1.8T coolant leak help
 

Hi,

Noticed a small pool of coolant under the car and on further inspection I can see a serious leak when the engine is running that eventually slows when the engine stops. Coolant is running down the front of the sump and appears to be coming from a above the oil filter but below the exhaust manifold I can't quite pinpoint where it is coming from. No signs of water in the oil so not thinking HGF.

Any ideas? Are there any gaskets/pipe connections in that area that I'm just not seeing?

Any help greatly appreciated

Many thanks
Chris

Could be the small coolant pipe on the turbo has perished. That happened on mine years ago, £52 for a replacement then! A few cms long with a bend formed on the end. Not difficult to replace. It's in a place that gets a lot of heat.

Thanks for the info, would that pipe be number 4 on here https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID001583

Best regards
Chris

Yes, that's the one. My car doesn't have a PRT, the pipework is somewhat different, thermostat behind the engine. I think the pipe shown is same for both types of cooling. The pipe failed under the clip on the turbo and the leak was quite hard to spot

Thanks, just checked that pipe and it's dry as a bone.

I've taken some photos of the leak in case anyone has seen similar before. Any more ideas, I don't think it's coming from the water pump area (pic 2) what about the sump gasket?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q56...w?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QPS...w?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QCJ...w?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QDw...w?usp=drivesdk

Inlet manifold gasket would be my first port of call 😎

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

The 1.8's are prone to coolant leaks from several common places. The water pump itself is one, and typically causes dripping from behind the crankshaft pulley. It drains from a hole at the bottom of the timing belt cover. This can get blown onto the sump case when driving. Your photos suggest quite a leak which could be from almost anywhere higher up. Maybe the most notorious spot on the turbo model is the plastic T-piece in the middle of the upper coolant hose. Check for signs on the downpipe that drops from the T-piece and bends off to the PRT. This is located just behind the radiator underneath. Another common place is the inlet manifold gasket/seal. This can leak externally or let coolant into No1 and/or No4 cylinder causing lumpy starting/tickover until fully warmed up. Of course, any circlip/Jubilee hose connection can leak so every hose connection has to be checked. The Turbo also has a tendency to leak from the push-on hose connector from the head. This has an O-ring/cone connection that's held together by a wire clip. Also look around the head gasket joint area. The original elastomer head gaskets can delaminate to let coolant out almost anywhere, even internally. This can cause excessive mayo-gloop under the oil filler cap and excessive steaming from the oil filler hole (hot engine). The sump joint doesn't involve coolant so don't worry about that one.


TC

T Cut has covered all the main suspects - but if you are still unable to confirm the point of loss whenever i am losing coolant if its not obvious like a leak from the T-piece at LHS behind radiator i ask my local garage to put her on a ramp and run the engine - first time i did this it was a leaking IMG which took 60 minutes to manifest - 2nd time was a loosening of the small hose to the turbo and that was spotted after a few minutes. As you are seeing quite a dramatic loss it should be spotted pretty quickly.:shrug:

T Cut covered almost everything there , Will just add that MLS Gaskets have been known to leak between the layers . If draining the cooling system ,I would look at replacing the coolant
tee piece with outlet for turbo (if plastic) for an alloy one as the plastic is a known weak point for failure and can cost your engine.

https://www.dmgrs.co.uk/collections/...g-zt-pfk000040

Thanks all, I've gone through T-Cuts list and checked as much as I can without much luck, I think I'm going to take the advice and take to my local garage.

Will report back any findings

Best regards
Chris