Blowing Coolant Out Of Expansion Tank

[oxtobyd]

Hi, following on from an earlier post about loosing coolant, then it looks like it blowing it out of the cap to the expansion tank, which therefore i'm guessing is down to the head gasket leaking and sucking in gases. Grrrr

 

what do you think about

 

1) could this be caused by anything else other than a blown Head Gasket

 

2) if it is a blow HG then what do people think would be the cost to repair

 

 

cheers

 

i'm so disappointed since i've had the car less than 2 weeks, and i can't return as it was a private sale.

[Randombloke]

Blown head gasket

 

Leaking water pump

 

Leak elsewhere in the system

 

System needs bleeding

 

Expansion tank cap knackered

 

Something stuck to the radiator

 

Have you tried the solutions offered in the other threads and what were the results?

 

Cost of repair depends on if you DIY or get it fixed. What were you intending? If you post a location there might be a recommendation for a non DIY fix.

 

Normally the head gasket leaks on the compression stroke as air gets forced into the oil and water channels.

 

Is there any water in the oil? Mayonnaise?

[72dudes]

All the above.

 

If it is a blown head gasket and you find it's too expensive, might be worth trying a product called Steel Seal (available from proppa.com, IIRC)

About £25, but you absolutely must follow the instructions.

 

I tried it in my wife's Rover 216 and it worked. In fact the garage who carried out the work were very sceptical, but afterwards said they would recommend it!

[oxtobyd]

Blown head gasket

 

Leaking water pump

 

Leak elsewhere in the system

 

System needs bleeding

 

Expansion tank cap knackered

 

Something stuck to the radiator

 

Have you tried the solutions offered in the other threads and what were the results?

 

Cost of repair depends on if you DIY or get it fixed. What were you intending? If you post a location there might be a recommendation for a non DIY fix.

 

Normally the head gasket leaks on the compression stroke as air gets forced into the oil and water channels.

 

Is there any water in the oil? Mayonnaise?

 

Thanks for the suggestions, what i've tried so far includes running the engine without the cap on to see if bubbles in the expansion tank, and nothing obvious. There no sludge under the oil filler cap, and the dip-stick oil looks good and black.

 

The radiator looks fine, and i can't see any water leaks from under the car after been stood for a while (there's a small diesel leak, but i'm guessing not related, as i think this is coming from the fuel filter housing), and i can see marks of blown coolant from around the expansion tank area, so i'm narrowing it down to either filler cap or HG sucking in gas??

 

I'm going to move to Cambridge at the end of this week, so any ideas on good garages there?

 

i think maybe worth trying a new expansion cap

[oxtobyd]

All the above.

 

If it is a blown head gasket and you find it's too expensive, might be worth trying a product called Steel Seal (available from proppa.com, IIRC)

About £25, but you absolutely must follow the instructions.

 

I tried it in my wife's Rover 216 and it worked. In fact the garage who carried out the work were very sceptical, but afterwards said they would recommend it!

 

i've seen the Steel Seal web site and wondered about this, how long did you run the Rover for before then taking it to the garage? since i guess its a short term fix??

 

cheers

[72dudes]

i've seen the Steel Seal web site and wondered about this, how long did you run the Rover for before then taking it to the garage? since i guess its a short term fix??

 

cheers

 

The garage did the work with the Steel Seal for me (drain system, flush, remove thermostat, fill with coolant and Steel Seal, run for x minutes until fan cuts in, repeat over a few days, replace thermostat).

 

We then had the car for another 11 months after, with no more trouble, no coolant loss, until we sold it this June for other reasons. It's claimed to be a permanent fix. Before the Steel Seal, I had white smoke from exhaust, had to add around 1 pint every 100 miles, some mayo in expansion tank, but clean oil in oil cap and on dipstick, no overheating issues though.

 

The issue for me was: new head gasket £450+ on a car worth £1000, Steel Seal option with Labour was £120 and could have been a lot less if I was a competant DIYer. Would I use it in my C5 as the main car worth a lot more? Probably not.

 

Just another option for you to consider in the mix though.

[coastline taxis]

The garage did the work with the Steel Seal for me (drain system, flush, remove thermostat, fill with coolant and Steel Seal, run for x minutes until fan cuts in, repeat over a few days, replace thermostat).

 

We then had the car for another 11 months after, with no more trouble, no coolant loss, until we sold it this June for other reasons. It's claimed to be a permanent fix. Before the Steel Seal, I had white smoke from exhaust, had to add around 1 pint every 100 miles, some mayo in expansion tank, but clean oil in oil cap and on dipstick, no overheating issues though.

 

The issue for me was: new head gasket £450+ on a car worth £1000, Steel Seal option with Labour was £120 and could have been a lot less if I was a competant DIYer. Would I use it in my C5 as the main car worth a lot more? Probably not.

 

Just another option for you to consider in the mix though.

you could always sell the car pm me and well see whats what as im after another 4 c5s

[Guest naylor]

Hi, following on from an earlier post about loosing coolant, then it looks like it blowing it out of the cap to the expansion tank, which therefore i'm guessing is down to the head gasket leaking and sucking in gases. Grrrr

 

what do you think about

 

1) could this be caused by anything else other than a blown Head Gasket

 

2) if it is a blow HG then what do people think would be the cost to repair

cheers

 

i'm so disappointed since i've had the car less than 2 weeks, and i can't return as it was a private sale.

Hi there

 

Sorry to hear about your problem, Same thing happened to my car 3 months after purchase. First of all take the car to a mechanic and rule out the head gaskett with a simple sniff test to detect hydrocarbons in the coolant, hopefully its not the head and its just a case of a new cap and or thermostat. A good independant mechaic should be able to do the job for around 550 which is what mine cost, make sure the head is skimmed and new headbolts are used. I would also take the car back to whoever sold it to you because chances are they knew of a problem.

If you need any advice on the correct repair and whats involved please ask.

[oxtobyd]

Hi there

 

Sorry to hear about your problem, Same thing happened to my car 3 months after purchase. First of all take the car to a mechanic and rule out the head gaskett with a simple sniff test to detect hydrocarbons in the coolant, hopefully its not the head and its just a case of a new cap and or thermostat. A good independant mechaic should be able to do the job for around 550 which is what mine cost, make sure the head is skimmed and new headbolts are used. I would also take the car back to whoever sold it to you because chances are they knew of a problem.

If you need any advice on the correct repair and whats involved please ask.

 

Thanks for that info, i'm going to get myself a new cap today, to try and rule that out, and then i'll get a sniff test done if still needed. good know the price isn't to high, since at around 550 then its still worth doing and keeping the C5, since its such a nice car to drive.

 

i can't take it back to the seller, since it was a private sale, i could call round anyway and kick-up, but really not worth it i don't think, since i did get the car for a song.

 

i'll try and cap and report back how it goes.

 

thanks again all, for your help on this.

[coastline taxis]

Hi there

 

Sorry to hear about your problem, Same thing happened to my car 3 months after purchase. First of all take the car to a mechanic and rule out the head gaskett with a simple sniff test to detect hydrocarbons in the coolant, hopefully its not the head and its just a case of a new cap and or thermostat. A good independant mechaic should be able to do the job for around 550 which is what mine cost, make sure the head is skimmed and new headbolts are used. I would also take the car back to whoever sold it to you because chances are they knew of a problem.

If you need any advice on the correct repair and whats involved please ask.

Just a daft question but your not overfilling the expansion bottle are you.

[stringman]

Guys,

 

as per previous posts you may know that i am also losing water -generally after a long run ( 300+ m)

 

i have seen the posts regarding changing the expansion bottle cap (lid)

is this a common fault?

 

my lid tightens up but if i carry on tightening then it becomes lose again. Is this normal?

 

I am in a quandry as I think the cars only worth £2750 ( 2.2 sx auto estate, 51 reg 90,000m) and i dont really want to spend money on the water leak, new pads and discs all round and the big service)

thinking that lot could be over £1,500 and it may be better just to get a new car.

 

thanks guys

 

Andy

[paul.h]

The cap should not go loose on further tightening, sounds as if the threads are stripped on the cap or bottle - one or both probably need replacing. Do not over tighten though since they are only plastic.

 

One other thing not noted above that can cause loss of coolant from the cap, is if the engine overheats since the radiator fan does not come on when it should. This can be checked by letting the engine idle and watching the temp gauge rise and seeing if the fan starts or water is lost. Also feel the hose to the top of the radiator to see if the thermostat has opened and let hot water go to the radiator to make sure it is not a thermostat problem.

[davidad]

my lid tightens up but if i carry on tightening then it becomes lose again. Is this normal?

Mine has always been like that.

[oxtobyd]

Just a daft question but your not overfilling the expansion bottle are you.

 

i don't think so, i'm filling it to the mark.

 

i've got a new cap today, so will let it cool down, do a few runs over the net few days and report back.

 

also talked with Citroen dealership in Grantham today and the chief mechanic reckoned he had very few C5's with HG problems, and also reckoned a sniffer test on a C5 wouldn't work, but a pressure test would be better.

 

so i'm more hopeful my HG is fine and its something minor.

 

Cheers

[stringman]

The cap should not go loose on further tightening, sounds as if the threads are stripped on the cap or bottle - one or both probably need replacing. Do not over tighten though since they are only plastic.

 

One other thing not noted above that can cause loss of coolant from the cap, is if the engine overheats since the radiator fan does not come on when it should. This can be checked by letting the engine idle and watching the temp gauge rise and seeing if the fan starts or water is lost. Also feel the hose to the top of the radiator to see if the thermostat has opened and let hot water go to the radiator to make sure it is not a thermostat problem.

 

Have to say i have not checked that as my temprature gauge has never raised passed mid way even when the water level is low.

 

the quandry persists

 

Andy

[techbod]

Have to say i have not checked that as my temprature gauge has never raised passed mid way even when the water level is low.

 

the quandry persists

 

Andy

does the coolant fan cut in?

[simonC5]

Hello all,

 

My 2002 C5 2.0 HDI has just done the same thing, on a French Motorway while towing a Caravan. It was blowing out water from under the header tank cap. I had recently spotted a water residue under the cap and replaced the cap and thought no more as I have heard that the Citroen and Peugeot caps do fail after a while.

 

Before my trip to France the car had a 100K mile service including cam belt, water pump and all the other bits. On the first night in France I moved the car and check water level was shown on the display, I filled the header tank and ran the car for 30 mins with no further loss or bubbles in the tank. No white snot under the oil filler cap either. The next day we drove 40 Kms and stopped to get diesel, while stopped I checked the water level again to find the header tank empty again and required 2L to fill up. All the time the temp gauge never moved, even on long hill climbs.

 

We then got Green Flag to recover the car to to a garage and us and the caravan to a site while they diagnosed the fault.

 

HEAD GASKET

 

The car had gone to a Citroen main dealer and the quote for the repair can back as 1900 Euros (£1500), this included the head having a full pressure test and skim.

 

We had the repair done and we returned to the UK yesterday doing over 1000 miles in 3 days with no water loss or other issues. The repair was very expensive but very well done and everything immaculate under the bonnet. The fuel economy increased and the engine had more power for the return journey when compared to the outward journey.

 

A sniffer test is more widely used for petrol engines rather than diesel ones and the most common head gasket fault is water to oil as I found out on my Xantia TD, twice over 200K miles. You may also see that you have white smoke coming from the exhaust rather than dark black smoke if you have water going in the combustion chamber. However if you are driving for long periods with high turbo pressure as I was with the caravan the pressure will leak into the water system.

 

It would suggest that your car has the same type of head gasket fault but it could also be that the head itself has cracked. Only stripping the head down and testing it will confirm this.

 

I am based in Cambridge and my father runs a small independant garage and has always worked on all of my cars, he estimated around £800 - £900 for the repair for the head gasket. There are 2 Citroen dealers for Cambridge, I have used Marshalls to have some warranty work done on the car when I first bought it and got good service there.

 

I hope that you get sorted.

[oxtobyd]

Hello all,

 

My 2002 C5 2.0 HDI has just done the same thing, on a French Motorway while towing a Caravan. It was blowing out water from under the header tank cap. I had recently spotted a water residue under the cap and replaced the cap and thought no more as I have heard that the Citroen and Peugeot caps do fail after a while.

 

Before my trip to France the car had a 100K mile service including cam belt, water pump and all the other bits. On the first night in France I moved the car and check water level was shown on the display, I filled the header tank and ran the car for 30 mins with no further loss or bubbles in the tank. No white snot under the oil filler cap either. The next day we drove 40 Kms and stopped to get diesel, while stopped I checked the water level again to find the header tank empty again and required 2L to fill up. All the time the temp gauge never moved, even on long hill climbs.

 

We then got Green Flag to recover the car to to a garage and us and the caravan to a site while they diagnosed the fault.

 

HEAD GASKET

 

The car had gone to a Citroen main dealer and the quote for the repair can back as 1900 Euros (£1500), this included the head having a full pressure test and skim.

 

We had the repair done and we returned to the UK yesterday doing over 1000 miles in 3 days with no water loss or other issues. The repair was very expensive but very well done and everything immaculate under the bonnet. The fuel economy increased and the engine had more power for the return journey when compared to the outward journey.

 

A sniffer test is more widely used for petrol engines rather than diesel ones and the most common head gasket fault is water to oil as I found out on my Xantia TD, twice over 200K miles. You may also see that you have white smoke coming from the exhaust rather than dark black smoke if you have water going in the combustion chamber. However if you are driving for long periods with high turbo pressure as I was with the caravan the pressure will leak into the water system.

 

It would suggest that your car has the same type of head gasket fault but it could also be that the head itself has cracked. Only stripping the head down and testing it will confirm this.

 

I am based in Cambridge and my father runs a small independant garage and has always worked on all of my cars, he estimated around £800 - £900 for the repair for the head gasket. There are 2 Citroen dealers for Cambridge, I have used Marshalls to have some warranty work done on the car when I first bought it and got good service there.

 

I hope that you get sorted.

 

Many thanks for that, always worth hearing someone's experience.

 

i have changed the expansion tank cap for a new one, but its still blowing coolant, so i'm sure its probably the HG, though its not using a lot of water, but i guess with these sorts of problems they only get worse. can you let me have the details of your fathers garage in cambridge since i may go ahead with the HG work after checking with a pressure test just to make sure.

 

cheers

[techbod]

its difficult to say if its the head gasket but probably is though,

I did a job with a similar problem and it turned out to be a cracked cylinder block so a second hand engine was fitted at a cost of £100 ( it was for a mate and he only had enough for the engine ) so 3 of us did the work for free now my back is killing me lol,

 

if the coolant system and all its components are working and your getting heat into the car then it could be something like the coolant temp sensor failed and cooling fan wont cut in because its a main part of the system ( the cooling fan reduces the pressure when it comes on ) one way to check if pressure is getting into the cooling system is to remove the filler cap and start the engine and if the coolant blows out then it's definitely getting pressure from the engine and pressure tests on the cooling system and cylinders should point this out.

 

I wish you good luck though :)