I've searched on this but havnt found anything usefull.

Firstly, I had a stock radiator that leaked where the tank met the core, replaced that with an Apexi spec s. I flushed the system, filled with water wetter, antifreeze and distilled water. It took between 6 and 7 litres all up give or take. Burped what I could, but couldnt turn heater on because its not working (never has). Now its leaking at the right hand overflow tank, the one with "coolant only" written on it. Its only doing this when warm and flows quite steadily when it happens. I've removed and inspected the overflow tank and its water tight, clean etc. Could the problem be the hose which leads from the ast to the reovoir ? or is it just overfilled ? what level should the coolant typially be at in the filler neck ?

The car has original ast, greddy 1.3kgf/cm² radiator cap and an apexi gt spec type-s radiator.5500km's on engine, Also just installed a power fc, running base map.

Any suggestions or links (Mahjik) would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance - Karl

 

How well do you know this car? ie. have you just bought it or have you had it a while?

Firstly. My feeling is that you may have coolant seal failure. Now don't break down just yet, cos that is the worst case scenario.

In Japan, when they flick off FD's to NZ (I know cos this happened to me) if they have coolant seal failure, they replace the radiator cap with a 1.3kg greddy unit. This is done to disguise coolant seal failure by temporarily helping water to not come out of the resevoir (the problem you have) - this solution is only effective to a point because water will be consumed by the engine, and eventually there will be enough pressure in the coolant system (introduced from the combustion chamber, owing to coolant seal failure) to overcome the higher pressure cap, and it will overflow into the coolant resevoir. This usually allows a shady dealer to flick off a half dead car if it hasn't gotten to that point yet.

Now.. it sounds like you have put a lot of water into your car, for just a radiator change - so it may be that you are overfull... let the thing rid itself of the additional water... then if your coolant buzzer comes on, I would suspect coolant seal failure. If not, then you are probably okay.

see what happens basically....

A coolant system pressure test is the sure fire way to check for coolant seal failure.

I'm not saying this is your problem, however I was in denial for about a month before I admitted that I had that problem and had the engine rebuilt.

 

PM me if you want some help... I am in Auckland too

 

Hey dude, cheers for the response. I've sorted it out now, was a hose not sealing properly due to factory spring clamps not holding tension.

As for the water seals, I've lost a motor to that before.

Cheers mate -Karl.

 

I had this problem a week ago and I was loosing sleep thinking it was a coolant seal.

Check your AST cap. If that doesn't hold pressure than coolant will eventually find its way down and out to your overflow tank hence it overflowing.

Open your filler neck cap and take a look at the coolant. If you add coolant to it and it just keeps going down then your AST isn't working. Under normal situation it should not drop at all (assuming your coolant is full).

My AST was a good 10 years old so I replaced the whole thing along with the lines and that solved it.

Also try the champagne test just to put your doubts to rest.

But 6 to 7 litres is way too much for just a radiator flush. I mixed up 8 litres the first time I did a flush thinking it would take it all. Turns out my car only took around 4 litres. If you did a complete flush taking the drain plug out of the engine block then yes it should take around 8 litres.

 

I think the reason is took so much coolant was because I was filling it as much as I could, then driving it. The coolant would have been leaking during driving and then I would top it up some more.

All good now though, thanks for your help guys.

 

Hi BoroFD! Which hose pipe was leaking?

 

Hey mate, it was the hose at the top of the filler neck, leadong to the ast.