Hi All,
I have a "W" reg Vectra 2.5 V6 CDX Estate that has been fine for years. In May this year, the 3 year exemption period ended and I took the car to a small local garage recommended by a friend where I had it serviced & MOT'd - no problems. 2 weeks later, I notice the onboard computer come up with "Coolant Level" warning. When I checked, the level was low, so I topped it up and sighed about the service people missing it...
2 weeks later, back came the warning again. I checked and the level had, indeed, gone down again. I took it back to the garage and accused them of muppetry and they had a quick check, then said there were no leaks and that everything looked fine and I should keep an eye on it. For the next 2 months or so, it did the same... "coolant level" warrning every 2 weeks or so.
Took it back tot he garage again and the bloke said, again, that he could see no leaks and that it could only therefore be the head gasket starting to go wrong, which in the V6 would be expensive to fix. He also said that the coolant system was a sealed system so shouldn't be going down so fast!
Anyhow - it's starting to get worse - it only takes 7-10 days now to lose around 1/2 a pint of fluid, so I'm beginning to get worried. Whereabouts would a leak most likely manifest itself so I could look around and see if I can see anything they've missed? If it is a head gasket job, what sort of price am I looking at for repair?
My other problem is the flipping garage - it seems too coincidental to me that it's fine for years, they get their hands on it and it goes wrong straight away... would I have any chance of proving misdoings against them, do you think?
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don't think it could be anything as simple as a worn seal on radiator cap, or even have they put the pipe back into the expansion bottle correctly?, any wet patches under car, espescially just after a run?.
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I don't think it's losing fluid fast enough to leave wet patches, otherwise it'd be draining in a day or two rather than a week or two... If it's a leak it's a seriously slow one.
Would they have had any cause in a service/mot to remove the pipe from the expansion bottle anyway?
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Before spending serious money, replace the radiator cap (this solved my SAAB leak, although there was pink antifreeze around the expansion bottle sides), then get it pressure tested by someone (perhaps a radiator outfit) who knows what they are doing. A gas test could also detect combustion gases that are escaping from the head gasket. Any water in the oil. Grey globules? Is the heater normal?. Could be air in it, a sure sight of head gasket trouble. Any bubbles in the radiator, especially when its reved, another sure sign.
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>>there was pink antifreeze around the expansion bottle sides>>
is this a sympton of a expansion tank cap problem or something more sinister? ie head gasket, interesting to find out.
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Coolant leaks are funny things to trace, because they can leak only at certain temperatures and stresses.
The best thing to do is to check if you can find a leak anywhere by laying paper under the car after a hot run etc, and then get the garage to do a sniffer test on the coolant expansion tank to check for exhaust gases in the coolant, and then check that there's no sludge (oil) in the coolant or mayonaise (the result of water) in the oil, and then check to see if you're getting any white smoke (steam) out of the exhaust
Thats about all the head gasket checks i've heard of, anyway. When i had one go through loss of water, the first i knew of it was the water disappearing into thin air, and the heater losing any heat.
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OK, cheers guys, I'll check those things out. If it is head gasket, any rough ideas of costs to replace, anyone?
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You might want to read though this thread. Not sure if same problem as yours though? This refers to an Omega, but as it's basically the same engine....
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=5880&v...f
And the solution is mentioned here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=5880&m...e
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Blimey... sounds a bit epic! I think I need to evict my wife's car from the garage for a bit and park over the clean floor to see if I can find a drip. Where I usually park is on pebbles on the front drive so it'll be a bit hard to spot.
Cheers for the tips, I'll check it out!
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Not disputing what has been said.have you checked out the clips to each water pipe? I had a recent prob/where the clip worked loose and a water leak arose the cause was a clip that was compressed started to leak on the underneath of the pipe and could not be seen.Just a thought.
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A good garage should be able to test the coolant for combustion gases which would be present if the coolant system and a combustion chamber are linked by a leak in the gasket. I believe it's a colour test.
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Latest on this thread is that I was in Masterfit on Saturday getting the airbag light reset. I mentioned to the young lad about this coolant leak and he asked if it was the V6 model (he was sitting in it at the time so couldn\'t see) and when I confirmed it was he said \"it\'ll be the heat exchanger that\'s causing the problem... seen it a hundred times on Omegas and Vectras when I used to work in the repair centre. A pain to fix, very expensive, get rid\".
Fortunately I am in the process of getting rid right now!
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