Can anyone help? My 96 VSX TD is losing coolant from somewhere,but I can't see any signs of a leak. It uses about a litre every 50 miles.
This is pretty recent. Back in the summer,in southern France,(v hot day 38c) the bleed cap popped its lid. I replaced it with dust cap, refilled and bled through. It was then fine for a couple of months until now.
The heater never seems to have got very hot (quite common from reading this site it seems ) and thermostat seems to be working. I can't see any leaks anywhere,carpet doesn't feel wet. Any suggestions?
I'm a newbie here but have been enjoying Xants about 5 years (this is my second)
Your loss of coolant could be out of the exhaust tailpipe. On my parents 1996 Ford Mondeo when I stood at the back of the car and (WITH ENGINE WARM) asked my dad to give it a very hard rev 5 or 6 times - you wouldent believe the amount of coolant that shot out (plus misfire) - you could have filled a jamjar full of it. Once I had checked over the engine I found that the head gasket was shot. Once I had dismantled forementioned cylinder head it was stripped, skimmed and rebuilt. The firing water syndrome was no more. Hope this is of some help to you - Anthony.
Thanks for your answers. Tried fastandfurryous' head gasket test, which seems to be OK thankfully. Any quick way of finding out if it's the water pump?
If its the water pump you should see water dripping from the bottom of the timing cover. Try the pressure test again only this time drive round the block.
Last edited by Peter.N. on 07 Dec 2005, 12:05, edited 1 time in total.
Also check all of the water pipes for signs of age. I've has pipes that have become very hard with age and started to split around the clamps. Sometimes a leak can evaporate on a hot engine and leave very little trace.
I'm rather pleased with the anti-freeze I brought from Halfords - it leaves a nice pink powder trace to show where it leaks. The only Xantia leaks I've had have been around the silly plastic bleed caps.
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Favourite Xantia leak spots are the bottom of the radiator (can be a bit hard to see, as it tends to disappear into the cable trunking), and the water pump inlet on the back of the block. 1 litre / 50 miles is quite a lot, so it didn't ought to be that hard to spot. Take it out for a good hard run, then stop up and leave the engine running whilst you have a good look around and under it (ramps or stands obviously!). Give the hoses (carefully) a good wiggle - one may be leaking as the engine moves, and doing this may reveal it. Get it sorted ASAP before it DOES become a head gasket problem!!
Hi,
You may be losing water either by having a knackered head gasket - The water may be going to exhaust, therefore not showing in the engine or oil mayonaise, OR
(This happened to my Xantia)
There is a T piece in the rubber return hose for the cooling system that goes from the heater bulkhead connection to the expansion tank. This part decays over the years at the T joint (vibration caused fault) and is very common. The Citroen part number is 96 144 986, cost £145.70 from Citroen.
I wasn't going to pay this price so I used a copper T with copper tube cut to length, cut the rubber hose, pushed the copper pipe in and used jubilee ring to fix.
18months later A OK.
To test for this leak, put the car up on ramps, start the car and run untill hot, get under the car and have someone rev the car, the movement will show th leak up, or carefully wriggle the hose to show up a crack or break.
Paul
RichardW wrote:Favourite Xantia leak spots are the bottom of the radiator (can be a bit hard to see, as it tends to disappear into the cable trunking)
Yep, mine has this problem. It often doesn't manifest itself until the engine is warm. On a cold day, you can see steam coming from the drips on the trunking, which drop from the radiator drain plug. Other than that, it doesn't manifest itself anywhere else.
My Xantia isn't used at the minute, and is only started once a week to keep the battery topped up. It looses maybe a few ml of coolant a week.
Interestingly, it hasn't leaked the past few times I've started it.
By the way, does anyone have much experience of the radiator plug leak ? Can it be fixed by radweld and the likes, or is it more serious ?
By radiator plug I take it you mean the plastic drain tap in one of the radiator headers.
I'm by no means certain but think on a BX its sealed by one or more 'O' rings and if yours is dripping it may be that the ring is damaged or displaced.
Are you sure its the tap? the reason I ask is that it could be the header/core joint thats leaking or the core itself and the water is running along the radiator/header and dripping off the lowest point. Its also possible if there is a sensor or switch nearby that this is leaking slightly (and may need a new washer or whatever.)
Its the other end on a BX TD but my TD suffered from a tube corroding at the crank end (after 13 years!) and I had problems sealing the fan switch which were solved by a new washer. I also seem to remember the bottom hose didn't seal properly first time as well - cured with a new clip.
I just mention these as examples of where it can leak from and drop off the lowest point.
