Radiator water disappearing. GU TD42

[gu town]

As stated my radiator water is exiting my car somehow. It's using around 200-400mls a day.

No visable leaks.

Took it to a rad joint and the bloke put pressure into the rad and looked for leaks.

Did a Co2 test for exhaust.

No water in oil.

Not overheating.

New rad cap.

I have no coolant in it at the moment and will be adding some tonight to, if anything show up a leak better.


If i leave it for two days of driving and the temp guage starts flicking up and down (never past normal temp) i figured if it had no water, then no reading.

Has anyone else had an issue like this? Or could point out something I've missed?

[JBE]

I had a similar problem with water disappearing, small amounts only. Turned out to be the water pump leaking. I couldn't work it out for a while because the water evaporated before I could detect it when the engine got hot. Check for small amounts of water on top of the pump (assuming yours is a TD42).

Cheers
J

[351ciofgrunt]

Could be a headgasket/cracked head leaking the water into a combustion chamber?

[Clanky]

I had a Co2 test for mine and they dont work well on a diesel. My headgasket was stuffed and it didnt show up.
If its the headgasket it could be pushing the water out the overflow bottle
Otherwise it could be the orings behind the timing case /water pump/thermo area.
Or one of the squillion welsh plugs

[PGS 4WD]

I had a cracked exhaust port that no water entered the combustion chamber. If the headgasket is leaking into the combustion chamber it will often be associated with a missfire on startup, moreso cold.

Joel

[garth]

gudday

if there are no visible sign of leaks externally, have you got the engine hot enough when pressure testing the water jacket? the crack may only be small and dump pressure with expansion/hot

sometimes coolant can also be smelt in the exhaust when leak is bad enough.
let us know what it was.........

good luck

[gu town]

cheers fellas.

shouldn't be a head or gasket. head is only 40000k's old. I'd hope not any way..... REALLY hope not!

No mis-fire on startup either..

motor was at operating temp when pressure testing

The td42 runs like a dream other than that.

[garth]

what about the heater unit in cab?........can they leak? they have engine jacket water running through em......

[gu town]

seems to have stopped since i put coolant in it.

maybe evaporating out of overflow? would coolant stop or slow that? overflow was quite low when i added the coolant to the rad.

[GeneralFubashi]

evaporation from overflow shouldnt be enough to notice in the timeframes you are talking. Maybe if you let it sit for the better part of a year you would notice. Radiator fluid should really help. Easier to see crusty green stuff if its misting from a pinhole in your rad core.

[gu town]

well, i can safely say it's stopped since i got a new rad cap, flushed out with fresh water and added coolant.

just did about 700k's up to darwin from katherine and back sitting on 115-120km/h on 35's in 30+ deg days and the temp didn't move.....

got me stuffed why it was doing it. had me sh1t scared too. must have been the coolant.....

cheers for the input though fellas

[coxy321]

At least now with proper coolant in it, if it does start to use/leak again, you should be able to see the white markings where its leaking (provided its external).

[gu town]

Well its started leaking again i've found it though.

it seems to be leaking down the injector pump side of the motor, where the block and the plate that the injector pump bolts to meet up.

anyone else come across this?

what should i do?

does this mean all the timing gears need to come out, or is it something i can loosen off (away from the block), clean and put some sorta gasket glue crap in?

[Clanky]

Could be the orings between the plate and timing case has aged, or the square holes in the plate that coolant runs through has corroded.
Could also be the timing case housing (holds the water pump)
Also there is an oring under the thermostat housing where it bolts onto the timing case which can leak too.
The genuine orings are not too exxy and the thermo housing orings are not too difficult. Replacement of the timing case oring will require the timing case to be removed (be careful not to damage the sump gasket)
The gears etc will stay in place, you should be able to access the oring and be able to inspect the timing plate. Gears only come out if plate needs replacing or the gasket behind is leaking.



These were the parts for my GQ and may be the same for the GU ( best to check though)
oring seal Timing cover water seal oring 14465-43G20 $11.5
oring seal Timing cover water seal oring 14465-43G21 $11.5
thermostat housing Gasket Thermostat housing lower section to cyl head gasket 11072-34N02 $8
thermostat housing oring thermo to timingcase cover oring 14465-43G02 $14
You will also need
the waterpump gasket (there is a bolt behind the waterpump to get the timingcase off)
Some grey silicone sealer
tacho gasket if you remove or damage
front crankshaft seal (why not?)
big socket for the crankshaft nut ( can give you the size if you need )

hope this helps, I have just done mine

[Clanky]

Forgot to mention it probably only leaks when its cold (unless the orings are real bad).
This might buy you some time to sort all the parts out

[REV_310]

if it were water to water jacket put your cooling system pressure tester on set it to 14psi. then performe a cylinder leakdown test individually on each cylinder at tdc. if your leakdown tester measures leakage having your cooling system tester on will ride if compressed air is leaked from cylinder to water jacket

[gu town]

clanky.... you are a legend! Really appreciate the effort mate.

it only really leaks when its cold but its getting worse. the coolant leaks down the back of the 'front plate' pretty much from the top drivers side corner of the block.

where did yours leak from?

[Clanky]

glad to help out mate.
Mine was cactus coz some knobber ran the engine without coolant in it. It was leaking everywhere
The coolant hole in the steel plate was corroded out past the oring sealing surface and all the orings were hard and deformed as well.

As an added bonus all the welch plugs in the block were stuffed too, (there are heaps of them) and the oil cooler housing. Lucky my head was new. Its a good engine now

I dont think the gasket behind your plate would be leaking as they are a good quality item and it would leak worse under pressure hot. So with a bit of luck the orings should sort you out.

P.S I used oring grease on the new orings to help them seat better and hopefully preserve them a bit longer.

[gu town]

well i may have ran it without coolant.. not for very long.... so i may just get away with it yet....

Thanks again.

[polly]

mine is leaking in this exact spot too... maybe half way down the plate on the right hand side....

still investigating, but it looks like when the car is hot and turned off, the pressure builds up in the engine and forces it out behind the plate.

[THE-Burger-Ring]

when searching for leaks , i have found that running coolant/ water ratio very rich.. when it leaks it leaves a pretty obvious green remaining.
jsut my 2c
shane

[gu town]

got that... thats pretty much how i found it..