c5 hdi coolant leak maybe

boristhespie · Unread post by **boristhespie** » 02 Jan 2010, 11:17

may have a coolant leak. was advised to try radweld. have wynns radiator leak repaire liquid. wil this harm the system if i put this into the coolant system? need to know shqrpish;

Unread post by **myglaren** » 02 Jan 2010, 11:33

Don't use Radweld Boris.
There is a Forte product that is recommended for Citroens and approved by Jim.
ForteStop Leak.

You do seem to have a lot of varied problems with your cars. Is this the new one and are you home from France yet?

boristhespie · Unread post by **boristhespie** » 02 Jan 2010, 12:18

have wynns, qll I could get here in france. So,eone sqying thi could be heqd gaset, bugger. leave to,,orrow have no euroean breAKDOWN INSURANCE;

Hope you got that, bloody french keyboard.

Your french singer has a new livealbu out just now and a nez Besson film character is ased on her (arthur and the minimoys seque)

Unread post by **myglaren** » 02 Jan 2010, 12:30

Avoid Wynns and Barrs if Forte is available. Wynns is probably the lesser evil.

Where does the leak seem to be?
Have you looked at the oil on the dipstick and the oil filler/camshaft? Is it a mass of foamy gunk?

Also have you looked for indications of oil in the coolant, usually a fair giveaway.

Have you had to top it up much and is there a lot of condensation on the windscreen? (heater matrix). There is usually the telltale pong of coolant/antifreeze but I don't know if the C5 recommended antifreeze has the same, or any, smell.Will open a bottle and see.
Could be just a weeping join or a split hose somewhere. Hopefully.

ETA: Had a look at some I have here and it appears to be fairly standard antifreeze. blue with the usual smell, says it is Long-Life Antigel but still Ethylene Glycol based. As I bought it from Citroen I had thought that it would be the new OAT*-based stuff but apparently not.

*Don't feed it to your horse or hamster!

Mylène Farmer - The live album (#5) came out before Christmas. Silly money for the box set Limited Edition, going for around £400. They can stick it for that price.

boristhespie · Unread post by **boristhespie** » 02 Jan 2010, 13:05

okay her goes (again, never ends). The cAR WARING LIGHTS AND STOP LIGHTS CAME ON AFTER I FILLED UP FOR JOURNEY typical LOOKED at level, very low, topped up. journeyed though night to southampton, left car for a couple hours, lights were on, low level, filled up.

Arrived 10 (dont ask) hours later in sw france with level this time, still okay ths time, though what seemed like loud fan noise apparent despite temp guage being normal, took to dealer who could find nothing wrong, just some air in the pipes, they indicated may be head gasget but that was only a posible problem NOT their diagnosis;

there is cONDENSation and a smell which i asumed was the cleaner used by the seller and the condensation was result of car stting for 5 months un driven.

leaving for home tomorow so making it to the uk 6 hours to ferry so getting to uk paramount.

found wynns after being advised to try radweld.

car was serviced 3 days befre leaving and has been done regularly.

no milky oil in dipstick as far as i can see.

Unread post by **myglaren** » 02 Jan 2010, 13:11

Looking like a corroded heater matrix, not what you want at this time of year.
The Wynns should bung it up for a while but a new matrix will be called for before too long.

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 02 Jan 2010, 13:12

Forte is brilliant stuff, ive cured many a headgasket on other peoples cars with it before. My dad works for forte

it is the best stuff on the market though. I use most of the products on our own cars. If you can get it then that will most likely cure the problem.

Ive recently put it in a Honda Stream wich was losing coolent, think it was actually the head gasket starting to go, its now not using any coolent.

Unread post by **myglaren** » 02 Jan 2010, 13:15

Is your dad the rep for this area?

boristhespie · Unread post by **boristhespie** » 02 Jan 2010, 13:27

would this also cause the loud fan noise as it is this which worries oo;

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 02 Jan 2010, 13:36

Steve, not for your area no, he does up to Peterlee and down as far as whitby, main areas being stockton, middlesbough, redcar, saltburn erc. So its quite a long area but not up as far as you.

Hmm have you any coolent left? Might be a fault sensor unless its getting too hot.

boristhespie · Unread post by **boristhespie** » 02 Jan 2010, 13:56

the coolant was topped up twice but seem stablish. the guage takes a little while to move to centre which i assume is it warming up; when removing cap after 11km pressure is there and thre was a little steam in cold not much.

the fan noise, i assume it is a fan cant see anything, goes the clappers straight off now. despite guage showing normal temp;

garage gave willies with unsolicited quote for head gqsket of
15 plus hourse qn other stuff at over 1500 euro

rmunns · Unread post by **rmunns** » 02 Jan 2010, 14:38

Hi Boris. I live in SW France and have a similar 'fan noise' in my 90Hdi Xantia.
Have had the noise for 4000 miles, just arrived back here after round trip 1800miles Birmingham. It isn't the fan, but no-one has been able to pin it down. I'm not losing water, though.

Unread post by **myglaren** » 02 Jan 2010, 14:53

Do make sure that the system is bled once it has been topped up.There are three bleed valves, look like tyre valve caps, one on the hoses for the heater, near the bulkhead at the back of the engine, to the left viewed from the front of the car. One hides under the engine cover, on the right of the engine and is blue. The third one is blue too, on mine anyway, can't remember where it is but IIRC left front of engine.

Thought I might have had some photo's but apparently not

Mine was weeping from one of the bleed caps last year, after they blew one off at the MOT.

ETA: Found one that shows the bleed valve on the left of the engine, the blue thing peeping out from the intercooler hose , almost in line between the dipstick and the yellow connector block.

Click for larger image^

boristhespie · Unread post by **boristhespie** » 02 Jan 2010, 14:57

Okay I assume the dealer bled it to get rid of air; nothing to do but try t. note the forecast fo you uys is heavy snow ad minus 20 who needs coolant

Unread post by **myglaren** » 02 Jan 2010, 15:06

Don't make that assumption! Also, if you have lost coolant it will most probably need re-bleeding as air could have entered the system. Try squeezing the top hose to the radiator, if there is air in the system it will generally feel very squishy and you can sometimes hear air in it.