Awx 130 coolant leak

[mrnice]

Hi folks, I've had a coolant leak for a few months now. It's emerging from drivers side, dripping down over starter motor
onto the ground but I'm having trouble finding the source. It seems to leak about 1litre per 300 miles but if I'm parked
facing down the drive (very very steep) it can leak the same amount out overnight.
I've had the egr, boost pipes etc all off to try to find the source but very difficult to see.
i first suspected the coolant hoses at rear of engine but the furthest up the block I can
see is the base of the head at the gasket. Is it a likely place for hg to leak?, seems odd.
Other possibilities could be a core plug or indeed those hoses at rear of engine but I can't see
a plausible route for it from these to the base of the head, then down towards starter.
any thoughts would be appreciated, I took a pic with a mirror under the bottom of the head,
may be of help-

Cheers,


mn

 

[mrnice]

I had another look with a mirror and there's 3 cooling hose joins that could be leaking so keeping an open mind.
Going to pressure test the system in the near future to get to the bottom of this and will post results as leaks in this
area seem common.

 

[towcestervag]

its usually the plastic hose connector at the back of the cylinder head
its usually best to change the whole part not just the seal as the housing distorts

 

[mrnice]

Thanks!, I'll keep this in mind

 

[mrnice]

Ok, so finally got some time to sort this out, armed with some G12, a few o ring seals, an air compressor and this home-brewed ghetto coolant pressure testing gizmo-

,
With the system pressurised I found the leak turned out to be between the cylinder head and alloy coolant outlet (the one with the coolant temp sensor in it).

Seal was shot. The seal between this outlet and the black plastic elbow behind it seemed ok but replaced it anyhow.
Even with smallish hands access at the rear of the head was appalling

While I had it apart I cleaned this crap out of the inlet manifold-

So thats that,

cheers