My misses recently purchased a '05 R53 with about 80k on the clock privately through Autotrader. About a month later and the red warning light comes on with water squirting out the coolant bottle and steam everywhere. Topped it up and the same thing happened again with about 500ml of water being lost again!
Took it to a local garage and the pressure test revealed a leaky radiator. So it got replaced at a cost of £200.
First drive out in it today and the same thing happens again. Water pouring out the cap and needing filled by about 500ml.
My feeling is maybe the head gasket is gone? But I'm coming to you guys in the hope I'm wrong!
Are you on about coolant pouring out from the expansion tank?
If yes it's very common, they're prone to leaking and the only permanent fix is to fit a aluminium tank otherwise just fit a new normal expansion tank.. There's eBay ones for like £25
Yep, sounds like the problem. The expansion tank can leak as well as the cap, so buy both together (I paid £25 on Ebay and not £60 from the dealer). It is easy to change yourself, just check on line for instructions.
Yeah
If it leaking from the cap maybe wrong one fitted as they are pressurised
It's EBay definitely as not very expensive,
Good luck
Kind regards phill ����
Once your radiator was replaced, was the system correctly bled of air, if it wasn't you going to continually have issues.
Common leak points on the R53 are:
Radiator.
Thermostat housing.
Expansion tank (cracked or separated seam).
Leaking O-rings in the heat Exchanger (oil cooler on the side of the Oil Filter Housing).
Hoses and or clamps.
Other issues.
Faulty Temp sender switch.
Faulty Thermostat
Faulty cooling fan
Incorrectly bled system after coolant replacement.
Less common.
leaking heater core. (Damp carpet)
If your heater isn't blowing hot air, you more than likely have air in the system and need to bleed it correctly.
Don't top the system off with water, keep a bottle of 50/50 coolant/deionised or distilled water.
Topping up with water unless in an emergency will only cause corrosion in the long run.
When topping up the expansion tank, when the car is cold, the fluid level should be sitting on Min. When the car is at working temp, the coolant should be sitting on Max.
If your fluid level is above Max when the car is cold you have to much coolant in the system and when the coolant expands, it has nowhere to go and will overflow via the filler cap due to pressure and with the resulting coolant loss under pressure.
Read this article to bleed your system and then work back from there (Thermostat? cracked or leaking thermostat housing? etc etc).
The cars been sat for two days after being topped up and the coolants at the same level which probably means trapped air after the radiator change?
My concern now is that the water is a cloudy red colour?! Any ideas?
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