Technical Coolant leak

[Sausage]

Hi,

1 year ago after doing a longer journey (50 mins), which I don't normally do - I am always doing short journeys....I got an engine warning and limp home mode happened. At that time I didn't know what was going on, or if it was even limp home mode, but an engine warning light coming on and my car struggling on a major dual carriageway, especially up hill - was daunting - I was worrying I'd breakdown, but i got home.

Without checking anything over myself - I simply took my Fiat Grande Punto to a garage. They could not diagnose the issue at first, they thought maybe a sensor had gone, then ended up changing some part with a weird name that I can't remember....the engine warning light went off and the car was out of limp home mode....

10 months later I go on this longer journey again...same thing happens - engine warning light + limp home mode. I check the car myself and see the coolant is very low....I top it up and it comes out of limp home mode on my journey back home..... the engine warning light stays on for a couple of days and then goes off.

Based on this it seems it was probably low coolant that caused all this in the first place! Seems the garage didn't even check the coolant level! - Maybe they noticed it was low and topped it up after replacing a part for £300 that I highly likely did not need.... I never checked the coolant level when I got my car back off them a year ago.... I am not car savvy - It's not something that crossed my mind. I am a total car noob.

What I have done:

-I have continued to drive my car for the past 2 months on shorter journeys only.

-I have just checked the coolant and it is low again. So it drained about 3/4's of the coolant in 2 months of almost daily shorter journeys. So loss of coolant is relatively slow.

-I topped it up the coolant this morning.

-I tried looking for leaks.

-I left the engine running and revved the engine to see if I could spot anything. I put a large piece of cardboard under the engine to see if it got splashed. It did very very lightly, but whether it came from something to do with the coolant - I don't know.

-There was no smoke / white smoke from the exhaust.

-There were some drips of water from the exhaust, but believe this is normal in cold weather?

-I checked the dip stick and there was a very very slight amount of whiter/grey/light brown gunk

-I checked the oil cap and there was a bit of this same gunk which was light brown in colour, but nothing excessive.


Looking at another thread about coolant leaks, someone mentioned replacing the coolant cap....I don't feel that it's loose, but as this is a cheap option - I'll see if this fixes it.

Any thoughts are welcome.... thanks...

 

[the green vanper]

Hello

Based on this it seems it was probably low coolant that caused all this in the first place! Seems the garage didn't even check the coolant level! - Maybe they noticed it was low and topped it up after replacing a part for £300 that I highly likely did not need.... I never checked the coolant level when I got my car back off them a year ago.... I am not car savvy - It's not something that crossed my mind. I am a total car noob.

Perhaps they only topped the coolant...

-There were some drips of water from the exhaust, but believe this is normal in cold weather?

Yes, it's normal in cold weather.

-I checked the dip stick and there was a very very slight amount of whiter/grey/light brown gunk

-I checked the oil cap and there was a bit of this same gunk which was light brown in colour, but nothing excessive.

That is also normal with short journeys only. There should be no trace of it if you go for a longer ride.

There could be some air in the cooling system, but I assume the coolant level drop would be much quicker.

The problem with minor coolant leaks is that when a drop falls on the hot engine, it evaporates before it gets on the ground... So it it often hard to find the leak source.

 

[Sausage]

Hello



Perhaps they only topped the coolant...



Yes, it's normal in cold weather.



That is also normal with short journeys only. There should be no trace of it if you go for a longer ride.

There could be some air in the cooling system, but I assume the coolant level drop would be much quicker.

The problem with minor coolant leaks is that when a drop falls on the hot engine, it evaporates before it gets on the ground... So it it often hard to find the leak source.

Thanks for the reply...

The garage probably didn't top up the coolant at all, or noticed the coolant was low right at the end of everything they did, including after they changed an engine part and charged the £300+..... I am pretty sure that part didn't need replacing and it was simply a case of topping up the coolant/water.

What I'll do for now:

-I have an MOT this week, I assume whatever is causing this leak is not something they will notice or look at?

-I will keep an eye out for the white/creamy sludge in the oil as I cleaned the cap and the dip stick so anything that appears will obviously be new.

-I will buy a replacement screw cap and see if that changes anything.

-After driving to work tomorrow I will open the bonnet and see if I can visually see anything wrong - mainly to see if there's signs of coolant/water leaking from the screw cap.


Is there anything I should worry about with this ie. getting worse, doing damage to the engine?

I have read that leaks of coolant can leak into the head gasket and cause issues. This is why I checked for the sludge in the oil, which there was a small amount. I have not noticed any sweet smelling white smoke coming from my exhaust which is another symptom of a blown head gasket. Car is running fine right now.