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Hi,
The car does not give any kind of smoke. Neither white nor blue. And there is no oil consumption at all. I have driven the car for more than 200 kms. The only problem is yhat yhe car loses water and yhen overheats.

nIk

Then the water is leaking some where. Here are points to check
- Where the hose is connected to metal. The hoses may be old/cracked or the clips loose
- Where the thermostat is screwed in. It may leak from here.
- The radiator is punctured at the bottom. This is most difficult to trace, and only taking it out and testing with air pressure (as in case of tube puncture) will identify the leaks.

In case the car is more than 5 years old take the radiator out and get it thoroughly cleaned.

Here is an example of a water pump impeller failure. In this case it was a plastic impeller from a Mercury/Ford Cougar which had a 2.5L V6 that was developed in collaboration with Porsche.
Although the water pump seems to be functioning fine externally, coolant does not circulate causing an overheating situation.

TIP:
To check if radiators and pumps, thermostats are working correctly, all of us have the right tools to do some basic troubleshooting: your hands!

You need to figure out what the flow of the cooling liquid is and you need to be a little carefull what you touch and for how long. I cant do it anymore but when I was an engineer in the merchant navy, when doing the watch rounds in the engine room we were taught to touch the various pipes before looking at temperature gauges. Anything up to approx 90oC can be reasonably felt by touch. More importantly, your hands will be able to distinguish very clearly temperature differences. So if a a radiator is blocked parts of it will be noticeable cooler then others. Want to figure out what the theromstat is doing, feel the pipes/hoses going in and out and figure it out.

It's a good idea (well at least I think so) that when everything is operating normal to feel around the engine, hoses, pump and radiotor a bit, just to get a feel for the different temperatures.

The one tool that is of tremendous value and very easy to use is to get a non contact thermometer. Usually they work on infrared and are subsequently also known as IR thermometers. You just point them at something and it will give you the surface temperature. The accuracy depends a bit on distance and the type of IR Thermometer (i.e. price) but again, you will be able to very quickly identify differences in temperature. Very easy to find a blocked hose, radiator etc.

Here is a very simple one, similar to the one I own:

http://2j2e0t1q2q5h348nps3hd39w15fg....hermometer.jpg

Jeroen

Nice tip there Jeroen, just a word of caution to other readers and particularly to newbies - be extremely careful while doing any business near the radiator area. The fan can start automatically any time without any warning & giving you time to get off the area. Advise to keep clear of the sweeping area of the cooling fan, even when it is not operating. Best to use the thermometer, if one is not confident.

Sound advise! Thanks.
BR Jeroen

Here is a good example of what happens when you neglect your cooling system. This vehicle has 159K miles, but it is not uncommon for this model to go over 300K.
Kindly note the junk around the low pressure valve in the cap and the coating of rust in the radiator. Please note the mating surfaces of the main seal and the upper seal (arrows). If any coolant gets past the main seal it should go into the overflow tank and not leak out from between the radiator and the cap.

Sorry was bit busy, so could not reply before!

This time do some spending. Put pure coolant no distilled water.

With the spillage you can detect the leaks.

Hi Guys,

I am back with few updates.

Sorry for the long Post.

First of all i would like to thank Ray for all his help.

So gave the car to one of my trusted mechanic. I could see the oil in the radiator and the coolant reservoir. So I gave the car to change the head gasket thinking it will solve the problem forever. But I was wrong. My mech changed the head gasket and got the head faced and returned the car to me. Now i was facing a real strange issue. The car would start fine when cold but it would not start after I have driven it for few KMs it would start if we push start the car but not with the self start. and the explanation what my mechanic gave me is because there is lot of pressure building inside because of head work and the problem will go away after driving for few hundered KMs and if it does not i will have to get my self serviced.

I drove for some 500 KMs and the self problem was reducing for example earlier it used to give trouble even after a short drive of 5-7 KMs but now the problem used to occur only after driving say more than 15-20 KMs. And if you leave the car for 10-15 min it would start without a problem. And about the Overheating issue the car was not overheating at all. But when i checked the water level in the coolent reservoir i was surprised that it was full after a drive of 30 KMs. I called up the mechanic and he asked me to leave the car with him and said that we will have to change the radiator. I got the call in the eveninng that changing the radiator did not solve the problem & now we need to face the block. I give him a go ahead he got the block facing done. assembled the car back. And after driving for few hundered KMs I noticed the problem is still there.

So I call up my old mechanic who works in Gurgoan and used to take care of my Carb Esteem when i used to stay in Gurgaon. I informed him about the situation and he checked and said the head work was not done properly. I gave the car to him and he returned the car next day and he replaced the head gasket again. And I also got the self serviced. The next day i drove for 30 KMs and the problem returs again. The coolant reservoir was full again.

The car does not overheat at all. The AC keeps working but the raditor keeps loosing water because of the whole issue. I tried a different radiator cap from my Gypsy. Though I am not sure if that cap was good or not as I have not even moved the Gypsy in last 2 Years. I have spent almost 15K on the car at different places. Apart from this issue I am very much satisfied with the car and plan to keep the car for many years as i generally don't sell my car.

My question to all of you is what should I do now. I have had a very bad experience at MASS so I am not interested in going to MASS.

nIk

Hi there,
I presume that your car is with a carburetor. Symptoms of the problem you are facing indicate that it could be a case of vapour lock. It is a common problem especially in the summers due to high temperatures when the fuel vaporizes. The resulting fuel/air mixture can slow down or even stop the flow of fuel to the engine as a result the engine does not start.
If your engine won't start due to vapour lock, you may try the following:-
Loosen the fuel tank cap and release the vapours. Be sure to stand back when doing this because fuel may spray out at you.
Remove the air cleaner cover and hold open the choke flutter valve in the carburetor with a object, like a screwdriver. Be careful - backfires can occur.
Start the engine, press the accelerator fully but don't pump it.
If nothing works sprinkle some water, preferably cold, on the metal fuel line near the carburetor.
Best way is to let the engine cool for some time before trying to start the car.
Happy Driving:D

Note from Mod : Please dont quote entire long post while replying. It inconveniences our mobile readers. Cheers

Hi arrowhead6996,

I am aware about what a vapour lock is. All Esteems from year 2000 onwards were MPFI. And my car is a 2005 model. So it's not the case of vapour lock.

nIk

Today morning I checked the coolant level in my Ertiga DDiS and it appeared to be below the full marking on the tank. I started adding distilled water expecting that it will require a small quantity to raise to the full marking. But even after adding almost half liter of distilled water the level of has come nowhere near the full mark. In fact, the level appears to have increased very little (seen visually), making me wonder where did all that half liter go in?

Does it mean that the coolant (+water) quantity was very less before refill? The temperature gauge never showed overheating, so I assume the quantity of coolant was acceptable earlier.

How much is normally the total quantity of coolant that is present in the system, is it several liters?

I hope this process of merely refilling the coolant tank does not cause airlock.

Quantity of coolant is several litres.

This is recirculated throughout the engine block and radiator and coonecting hoses when engine runs the water pump and during this process pressure is maintained at little over 1 bar pressure.

When the pump is not running, the coolant collects in pockets in the system. Air pockets therefore naturally occur.

The correct way to fill up coolant is to pour in the coolant and water mix in equal proportion with the engine switched off. Then start the engine and pour in water in small quantities while waiting for the airlocks to be dissipated through the coolant inlet. After you find no more burping, pour in the remainder quantity of water to reach required dilution level.

Wait for the fan automatically switch on and off again to ensure that the system is working fine.

I would like to add a few comments. If you are just replenishing, meaning there is still quite a bit of coolant mix left in the system, it is actually better to add the coolant/water mix with the engine running. If you have just shut down the engine be aware as the cooling system is likely to be still pressurized. You need to be very carefull undoing the radiotor or coolant liquid reservoir cap. They should have a pressure release position. Try it once when the engine is cold. Typically you twist the gap a bit and that will allow pressure to escape, but it still retains the gap. To take the gap off completely you have to twist is further.

Adding coolant mix with the engine off will never get rid of airpockets as they typically collect at the highest places in the engine and hoses and such.

You need to add the coolant mix slowly to avoid any thermo shock. And be carefull with a running engine; things tend to get hot, and be weary of a fan kicking in and such.

The other thing you need to do, is to open the heater controls fully, put it on max before adding coolant mixThe same coolant is circulated through a heat exchanger and provides cabin heat. By opening it up during replenishment you ensure no air pockets are left there.

I don't know about mixing the coolant and water in equal proportions. It really depends on the coolant type. I'm not familiar with what is on the market in India, but in many other countries you can also buy pre-mixed coolant, so you don't add anything. And usually the ratio is determined by the anti-freeze protection you need. Might not be that relevant for most of India. So maybe the 50/50 is a good rule of thumb. I would just make sure to read the instructions on the coolant.

Happy (re)-fillings!

Jeroen

Jeroen - absolutely right. Just a small point to add...
Don't bend over the inlet when opening the cap on a running engine- the coolant is really hot , and because it's under positive pressure , it will gush out and can cause bad burns.
Rather wait until the block is cooled down sufficiently before attempting to remove the cap.