Another coolant problem - common resrvoir failures?

[jaggedfish]

I am having a similar problem to a few others here on the site. Long story short... drove to Kelowna last weekend and upon parking discovered coolant dripping from front passenger side under the reservoir area. Did a quick inspection and topped it off prior to returning home and ran the engine up to temp. Couldn't see any leakage that was obvious. Got home to Calgary, coolant was low again. Inspected again, topped off the reservoir, ran it for 1/2 an hour under idle and higher revs (no load) and am still losing coolant. I pulled the thermostat and tested to ensure it opens and it is working fine.

Before jumping to conclusions on the head gasket, I am trying to diagnose any other potential issues with the reservoir bottle. Where do these things usually fail? At the seam, at the hose attachment points?

Symptoms so far as I can tell:
Engine not running hot... temp guage at mid point.
Engine oil is clean... no foam - changed just prior to Kelowna trip and prior to problem.
Coolant is clean and green... no apparent crud from potential head gasket leak.
No pressure in cooling system even when running - can't tell if it pressurizes under load tho.
Coolant is being circulated... water pump functioning.
Not losing all of the coolant, just some of it, so far.

I am going to put the reservoir overflow into a bottle to see if that is in fact where the coolant is going (hard to tell when it's raining) - ie. it is being forced out by pressure from potential head gasket issue during pressurization from turbo under load or a failed cap.

Will be looking vey closely this weekend to try to solve the issue before committing to head gasket replacement. Will check all areas of reservoir and also block heater for leaks. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks and cheers!
Ian

[joedelica]

Hello Ian,

Pull up the carpet on the passenger side to see if it is wet or damp. The heater core is behind the glove box and maybe leaking.
I just saw Mardy yesterday for the same reason, but my coolant levels remain the same, no white smoke, no sweet smell of coolant from exhaust,
no foamy oil, yet a sweet smell of coolant periodically in the cabin. We are going to check the core next week to see if this is the culprit and replace.
Just don't want you to commit to a head gasket replacement when this may be a possibility.

Cheers,

Joe

[jessef]

Where the coolant bottle meets (two halves), some are known to seep coolant out under pressure.

Two out of four coolant bottles I had were slightly split and lost a good amount of coolant after driving.

Something to check. One of them was split in the back against the firewall and I had to remove the bottle to check it.

[jaggedfish]

Thank you Joe and Jesse for you replies!

I was going to ask where to find the heater core or how to source a problem with that - thanks for that Joe! Will add that location to my checklist. There is a slight sweet smell in the cabin and can smell it outside as well. Not sure if that is from the spillage from when I took the thermostat out - wouldn't think that would last a couple days though.

Will have a good look over the reservoir bottle to look for any leaks - thanks Jesse for the info. Is there any way to repair a leaky bottle instead of replacing it? I believe Mardy replaced it when I bought the van a few months ago, not that a new part can't fail as well.

I topped up the reservoir this morning and put the overflow hose into an old water bottle but so far nothing has shown up there. I intentionally drove it hard to spool up the turbo to put as much pressure into the cylinders as possible to try to reveal any over-pressure in the cooling system that may result from a blown head gasket. I suspect a leak somewhere rather than head gasket because the system is not pressurizing when the engine has been running - I checked after driving to work before shutting the engine off. No sweet smell in the exhaust either.

Cheers!
Ian

[jessef]

upon parking discovered coolant dripping from front passenger side under the reservoir area.

Inspected again, topped off the reservoir, ran it for 1/2 an hour under idle and higher revs (no load) and am still losing coolant.

So are you saying that your coolant loss both times is at the passenger side ?

New coolant bottles can leak at the 1/2 seam (like two of mine did that were brand new).

With regards to your situation, I would highly recommend taking it to a service shop (or do it yourself) that will use a dye solution (pour it into the rad/overflow bottle), clean the engine, and then run it and turn on the black light to see where the dye is coming out anywhere on the engine. That is the best way to trace a coolant/oil leak.

Also check the coolant tube going from the thermostat housing to the turbo. It may be blocked (unrelated but good to check)

[Rising Sun Auto Import]

Also check the coolant tube going from the thermostat housing to the turbo. It may be blocked (unrelated but good to check)

Good point, jfarsang.
Not often, but possible problem for L400.
Also not a good spot to fix.
It will be worth to use a good quality coolant expansion bottle for your replacement.

Steven

[jaggedfish]

I only noticed the coolant loss the first time because the weather was dry and there was a small pool of coolant on the ground and dripping. Looking closer, it was dripping off the bottom edges of the front and back of the plastic wheel well liner. This is what led me to look at the expansion bottle at first and that is what I will be looking more closely at this weekend. The last couple checks, it has been pouring rain which masks any potential evidence because everything is wet and the green coolant is not obvious so I couldn't tell for sure.

It was also noted by Joe that the heater core is in close proximity to the expansion bottle as well so if that was what let go it would presumably yield a similar result.

My feeling is that whatever it is that has failed, did so soon before I arrived at my destination in Kelowna as there was no previous evidence of trouble. May have been sprayed around when it first happened (causing the obvious signs) and now is just a leak that is more elusive. No noticeable wetness on the return trip that I could tell but didn't look too close either.

I will check the coolant line to the turbo as well - preventative maintenance - good tip! Thank you Steven for posting pics!

[jaggedfish]

Okaaay.... so, the verdict is in!.....

The culprit is the coolant expansion bottle.

I rolled the van as far into the garage as I could get it and left the engine running. Looking in the top of the engine bay didn't reveal anything untoward so then I got on the creeper and had a look underneath. Didn't take long for the front end to dry out and that was when a nice little green drip, drip,drip revealed itself. I removed the battery and unbolted the expansion bottle from it's mounts. Initial inspection looked all okay but I then removed the small ose from the top of the tank, plugged it with my finger and blew into the tube that the hose was attached to. Coolant came spraying out of the tank seam that was against the fender!

So... temporary fix... gotta get some JB Weld to try to seal the seam for the moment until new expansion tank arrives.

Will report back once it is sealed.....

[madmazda]

WOO HOO good catch.... now we can go on that exploration that we need to plan now that it's not snowing out..... yet....

[jessef]

Told ya so

It's just the design. Two halves glue pressed together. Some will have a seam burst. Just the way it is.

I fixed mine with JB weld. Just make sure it's dry first.

I would prefer knowing mine is fixed personally than putting on a different one. My 2 cents

[jaggedfish]

I fixed mine with JB weld. Just make sure it's dry first.

Yup! Used a file to widen the groove at the seam all the way round the gooped the whole seam with JB Weld. Had it inside to dry (about 16 hours). Installed it and ran up the engine... STILL LEAKING!!! .... took it all apart again... this time one of the hose clamps wasn't holding - phew! Replaced the hose clamps and ran it up to temp again. System fully warm and pressurized... no leaks! YAY!

I would prefer knowing mine is fixed personally than putting on a different one. My 2 cents

Was thinking the same thing. Now that the whole seam has been 'welded', I feel it may be better than a new one where the same problem could repeat itself. Mardy was going to warranty it for me - which I greatly appreciate - but I might ask him to hold off and see if it the seams last this time.

Hopefully it is reliable now because I am WAY overdue to organize another outting...

Thanks for all the input!
Cheers!
Ian

[mrdueck]

My van came with a new tank, it leaked at seam, JB weld until new one arrived. JB let go after a couple months. Put in the replacement. It leaked. JB the old tank again, cleaned, grind, JB in seam and around the whole joint... leaked. My friend works for an air craft companany, gave me some heavy duty epoxy (stuff they use for glue in aircraft windshields), redid another tank...lasted the longest but leaked again. Got a Japanese tank, no more issues. The specialist at my friends shop said that the plastic used on the aftermarket tanks is of the nature that they could not find a compound that would adhear to it or weld to it.

That's my story, went through three aftermarket tanks and $100+ of coolant. Tanks fortunately where under warrenty.

Rudy

[blevesque@shaw.ca]

I recently bought my L400 and replaced the coolant bottle with a new Japanese one, even though the old one was in fine shape. I'm in Calgary too and if you have more problems you are welcome to use my old bottle.

[jaggedfish]

I recently bought my L400 and replaced the coolant bottle with a new Japanese one, even though the old one was in fine shape. I'm in Calgary too and if you have more problems you are welcome to use my old bottle.

MANY thanks for putting that out there - that's awesome! I am thinking about ultimately replacing the repaired one with the Japanese one but it's nice to know there is a local backup plan if needed for temporary repair until the Japanese one is available. Really appreciated!

Thanks also Mrdueck for the input. I am keeping an eye on it for now. The good part is it seems like the cooling system still functions well enough to keep the engine cool in the event of another failure. It doesn't lose all of the coolant, only some. My temp guage never went higher than 'normal' (half way) when I drove back from Kelowna, even on the hills. The most fluid I had to replace was less than 2 litres.

Cheers!
Ian

[mrdueck]

It just takes one hotter than normal trip and your bottle will be empty. Check OFTEN!