Retroanaconda Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 My car had a whoopsie today, on the way into town I noticed the heater had gone cold. Pulled up in Tesco car park, popped the bonnet and was greeted with coolant everywhere except in the header tank! It’s distribution across the rear drivers side of the engine bay had me fretting about head gasket failure however I refilled it and restarted to find that the leak was in one of the heater hoses, a pinhole which was jetting out a nice stream of coolant in a pleasing arc over the top of the engine - which was then blown everywhere by the airflow through the rad/fan. Luckily the split was about an inch from the end of the hose so I cut a bit off and refitted it. Refilled and all seems well and I made the 20 mile drive home with no incident. Everything heated up as it should and there was no further loss of coolant or any abnormal pressurisation of the cooling system. I will order a full new set of hoses and replace them all. I think I lost about 7 litres and drove about 5 miles after the heater went cold. How robust is the 200Tdi when this sort of thing happens? Any warning signs for me to be looking out for over the next little while to spot if any damage has been caused? Obviously I will keep a very close eye on coolant levels and look out for any pressurisation of the cooling system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotts90 Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Can't see it causing anything untoward, the 200 isnt exactly the hottest running of lumps and with our ambient temps being low combined with airflow it wouldn't get overly heated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzar Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Should be fine, I cooked mine a while back, refilled and no further trouble. Tough enough these old diesels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 I had mine quite hot after the alternator/water pump belt bust a while ago, as the pump couldn't turn, it hasn't given me any problems [this was before the recent rebuild] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted January 3, 2018 Author Share Posted January 3, 2018 Did another 10 miles or so this morning with no issues, so hopefully all is okay. Thanks guys. Will do a full flush of the system anyway when the new hoses arrive and I swap them over. Annoyingly the coolant wasn’t that old as I changed it when I did the timing belt last year, but at least it’s cheap enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 The greatest risk is warping the head, but you'd probably have had temperature indications of that happening. Just keep an eye on all fluid levels over the next month or so, and keep a listen out for a sound like someone flicking a sheet of taught paper, which is a sign of a head gasket leak from bore ot outside (not affecting fluids). If you don't get symptoms of those nature, you're almost sure to be fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted February 3, 2018 Author Share Posted February 3, 2018 So a month on and another problem! I could use some thoughts on the latest issue. Driving home last night the alternator/waterpump belt failed on the motorway. I was only a few miles from my exit so slowed down and came off the motorway. Once off I confirmed the diagnosis as a failed belt and attempted to fashion a temporary belt from a phono cable but with no success. Given how cold it was (2 degrees at best) thought I’ll see how it gets on taking it easy for a few miles as I was only 15 miles from home. Alas upon stopping to check I found that the radiator hoses were quite hard and there was a lot of pressure in the cooling system - I released the pressure and lots of gurgling happened at the top hose and the level in the expansion tank returned to normal. At this point I feared the worst and called the AA - two very cold hours later it got put on a truck and dropped off home. This morning I replaced the belt and ran the engine up to temperature to try and confirm the diagnosis. I got it warm enough to get the thermostat open and strangely there seems to be no pressurisation of the cooling system at all, other than the normal slight hiss from the cap on removal due to it being warm. Engine doesn’t overheat on the gauge (though that doesn’t mean much) and everything seems perfectly normal. No bubbles or smell of combustion gases in the header tank either. I’ll take it on a longer run into town and back and see how it does then - it may be that the failure is only obvious when it’s hotter than I’m able to get it on the local roads. My assumption last night was that I had cooked the head and either the gasket had gone or the head had warped/cracked which was what was pressurising the cooling system. However now that I am unable to replicate it this morning it’s making me wonder if the over-pressurisation I saw last night could have just been due to it getting hotter than normal due to lack of waterpump circulation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 reckon just down to no circulation because no flow induced by the water pump not rotating, I had a similar problem a while ago, belt went, gave up driving after a few miles as mine did the same as yours, head was ok & all worked good after fitting a new belt. this was well before my recent engine rebuild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightpot Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 You've probably got away with it again just about - if the water pump isn't turning, the coolant will boil fairly quickly and fill the hoses with steam. Just keep an eye on the coolant and oil for a bit though. Your on your gypsies warning now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted February 3, 2018 Author Share Posted February 3, 2018 Indeed, thanks guys. Spare belt obtained and stashed in the car, where it would have been last night had I not used it and forgotten to replenish. Completed the 40 miles into town and back with no worries, checked everything a few times and all seems well. No excess pressure, no mayo in the oil, no coolant loss. 150 miles back up to work tomorrow evening so that’ll be the bigger test. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 All's well that ends well James 😊 Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 That's good new, quite a robust engine, so you haven't killed it yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Sounds like you cheated fate again, but you need to stop relying on luck! If you have a suspect cooling issue, you need to pull over and shut down to check, not keep driving another 15 miles. A spare fan belt is an essential piece of motoring equipment, especially in cold conditions (ironically) because the freezing temperatures make them more brittle. The PAS pump and alternator are also likely to be working harder in the cold, so the belt's load will be higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 I didn’t do 15 miles, it was a few miles to the exit off the motorway and then a few miles again at 30mph to see what was what. All the same I think the best plan of action is to not continue at all in these situations! I’ve a spare 200Tdi in the shed so I will whip the head off that and, assuming it's in reasonable nick, get set up to do a preventative head gasket swap in the near future just in case. Won’t do any harm given it’s on 318k now and it’s not been done in at least the ~180k I’ve put on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Hard radiator pipes are good, proves you don't have any leaks. The coolant system is meant to run at 1 bar or so from memory. Proper coolant and higher pressure keep the boiling point down of the coolant means its working properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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