Radiator Problem

mudi269 · August 20, 2009

Dear Firends,

Today morning when i was driving, the heat was going high, then when checked water has got emptied in the radiator. I serviced the car(Alto, Japan version) 3 weeks ago and there after i couldn't check the water levels. But this is the first time water got emptied since the day i got the car.(I'm using this for about 3 years now and ran only 38,000 kms, got unregistered)

I checked for any leakage by keeping the engine at start mode for about 5 mins after putting water, but no water dropeed in to the ground.

So what may be the cause ? Please be kind enough to let me know.

Thanx in advance.

Corolla121 · August 20, 2009

mudi269 said:
Dear Firends,
Today morning when i was driving, the heat was going high, then when checked water has got emptied in the radiator. I serviced the car(Alto, Japan version) 3 weeks ago and there after i couldn't check the water levels. But this is the first time water got emptied since the day i got the car.(I'm using this for about 3 years now and ran only 38,000 kms, got unregistered)

I checked for any leakage by keeping the engine at start mode for about 5 mins after putting water, but no water dropeed in to the ground.

So what may be the cause ? Please be kind enough to let me know.

Thanx in advance.

Only God knows why.

Machan, put water and drive it around and see. go couple of KM's in high revs and see whether there are any water leaks. If everything is ok, put radiator coolent. Cos with water you might not notice a small leak since water evaporates fast and cant notice any small leakages, but coolent will keep a green stain where it leaks..

Prami · August 20, 2009

Use good Coolent for the Radiator. and have a good practice to check the coolent/oil levels every day (if you cant do every day, check once a week). I recommend check those stuff every day.

Edited August 20, 2009 by Prami

Ruslan · August 20, 2009

mudi269 said:
Dear Firends,
Today morning when i was driving, the heat was going high, then when checked water has got emptied in the radiator. I serviced the car(Alto, Japan version) 3 weeks ago and there after i couldn't check the water levels. But this is the first time water got emptied since the day i got the car.(I'm using this for about 3 years now and ran only 38,000 kms, got unregistered)

I checked for any leakage by keeping the engine at start mode for about 5 mins after putting water, but no water dropeed in to the ground.

So what may be the cause ? Please be kind enough to let me know.

Thanx in advance.

Did you check for any Gasket failure? sounds like gasket failure for me. check for any signs of Engine oil mix with water.. (Could be a faulty radiator Cap too..)

Edited August 20, 2009 by Ruslan

Ripper · August 20, 2009

ditto on what others have said...

keep the coolant concentration high if it has diluted...

the green coloring really helps to spot leaks even when water has long evaporated...

the leak might be happening when the engine is much hotter for you to not notice anything on a 5 minute warm up test...

leaks can spring from bad hoses that only open up when the cooling system is more pressured up...

it can be though a worn radiator cap.... check the condition of the radiator cap when the car has cooled down... the rubber washers tend to get damaged overtime

another quick way to check is to pull over when the heat dial starts going up, pop the bonnet up and try to spot steam....

most of the time you can spot the leaks quite easily since there aint suppose to be any steam coming off the engine bay so it'll stand out like a sore thumb

good luck

CARBON · August 20, 2009

Ruslan said:
Did you check for any Gasket failure? sounds like gasket failure for me. check for any signs of Engine oil mix with water.. (Could be a faulty radiator Cap too..)

When you open the radiator cap is there any white oily stuff near the radiator cap ? This maybe a sign that oil is getting mixed with water.

Is your engine oil level ok, or has it reduced ? . You also need to check if both Fans are working properly. If the fan fails the water temp will go up like crazy and the steam will somehow find a way to escape. You will not notice this by running for 5 mnts as Fan will only kick in when temp is hot. The A?C fan amy also compensate for the loss of the radiator fan. There could be many reasons for the fan to fail like the thermostat, motor faulty wire etc.. So it even could be a very simple thing.

Best is to take it to a Gaurage and they will find the problem and fix it.

MkX · August 22, 2009

Ripper said:
ditto on what others have said...
keep the coolant concentration high if it has diluted...

the green coloring really helps to spot leaks even when water has long evaporated...

the leak might be happening when the engine is much hotter for you to not notice anything on a 5 minute warm up test...

leaks can spring from bad hoses that only open up when the cooling system is more pressured up...

it can be though a worn radiator cap.... check the condition of the radiator cap when the car has cooled down... the rubber washers tend to get damaged overtime

another quick way to check is to pull over when the heat dial starts going up, pop the bonnet up and try to spot steam....

most of the time you can spot the leaks quite easily since there aint suppose to be any steam coming off the engine bay so it'll stand out like a sore thumb

good luck

Most probably this is likely to be the issue. If you can't notice any leakage best is get a friend of yours on board and get some backup water bottles drive about 50 - 100km while monitoring the temp meter. Every 20km get down from the vehicle and check underneath the bonnet for any leaks.

BTW if engine over heated never put water immediately. Check over flow tank and add little water to it if its low. keep engine idle. Then off the engine wait about 1hr or so.. to cool down then add little water and start running.