3008 1.6hdi water leak

[colinsunderland]

Hey all

I've had a small water leak for a few months now that I haven't been able to trace, but managed to catch it dripping today. It was too dark to take a photo, but it seems to be coming from (from standing in front of the car looking under the bonnet) the front right hand side of the engine, and is dripping down onto the front of the engine tray.

I've reached under and felt around, got covered in oil too, but couldn't feel any pipes or anything. Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone who can get it on a ramp before Christmas, so just wondered if anyone knew whats round there that could be leaking.

One mechanic had a quick look and said the oil cooler is in that area and they are prone to going so could be that, someone else mentioned they think the plastic thermostat housing is in that area and they can crack, anyone got any experience with this and might have an idea of where it could be coming from?

Thanks

[RichardW]

Could be any of those things! If it's been leaking a while, there should be a tell tale stain. If it's an early one with the 16V engine, there is also a hard plastic pipe in this location that a few people have had trouble with leaking.

[colinsunderland]

Could be any of those things! If it's been leaking a while, there should be a tell tale stain. If it's an early one with the 16V engine, there is also a hard plastic pipe in this location that a few people have had trouble with leaking.

Thanks for that, it's been leaking a while, but until yesterday I didn't have a clue where it was going as I could go a week without having to top up, and other times it would need doing after a day. Just happened to spot the drip yesterday.

The problem is having to get it in the air and remove the engine tray to see properly, but I'll try to get my phone down there later and take a video or photos and see if I can see the problem like that, typically though it's in a really awkward place to get to from above

Thanks for the reply

[Hell Razor5543]

I know of somebody who had a leak on an old engine, but it could have been from any one of several places. What he did was to clean the whole area, and then drew horizontal lines of chalk across the space. Next time the leak occurred it was obvious as to WHAT had leaked as the chalk had been washed away by the leak, so there was a 'chalkless' trail.