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General oopsss, oil level and coolant - trip to scotland

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General oopsss, oil level and coolant - trip to scotland

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Just been outside to check my oil and coolant levels on lunch as i have a trip up to loch lommand on Friday, 370m each way, plus travelling, possibly to John o Groats or whatever its called.



The oil won't even register on the stick, on the flat :eek:

Also I flushed my coolant and replaced recently when i did my temp senor...however it has lost all its blue tint, and is clear white, without much smell :bang:

Looks like I need to keep a closer eye on my car. Time to drain, refil and replace filter. Also do a full coolant flush with some more new stuff.

I pressume that as its lost its colour, its foobar, or should i just test it.


Why are things never easy ;)

Kristian
 
kritip said:
Just been outside to check my oil and coolant levels on lunch as i have a trip up to loch lommand on Friday, 370m each way, plus travelling, possibly to John o Groats or whatever its called.



The oil won't even register on the stick, on the flat :eek:

Also I flushed my coolant and replaced recently when i did my temp senor...however it has lost all its blue tint, and is clear white, without much smell :bang:

Looks like I need to keep a closer eye on my car. Time to drain, refil and replace filter. Also do a full coolant flush with some more new stuff.

I pressume that as its lost its colour, its foobar, or should i just test it.


Why are things never easy ;)

Kristian
Click to expand...


Test it, small quantity on end of a finger, should taste incredibly sweet.

If you are passing by this way, coffee?

Cheers

D
 
I'll give it a taste or get a tester. What do they actually test though, the corrosion inbibitors? I'd hate it if thats whats gone and the glycol is there for another purpose.

I may just change it anyway, as its clear its very hard to see the level....for one second my heart sank as I thought the tank was empty!

New Caledonia, I have to admit my geography of Scotland is appalling, coffee would be cool if your in an I'm passing though...not even sure of my route yet, but im traveling from the midlands, up to invertrossachs, callander, perthshire, if that means anything to you :)

Cheers,

Kristian
 
get a glass full of the coolant drink it and if u collapese on the floor after a few hours then its still good as it would have enough antifreeze in and caused your brain to freeze and chrystalise.

or u could just dip your finger in and taste lol

ooh u gotta be carful with oil levels no oil and fubar engine :(
 
Tell me about it ;) I thought it sounded a bit tappety parked up, more like a 899, so felt best to check. I'm grabbing some more oil tonight, in parents car, so that will be sorted before i go anywhere else.

Not really sure where it went though :confused: Not in the water (HG), not in plumes of smoke, so i dunno! unless when I last had it serviced in feb they never filled it up properly (although im sure i checked it several times since then!)

Kristian
 
Well, just been to halfauds, only place open this time of night.

Got Castrol GTX 10W40 Semi (as its mpi) - 5 litres and a halfauds filter for thursday when i replace the oil.

Had a look on castrols site though, and for the sei they recommend 0W30 as the best, then 10W40 magnatec :confused:

I think the magnetic is a bit of a con tbh, but I'm not sure about 0W30 is lol, wonder if I am better off with it. I know it will be a lower viscosity, but that can be bad for engine wear i thought.

Also got 5 litres of pre-mixed advanced coolant, as it was only about £2 more than buying 2 litres unmixed and 2 litres distilled water.



Need to pop the oil in now, but can hold off on the filter and coolant till thurs so I'll have a look about for cheaper.

Anyways I'm £46 lighter off now and so not very happy lol


Kristian
 
Last edited:
kritip said:
I'll give it a taste or get a tester. What do they actually test though, the corrosion inbibitors? I'd hate it if thats whats gone and the glycol is there for another purpose.

I may just change it anyway, as its clear its very hard to see the level....for one second my heart sank as I thought the tank was empty!

New Caledonia, I have to admit my geography of Scotland is appalling, coffee would be cool if your in an I'm passing though...not even sure of my route yet, but im traveling from the midlands, up to invertrossachs, callander, perthshire, if that means anything to you :)

Cheers,

Kristian
Click to expand...

New Caledonia is a **** take, I am in old caledonia, or Scotland, as its better known. I live just beside the Erskine Bridge, which will be your probable route from the south going to Loch Lomond. If you are going the Callander route, thats the other side of Glasgow, but not far from my office that side of the city, so when are you travelling?

Cheers

D
 
I'll be traveling up on friday 15th, prob leaving here 10ish, so be up there about 2-3 in the afternoon I'd imagine :) Will you be around then?



Back onto the topic, I just dumped in some new oil, and to get it above min, but not even half way, it took 1.5 litres :eek: :eek:

Thats about 1/3 below the handbook amount, and its not even in the middle of the stick!

Also, although the coolant has turned clear-ish, lost its blue colour, there were some deposits of gunk on side of the expansion tank, which i scraped out with a finger and photographed.

gunk.JPG
gunk2.JPG
tank.JPG

Now I'm praying the two are unrelated :)

The coolant I filled up with a few weeks ago (full flush) was about 4 years old, and was told it would be fine as even the internal plastic seal under the lid hadn't been broken. It had never been opened. Im hoping it was just bad though, and the new stuff will be fine :)


It seems to run and idle fine. thinks its worth buying a compression tester just to check though??

Kristian
 
Well, never made a meet with rallycinq in the end, but I've made it there and back.

Total for holiday was 1260 miles and no problems at all (apart from possibly a ticket ;) )

Just got back from the 7 hour journey back :eek: Took about the same to get there!

There are some fantastic driving roads up there! Also the house I rented was on a privately owned woodland estate around a loch, 5 mile single track to the house, REAL great fun. Shame about the 6 speed humps that were very vicious. 50 mph --> 2 mph deceleration was great with the newer brakes though! It was like a mini rally stage :D

Over xmas I'm gonna swap out the coolant anyway, and also check the oil level again and replace it all.

Cheers everyone,

Kristian
 
TBH Rallycinq... would love to make a meet just to chat... We seem to an invaraiable amount of info we give individually that tallies! so if you ever in the midlands... would love to chat Cinq! Let me know if you ever venture south! (y)
 
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