[RGK]

Luckily I avoided a similar type of situation last week.

Before my planned vacation trip "Coimbatore - Mysore - Udupi - Jog falls - Murdeshwar - Udupi - Agumbe - Sringeri - Belur - Halebeed - Hassan - BLR - Chennai" (Around 1800 km), I found a sudden decrease in coolant level. The senior technician was able to find that it was a leak due to the worn-out "o" ring (gasket) in the thermostat valve.

The replacement of the new gasket was done and the same coolant ( around 5 litres) was reused. Reached Chennai yesterday night without any issues and most of the drive was in hills/forests.

It may be a bit late to recommend, but it is better to rectify in Pondy and take the vehicle.

[autoholic]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

Folks


Now, I need some advice on what the problem could be:
1. A leak that we have not yet identified.
2. Head gasket leaking and consuming coolant.
Anything else?

The amount of coolant you are losing, if its getting into the engine then your engine oil will get milky. Just check the oil level dip stick if the engine oil is milky. If it is then do not drive the car at all.

Oh sorry, I just realised I am too late in advising you.

[hiren.sharma]

Well, I recently had a similar experience a year back in my Rapid and it recently got diagnosed. I mentioned it a year back because it started back then.


The coolant would leak randomly, over the year it happened 4 times. It happened twice in the past month, so clearly there was no pattern.


I visited the Skoda Workshop twice and they didn't find anything. According to them, there was no leak in hoses, gaskets, and the system was all fine.


Finally, I ended up showing at an FNG in Noida and they detected a leaking water pump, the leak was very small but it'd eventually empty the whole tank over the period of time.


So if it's not the hoses or the gaskets, it's surely one of the pumps.

[deep_bang]

So further diagnosis points to a clogged radiator, and a bad EGR cooler. Apparently, the EGR cooler was leaking the coolant into the exhaust. After googling, I see the symptoms are quite similar to what I am seeing.

Originally Posted by speedmunster

1. If it is a small leak that the service centre is enable to detect, use a teaspoonful of turmeric powder in the tank. It works wonders in stopping small leaks. Not a permanent solution but can last your journey.
.

Unfortunately the leak is big. Adding about 3 liters of water is consumed in about 20 to 30 kms of highway driving.

Originally Posted by RGK

Luckily I avoided a similar type of situation last week.

Good to know. I had coolant troubles a few weeks ago and it was diagnosed as a bad water pump and had been replaced. But looks like the root cause was elsewhere.

Originally Posted by autoholic

The amount of coolant you are losing, if its getting into the engine then your engine oil will get milky. Just check the oil level dip stick if the engine oil is milky. If it is then do not drive the car at all.

Oh sorry, I just realised I am too late in advising you.

The oil seems fine. The last oil change was done about 1k kms back.

Originally Posted by hiren.sharma

So if it's not the hoses or the gaskets, it's surely one of the pumps.

Replaced the water pump a few weeks ago. That was the earlier diagnosis for a previous problem .

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

I might be late to reply but still I would like to say the following-

My BIL has Ford Figo 1st Gen 2010 Petrol.
The car was facing Coolant level dropping at regular intervals but amount drop was minor. We suspected Auxiliary Tank cracked.
He took the car to Ford ASS in Pune But they could not find the leakage.
Due to time constraints and no idea of reliable FNG in Pune he used the car topping up the coolant.

Then suddenly after few days he called me and told that the car showed the "Red Light of Engine Overheat" and also Co-Driver side footwell has got wet due to some green liquid. I understood that the coolant is leaking from Heater Core (or its plumbing) of HVAC and asked him to show it to some nearby mechanic (preferably AC mechanic).
He took it to the AC mechanic who told that the Heater Core has busted and needs replacement.

He also suggested that if Heater is not needed, it can be bypassed. So my BIL just got the Heater Core Bypassed. Now all is OK. Touchwood.

Hope this helps.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

May be. How did you figure it out ?

IIRC, the green colour of the leak-drip residue helped the mechanic trace the leak location above it.

BTW, imagine the uncanny coincidence in me finding myself in a similar situation, just a day after posting on this thread.
Details here (My Maruti Baleno LXi. So what's new, right? EDIT: 1,00,000km milestone).

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by deep_bang

While driving to Pondicherry I saw that filling the coolant tank with about 5 to 7 liters of water helped me run the car for about 40 kms by which time the coolant would empty.

BTW, usually coolant tanks are small capacity (2-3 litres or so) of which the recommended fill is only like 1 litre or so (rest of the space for any return from radiator I think). Atleast that's how it looks in my Baleno.

Does the Quanto have a tank that can hold 5-7 litres ?

[ghodlur]

I had a similar leakage twice in the coolant system in my Punto and on both occasions the coolant in the tank was zero. In one case, I could see the coolant leakage from one of the hoses and one of the immediate practical solution suggested by one of the mechanics who was an ex Fiat workshop was to remove the O ring which is present in the Coolant tank body cap. This actually reduces the pressure in the coolant system and stops the leakage considerably. This technique actually worked with me the second time when I had the coolant tank going empty, I drove to the Fiat workshop with the O ring off after topping up the tank with water and keeping another bottle handy.