head gasket is goosed coolant could also get into the cylinders and just get burnt off - so a lack of creamy oil can't rule out head gasket failure.
Was the pump on our insignia pos. give that a look. Was tricky to diagnose due to alm the covers under the engine.
I had radiator cracked on a weld, hidden behind all the plastic gubbins and brackets. We found a tiny drop of water after a short trip, not enough for coolant to be hot and evaporate, warm enough for rad to expand a touch and do the leaky thing. Garage then pulled rad out and confirmed that was it.
Back of the block Theres a half inch pipe that goes soft n crap as it's normally oil soaked.
Get an old expansion bottle n out a tubeless valve in it and pump the system up n go look for a leak.
Rad cap with a bike tyre valve put in it. Pump up until you see where the fluid leaks. Used to work on the Mk 1 Fiat Panda and Chrysler Horizon. The cars may show the age of the advice. it is possible that things have moved on.
You can get a testing kit for combustion gases in the coolant reservoir.
Steel Seal worked on our old Transit.
I used k seal in my t4 when the rad finally gave out and leaked loads. It lasted for about 2 years before I finally got the rad replaced.
Kseal etc is ok if it's a housing or gasket. Crap for pipes.
Heater matrix/hoses? Carpets wet under dash area?
You can get coolant leak detector. Put it in the water and it should glow under the UV light. I bought one but then found a bodged hose that was wet in my van. You can probably get the kit cheaper but here is a link to one purveyor:
https://www.justkampers.com/vw-t4-parts/engine/cooling-system/coolant-system-leak-detection-dye-kit.html