Coolant leak

[IFLYRC]

Hi Team

I noticed that the coolant level in the overflow tank dropped about 1cm over the last few weeks. Topped it up, and dropped again....very slowly. Only saw red/pink drops on my garage floor over the weekend. Checked underneath, and saw the pink marks on the gearbox just after the engine. It looks like it gushed out, bit it did not. Must leak at a slow rate, as when I started the engine to see if I can see any coolant coming out, nothing....

Has anyone had this before? Please see pic. The white circle is the highest point that I can see from below. Cannot see anything from the top of the engine.

Cheers

Eddie

[drover]

I would hazard a guess that hopefully one of the numerous heater hose connections above have a slight weep or worse case the stupid EGR cooler is leaking, either way I would come in from the top and try to see where, if a hose prise off, check its condition and replace, sometime just an off the shelf hose will do the job, even one thats too big but has the right bend for a holden or ford will cut down, save heaps on genuine, new clamps, if its the EGR cooler then there is topic on here that covers it very well.
Certainly check it out sooner though, I found if the search is hard to define then wash down, soapy water, and go for a good drive and when it cooled down have another look for snail trail, needs to be cool and dry for it to be visible. some chalk around suss area will also highlight if it weeps.

[OLMATE]

Good advice Drover, I,ve saved heaps over the years by taking in the hose you need and look through all the different hoses for one woth the correct bend and just simply dock it to length,

What could be a $65 hose for something less than 250mm long, ends up costing less than $10.

Write the part # down on the shed wall and you then have it for next time

[IFLYRC]

Thanks for the advice guys 😊. I have cleaned it all off, and getting a flexible camera tomorrow to see where the leak is. Just cannot see anything from the top of the engine bay.....

Will keep you posted 👍👍.

Cheers

Eddie

[Lewy2001]

Look carefully at this oil cooler return hose there have been a few failures of this hose.

This thread has a lot more details.

http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...nt+Leak&page=2

[Fishframe]

Looks like it’s leaking a fair bit under pressure. Certainly could DIY, but for me I would take it to a radiator place for a pressure test to see where the issue lies and get it fixed on the spot. Engines don’t respond well to coolant failure ! I recently had a hose leak on my TJ and when I fixed the hose the resultant pressure burst the top of the (plastic!) original TJ radiator.

[IFLYRC]

Well, could not see much with the endoscope camera... The Z hose at the oil filter is perfect, no leaks there.

This is the sequence of events before the leak appeared:
After I purchased the car, I took it to the RAC for an inspection, just for peace of mind. All was good, but they did say that the coolant mix did not seem right. I must say that it did not use any fluid, as I checked it very regularly.
Some time after I had to take it to John Hughes for the 130k service. They said the same, and asked if they could do a flush. I have had bad experiences in the past with dealers wanting to an engine flush, and stuffed it up!!
I decided to drain the coolant myself, and replaced it with Nulon pink OAT coolant. Level stayed perfect, but as I did not drain all the fluid, a about two weeks later, I did another drain and replaced with the same.
Level then did not stay constant, and had to add small amounts every other day. I assumed that it must have air in the system, and it "burped out" so the level dropped slightly. About 1cm in a few days.
Last weekend when the car was parked outside the garage, I noticed pink spots on the floor. Checked, and sure there was a leak as I described at the beginning of this thread.

I have cleaned the area very well, added Rislone liquid aluminium stop leak, and now all seems fine......

My conclusion is this (please comment if not correct): When I replaced the fluid twice, it must have loosened something (perhaps stop leak that the factory put in??), and started to leak small amounts of fluid.

Please comment if the stop leak that I put in will be OK.....or not.

Will keep an eye on it.

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions 😊👍😊👍.

Cheers

Eddie