Coolant leak

[Anonymous]

Arrived home this afternoon after a fairly long motorway journey, and parked in garage. Went out to car 10 minutes later and spotted pool of coolant on floor - around half a cup full. Traced leak back to expansion bottle, close to the cap. Level was very high, almost up to top of cap. Called Mr. T, and it's going in tomorrow for a check. They suggested an airlock in the cooling system. Is this a common fault - anyone else had this problem? I'm going to keep an eye on the coolant level as it cools down over the next couple of hours. Would appreciate any views. Thanks.

[Comer]

Have you topped it up at all?  It wouldn't need much to make it overflow.

When I first got my car I thought the coolant was pretty low but not quite of the minimum.  Anyway I got some Toyota Red or whatever it's called and topped it up to just below the max.  

Now once my engine reaches normal operating temperature the coolant level goes above the max level.

[Anonymous]

Hi Comer. No, haven't needed to top it up since new, two months ago. I keep an eye on the level and until now it's always been around the "high" level mark on the expansion bottle.

[Comer]

Well it could be as Mr T says an airlock.  I have had this happen before but with my old Fiesta in my student days when I would keep chucking water in it  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

[SteveJ]

There seems to be quite a variation in levels for the coolant level between individual cars - I would suspect the reason yours lost a little fluid at that point (especially as it was new) is that you switched the engine off shortly after a 'spirited' bit of the journey, and the engine was heat soaked, causing the coolant to expand slightly more than normal.

All three of my 2's have sat with different levels in the coolant tank. The first one if I topped the bottle up above the 'min' mark would blow the coolant out about 5 minutes after starting the car, so I gave up filling it, and it went on to cover 58,000 'spirited' miles before I sold it in April last year.

As long the fluid is lost from the pressure release on the bottle, I wouldn't worry about it. It's when the leak is elsewhere you need to be concerned.

HTH

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply Steve. it certainly looked as if the coolant had been escaping through the pressure relief valve. I'll still get Mr. T to take a look. It doesn't bode well for future "spirited" midsummer runs when the air temperature reaches the 30s  s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

BTW I like the term "spirited". As in "...I wasn't really speeding, Officer. Just driving in a spirited fashion..."  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Thanks again.