Sam_
Down under
I've been having a rather annoying on going coolant issue for the last couple of months. It started with the water pump leaking. I was due a cam belt so I changed that with fresh coolant and the usual bits. Just two weeks later the o-ring in the heater core / heater matrix fitting starts leaking - one failed before but I only changed one for whatever reason. The next week the radiator started leaking from the seal on the end tank (pretty common it seems) so I replace it with a Nissens pattern one - even on fitting I wasn't happy with this one as it's got the super fragile, wafer thin fins on it. Anyway, I get it in and no leaks. Then yesterday, about 6 weeks after the rad change, I park up somewhere and noticed a little red puddle forming. ***. It's coming from the drivers side at the front and the aux pump is dry as a bone so it has to be the radiator. I've not got under there and had a look but I'm fairly certain based on what I can see. I also noticed that the coolant reservoir is leaking through the pins on the level sensor connector! That's only about 2 years old also but is a Febi Bilstein part. It's had a new genuine coolant cap (the fancy Porsche one) recently too.
My initial thoughts were a head gasket issue compressing the coolant system so I started the car and checked the hoses to see if they had gone hard. They seemed a little bit harder than when the engine was off but certainly not rock hard. No smoke on startup and prior to this last leak, the level hasn't been dropping. The reservoir also smells normal and has the usual red/pink color with no bubbling.
The plan is to get a genuine radiator and expansion tank in the hope that fixes it but I'm not sure. I have heard the Nissens rads have had issues where the end tanks weren't clamped on tight enough so it could be that. Lucky it'll be covered by a warranty so I might be able to get something back on it at least.
My initial thoughts were a head gasket issue compressing the coolant system so I started the car and checked the hoses to see if they had gone hard. They seemed a little bit harder than when the engine was off but certainly not rock hard. No smoke on startup and prior to this last leak, the level hasn't been dropping. The reservoir also smells normal and has the usual red/pink color with no bubbling.
The plan is to get a genuine radiator and expansion tank in the hope that fixes it but I'm not sure. I have heard the Nissens rads have had issues where the end tanks weren't clamped on tight enough so it could be that. Lucky it'll be covered by a warranty so I might be able to get something back on it at least.
