I serviced the wife's car the other day, and I noticed (as it was warm to let the oil run out easier) that the engine smelt a little 'hot' in the engine bay near the turbo. Temperature etc has all been fine though.
The coolant was a bit under the minimum, but as the car was just running and coolant was still circulating through the turbo I didn't think any more of it at that time (thought I would check it when cool and it had found it's level to get an accurate reading).
Anyhow, I serviced the car and as it was getting late and was going to check the next day when it had fully cooled, when I went to fill the oil up after doing everything else as the last task though I noticed the car had quite a bit of Mayo under the cap. I wasn't overly concerned as my wife uses the car on several short round-town trips a day (around 2 miles each way 4-6 times). And in this cold, even my Merc had some under the cap when I let her use it for a bit (until I started using it on long runs again).
Anyhow, I checked it when cool and the coolant pretty much stayed in the same spot - under minimum. I was a bit worried at this point and started to panic about the loss of coolant and mayo under the cap. Car is only just on 18k.
I topped up and proceeded to take her for a good thrash down the A roads after the service and cleaning the cap, coolant didn't seem to move, there are no signs of power loss, no smoke and no overheating. There is no sign of oil or gunk in the header tank either.
Now I know the coolant was fine in the summer and at max when we bought it, and I am sure I have checked it since but it's definitely dropped and gone somewhere.
We put in about 3/4 a liter of coolant to get it from under min to Max. It's been used on a long run yesterday for a couple of hours on the motorway and in traffic around the city roads, and it has been used around town for a few short trips today. There was a very slight misting of condensation on part of the filler cap when I removed it.
The car smelt 'warm' again under the bonnet.
After a good sniff and look around with the inspection light I couldn't find any obvious signs of any leakage, not around any pipes or the block, rad or pump. I took off the top heat shield near the turbo and shining an inspection light and looking around with my inspection mirror I found shiny coolant looking residue around the back of the turbo underneath the front banjo coolant bolt / pipe and around the back of the turbo. It's clear that coolant is burning off in this location. I gave the banjo bolt around 1/3rd of a turn without too much force, the seal was a little crusty underneath so I cleaned it off.
I'm hoping that this is the coolant loss location and that the condensation is caused by lots of short trips, but the more I think the more paranoid I am getting about it!
We need to test it now and see how it goes.
Have many other owners experienced this? As luck would have it the waranty ran out this month.
Also has anyone else noticed condensation in the winter on lots of short trips with this motor?
Cheers,
Steve
The coolant was a bit under the minimum, but as the car was just running and coolant was still circulating through the turbo I didn't think any more of it at that time (thought I would check it when cool and it had found it's level to get an accurate reading).
Anyhow, I serviced the car and as it was getting late and was going to check the next day when it had fully cooled, when I went to fill the oil up after doing everything else as the last task though I noticed the car had quite a bit of Mayo under the cap. I wasn't overly concerned as my wife uses the car on several short round-town trips a day (around 2 miles each way 4-6 times). And in this cold, even my Merc had some under the cap when I let her use it for a bit (until I started using it on long runs again).
Anyhow, I checked it when cool and the coolant pretty much stayed in the same spot - under minimum. I was a bit worried at this point and started to panic about the loss of coolant and mayo under the cap. Car is only just on 18k.
I topped up and proceeded to take her for a good thrash down the A roads after the service and cleaning the cap, coolant didn't seem to move, there are no signs of power loss, no smoke and no overheating. There is no sign of oil or gunk in the header tank either.
Now I know the coolant was fine in the summer and at max when we bought it, and I am sure I have checked it since but it's definitely dropped and gone somewhere.
We put in about 3/4 a liter of coolant to get it from under min to Max. It's been used on a long run yesterday for a couple of hours on the motorway and in traffic around the city roads, and it has been used around town for a few short trips today. There was a very slight misting of condensation on part of the filler cap when I removed it.
The car smelt 'warm' again under the bonnet.
After a good sniff and look around with the inspection light I couldn't find any obvious signs of any leakage, not around any pipes or the block, rad or pump. I took off the top heat shield near the turbo and shining an inspection light and looking around with my inspection mirror I found shiny coolant looking residue around the back of the turbo underneath the front banjo coolant bolt / pipe and around the back of the turbo. It's clear that coolant is burning off in this location. I gave the banjo bolt around 1/3rd of a turn without too much force, the seal was a little crusty underneath so I cleaned it off.
I'm hoping that this is the coolant loss location and that the condensation is caused by lots of short trips, but the more I think the more paranoid I am getting about it!
We need to test it now and see how it goes.
Have many other owners experienced this? As luck would have it the waranty ran out this month.
Also has anyone else noticed condensation in the winter on lots of short trips with this motor?
Cheers,
Steve
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