A yellow "low coolant" light came on when I started the X3 yesterday 2 hours after a short run. Sure enough, the radiator expansion tank (in black plastic that you can't see through by the way...) was just about empty. Half a litre of SWMBO's drinking water nabbed from the back seat cured the problem. Now the car is garaged and I am sure there are no leaks, so where does half a litre of fluid go to? Evaporation? It's been winter here, so no scorching temps.
Cue mass castigation because Yes, I know, I should have checked the level at least 6 times in the past 6 months but didn't..!
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Watch it carefully for a bit; check at least weekly. Leaked coolant has a sweet/damp smell - are you ever aware if it either in he cabin or on opening the bonnet?
It could just be weeping from a joint or in worse case seeking a way through the CH gasket.
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I think there seems to be , in some cars, a natural level at which the car is happiest. I've been monitoring the Vitara for a few weeks since it got a bit hot and the fans came on. That was very low coolant and I topped it up straight away. It overheated solo and, after top-up, towed the 17ft caravan home with a good gauge reading.
You can't see the coolant in my expansion bottle either so I've found a 1/4 inch bar of steel, slightly rusty, to dip it with. I marked the half way point between the bottom of the container and the top of the filler and topped it up with a coolant mix to that level. I check it every week now and it sits constantly at about 1 inch up the ' dipstick , even after a 70/80 mph run to the Lake District and back a few days later.
If I do get any more ' hot sessions ', I'll get the water checked for hydrocarbons but I've no leaks, or steam at the back end. Just hope and pray that the old ' Joint de culasse ' isn't on it's way !
The Jowett, which has no expansion tank, even when filled up to the radiator filler neck, always drops to a level where the water in the top tank can't be dipped. Seems to be quite happy to run with that arrangement between us, though !
Ted
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Check carpets for leaks from heater.
failing that it's going out the exhaust via the head gasket...or you have a radiator leak which only opens under pressure
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The other possibility is that the pressure cap is leaking though there's usually a tell tale smell and streaking around the vent if it is.
Replace as a precaution.
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Or water pump weep hole is warning you of potential failure: tinyurl.com/73bpfnc
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The expansion tank on my X-trail was very low about 6 months ago.
Topped it up with just water and since then the level has remained constant - so why and where the litre went in the early Spring I do not know.
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>> Topped it up with just water
And you're happy to have topped up with just water for winter. Might get down to -20 deg C easily where you are I would think.
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More worryingly, what about the corrosion? Anti-freeze these days is as much about controlling corrosion as about stopping freezing. I understand it also contains water-pump-seal lubricant.
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0.5 litres of water added to ~9.5 litres of coolant (roughly 50:50 water:antifreeze[+corrosion inhibitors]) isn't going to cause significant dilution.
If done repeatedly however....
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It might make a difference in Scotland! :-)
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I live not far from FB - minus 20 is fantastically rare, even minus 10 is a novelty.
40% ethylene glycol : 60% water is sufficient to -22/23 so a little dilution from 50:50 should be ok.
It's an X-Trail so I bet he's out every day even when the snow is 2 feet deep ;-)
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Gonna take the X3 on a 100-mile sprint up to the Big City tomorrow. If the coolant level drops during the journey then I'll be assuming there's trouble. I guess the budget for the towbar will be spent in a workshop instead..!
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>> I live not far from FB - minus 20 is fantastically rare, even minus 10
>> is a novelty.
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Far South from Scotland, in the Staffordshire Moorlands we have seen -19C in 2009 and -18C in 2010..
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Topping up the radiator - where's it all gone to? - Bromptonaut
