water loss

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Mickey taker
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Post by Mickey taker »

just met Brian in his beige 17 RD ( He's going to have a play with the spare HP pump I had )

He noticed a trickle of water coming from the bleed screw next to the thermostat ( as opposed to the bleed screw on the stat housing ).

This ties in nicely with the water staining on the block and head.

despite tightening it, its still weeping .
It looks like theres a little O ring or seal beneath the bleed screw that may have perished and could possibly be causing the leak.
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Dollywobbler
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Post by Dollywobbler »

I'd slap a bit of sealant around it and see if it makes a difference. If it does, you can then decide whether to do something a bit more long-term.
Mickey taker
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Post by Mickey taker »

thats a good idea Ian,

Do's anyone know if there should be a seal of some sort under the bleed screw
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light travels faster than sound, thats why you look intelligent and then you spoil it all by opening your mouth !!!!!
kiwi
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Post by kiwi »

Mickey taker wrote:thats a good idea Ian,

Do's anyone know if there should be a seal of some sort under the bleed screw
Yes the screw has a gasket seal on it.

If that seal is damaged or broken you will get the leak and one tip is do not over tighten it especially in that location. More likely to destroy the thread on the screw than where it goes into.
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Mickey taker
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Post by Mickey taker »

O.K. For now I have put a bolt with a dab of plumbers sealent on the thread. So far no leaks.
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Wooscary
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Post by Wooscary »

I've noticed a perhaps similar leak on mine over the last week. It's not losing as much, maybe half a litre every few weeks (well, it's never actually got lower than the bottom of the expansion tank.

Anyway, it looks very much like it's coming out of what I'm thinking is the thermostat housing? But it isn't coming from the gasket/seal side, it seems to be dripping out from under the head of the bolt holding the thing together.

I'm perfectly willing to clean it up and slap some sealant on, but is there another way?

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I'm undertaking the final three weeks of my degree at the moment, so was very glad to see a hopefully obvious leak and no signs of HG going bye bye. That would have been no fun.

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Cheers

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Post by Mickey taker »

still no more leaks on mine :lol:
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Wooscary
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Re: water loss

Post by Wooscary »

On even closer inspection after continued water loss (girlfriend announced cheerfully after driving car to and from work that the radiator light had been coming on every few minutes since the morning, while picking me up from work with more driving to do, but don't worry, the car had been stopped for at least three minutes! So it must be safe to take the cap off and fill it up. Argh!) Luckily there was still some water in there, the level was just sitting right on the sensor so driving was causing a nice bit of slosh.

Anyway, it was bubbling/weeping out from the top most of the three(?) bolts. I undid it a bit and then retightened, which seems to have reseated it, hopefully that's the solution.

Is that a normal sort of thing to happen?

Cheers.
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Wooscary
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Re: water loss

Post by Wooscary »

Still losing a bit of water, seems to now be coming out round the seal of the housing as well. Where would I get on of these seals from? Or is it a liquid sealant job?

I'd like to get this leak attended to as it would be nice to actually get some proper coolant/not tap water in the system (after a bit of a flush).

Cheers.
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Re: water loss

Post by themildbunch »

Mine was leaking around the stat to radiator pipe on the td a thin pipe that had a small split only leaking under pressure.. also the short metal pipe this hose connects to is threaded and was leaking too... Some plumbers
ptfe tape around the thread stopped this nicely..
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Wooscary
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Re: water loss

Post by Wooscary »

Cheers, yeah, I was thinking a bit of PTFE around the threads would be a good idea.

Would a gasket glue kind of thing work to replace the seal? The one on there at the moment is so scabby I can't
tell what form it originally took, it looks proper manky.
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