Coolant leaking after coolant change

[Oliver53]

Last Saturday I changed the coolant of my 53 Picasso 2.0 HDI. The antifreeze was Total GLACELF auto supra organic.
I flushed coolant circuit with water before refilled with antifreeze and distilled water. The antifreeze was orange out of the bottle, but I noticed it became green/yellow ish when it came out of the bleeding valves. Maybe the flushing wasn't thorough enough? Anyway when all was done there wasn't any obvious leaking and the car ran well. I did top up once after a short drive and I believe the bleeding was completed then.

This morning I saw a small pool or coolant under the car. Checking the coolant level, it was lower than Min by about 1cm. Topped it up to near MAX, did a school run (about 2 miles) now I can see the coolant level is again lower than MIN. I can see the there is coolant on the bottom of engine, drive shaft, chassis panels, etc. but I can't see where exactly it is leaked from.

Question, is it possible that the new antifreeze has caused some sort of corrosion to the seals leading to the leak? Has anyone used this type of antifreeze in HDI engines? Cheers

[myglaren]

If there is any corrosion present from the old coolant the new stuff, which is very searching, will find any weak spots.
It won't corrode anything itself - it has corrosion inhibitors in it's formulation.

I would suspect weakened hoses first though.

You may also have air pockets still in the system that would most probably over-pressurise the system and push through any weak spots.

[Oliver53]

If there is any corrosion present from the old coolant the new stuff, which is very searching, will find any weak spots.
It won't corrode anything itself - it has corrosion inhibitors in it's formulation.

I would suspect weakened hoses first though.

You may also have air pockets still in the system that would most probably over-pressurise the system and push through any weak spots.

Thanks..
Just had a look while engine is running, it's leaking from behind the thermostat housing...i think the rubber seal of the thermostat I bought from Euro car parts is doggy. Going to replace it with the original seal and try again. Will need a drive to tesco for some distilled water later though.

[GiveMeABreak]

That doesn't surprise me - everything I've ever had from that place has been faulty, damaged or DOA. I never use or recommend them now. Hopefully it will just be the seal, but they shouldn't be too expensive from Citroen if you do need to replace the thermo.

[Hell Razor5543]

Citronut used to call ECP (amongst other things) Euro Crap Parts. He would NEVER have anything to do with them, but was happy with GSF.

[Zelandeth]

I'd agree there - only tend to use them if Motorserv (choice no 1), and GSF (choice no 2) don't have what I'm after.

...Three out of the last four things I've had from there were either wrong, damaged or just plain defective.

Only really persevere because it's easier than returning stuff to sellers on eBay!

A coolant flush can result in leaks sometimes if there are any marginal bits in the system, especially if the coolant changes have been overlooked for a long time, and/or if hard water has been used to top up. Over time corrosion can set in, seals and shrink or perish etc, but you can find that general gunk in the system can over time actually seal these leaks. Flushing out to clean the system, can also wind up cleaning out the crud which has provided an impromptu seal. This is generally more of an issue though with far older cars than relatively new ones like this.

[Oliver53]

Thanks guys. The original seal has cured the problem -- at least seemingly.
I will not consider the Euro crap parts (I like the name BTW:)) next time as long as I have other choices.