Xanatia - proboble heate matrix leak

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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Fernox concentraited central heating sealent is equally as good for sealing the matric in a BX.

regards Nigel.
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Post by elma »

juraj wrote:Mike

You are right, I have noticed that changing coolant seems to cause leaks in old clapped out cars.

Its like friend told me to never put oil flush into old dirty motors as it has a tendency to dislodge 'boogers' which can easily clog oil pathways.

bye
I wrote off my 2nd from last car flushing the oil.
Stupid really because if I had thought about it I knew that it had a bad piston ring already. I made it much much worse.
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Post by juraj »

well UPDATE

i put Bars leaks in it from Halfords, i was actually looking for a particular flavour of bars as seen on their website and as recommended by them - i emailed them -as usual halfords carries some bottle that isn't on the website and carries none that are.

so i poured it in, i took off the hose that goes from the top of the radiator to the expansion tank and poured it in via that, but in hindsight having seen how much circulation there is in the expansion tank i needn't've bothered.

Within about 20 minutes of running time the smell was considerably reduced, after about 1.5hrs much much more so, in fact i think its really sealed and its just a question of time till the remaining residua is evaporated.

When we first go the car you really couldn't heat and drive with the windows up it was that offensive, really felt like you were bing poisoned, actually it is a poison.

so i can recommend it highly,

ps didnt change the coolant as the stuff in there looked quite clean,

(if you go to the Bars website apart from it looking like it was made in 1989 and by a kid who can not spell, with testimonials that are from the 70's - how can a serious company with an amazing product have such a poor public face? maybe their product is really that good they can rest on their laurels)
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Post by Penguin »

OK, I've read the thread but as I'm stupid can someone please confirm I understand this correctly?

My Xantia has a very faint smell of antifreeze when the heater is first put on that quickly disappears. Presumably this is the start..

As I understand it, I buy a bottle of Bars leaks from Halfrauds or similar, get the car up to operating temp so the fans come on, stand the bottle in warm/hot water for a few minutes, somehow (not sure how yet) drain off a bit of coolant then dump the contents of the bottle into the expansion tank (which is where you add extra coolant when required I presume?).

Does that sound about right? Rather spend a fiver now than a few hundred a bit further down the line.
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Post by CitroJim »

Yep, that's the first sign :( A faint whiff that quickly goes means you have a tiny weep.

Rather than using Barrs, sport out on a bottle of Forte Stop leak. This is trade-only stuff but several sources can be found on eBay. It's expensive'ish but it works. It looks like pale blue milk.


My 2.1TD matrix had a floor soaking leak back along but Forte is holding it back to just a faint whiff when the heater initially comes on like yours.

I believe, but have no correlation, that Valeo recommend a bottle of Forte when installing a new Matrix as a safeguard...

Forte, Barrs or the like will only stave the problem off for a bit. It won't be a permanant cure and sooner or later the bullet has to be bitten and the matrix replaced.
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Post by RichardW »

I Forte'd the matrix in my previous 1.9TD at about 80k, nearly 2 years ago. I 'sold' (read gave, but it was pretty shagged!) it on to a friend last Sept with 118k, and AFAIK it has now done about 125k and the Forte is still holding.
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Post by Penguin »

THanks for the info guys. I shall try and source some Forte. Is my understanding of the method correct? Am I right in saying I put it into the bit where I would top up coolant? What's the best (easiest for a mechanical numpty!) way of extracting the existing coolant to make room for the Forte?

Cheers chaps

Oh BTW Jim, I guessed it wouldn't last forever but if I can stave it off for a couple of years that would be great.
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Post by CitroJim »

Penguin wrote:What's the best (easiest for a mechanical numpty!) way of extracting the existing coolant to make room for the Forte?
Forte Stop Leak comes in 500mL bottles.

If your rad has a drain cock (down at the bottom on the LH side as you look down from the top with the bonnet open) careflly open this and let about a pint run out. Many aftermarket rads don't have a drain cock and you really don't want to muck around pulling hoses off of anything so a turkey baster or similar might be the best means to extract a pint or so from the expansion tank.

If you use a turkey baster, please don't ever use it for its intended purpose again as antifreeze (or the ethelene glycol in it) is poisonous.

Mind you a turkey basted in ethelene glycol might just be really sweet :lol:

It is important that the level is dropped before adding the Forte otherwise there is a risk a valuable amount may blow out of the overflow pipe before it has a chance to get to work.
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Post by myglaren »

If you use a turkey baster, please don't ever use it for its intended purpose again as antifreeze (or the ethelene glycol in it) is poisonous
Probably not a good idea to use it for artificial insemination either.
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Post by CitroJim »

myglaren wrote: Probably not a good idea to use it for artificial insemination either.
:lol: :lol: I collapsed into helpless laugher when I first read that Steve, My workmate came over to see what was going on. He laughed rather a lot too...
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Post by myglaren »

Thangyou, thangou. I'll be here all week.



unless the management find out.
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