water leak on Renault Scenic

stuart p · Unread post by **stuart p** » 29 Apr 2004, 23:16

Hi,
I have an S reg 1.6 RN Renault Scenic and I am experiencing a water leak problem.
It seems to be very intermittent and sometimes can go for more than a week without dropping. It never seems to loose much water, and the most is only half a header tank.
I notice that when I start it up first thing, it is very lumpy (as if it is missing on one of the cylinders) and I can hear the sound of trickling water to the left hand side of the dash. If I then top the header tank up to the max level it is OK.
I did have a slight leak from the thermostat gasket recently and lost a lot of water from the system when I changed it. I wonder whether I have got air in the system still, but I have bled it from the bleed valve on the top pipe.
I gather that it can sometimes be difficult to get all of the air out of the Scenic's system, but I don’t know how to do it. I am also a bit confused as to why the water level keeps dropping.
Hope you can help.
Stuart

reblack68 · Unread post by **reblack68** » 30 Apr 2004, 04:26

I think your head gasket has blown. The lumpiness on starting is water in one of the cylinders. When it's running do you see bubbles coming up in the header tank? That's another indicator of a blown head gasket.

AbbCon · Unread post by **AbbCon** » 01 May 2004, 19:40

I had exactly the same problem. You will eventually see "A Mayonaise Looking Substance" in the oil filler cap, this is a sure sign of blown head gasket. I took mine to a Renault Main dealer and was qouted about £600 and 2 days work. When i collected car bill was £800. I was not told original qoute was plus VAT. One other thing is they recomend changing timing belt as this is disturbed whilst removing head, and if not changed, then no warrenty.