Europa S - Coolant Leak

[bigcalm]

Looking for a bit of advice

I've noticed for the past couple of months my coolant reservour needs topping up. Not a biggie - replaced the radiator cap all seem ok.
Then, a few weeks later, needed to top up collant again and found red coolant on garage floor under the right front of car (I guess under the radiator)

I read somewhere that the rad's were plastic and you can buy an alu replacement (sounds expensive)

What's the consensus out there? Anyone else had this problem and how have you fixed it? Can you repair the OEM rad or is it replacement time?

Thanks in advance
Steve

[Norgles]

Mine leaked all it's coolant out after 6 months of ownership. One of the pipes had worked loose, it was fixed under warranty but was not a big job. It may be a slightly loose pipe, worth checking before replacing the Rad!

[fredd1e]

My old one kept releasing the offside rad hose (did it 4 times in the year I owned it), Rad is crap design as the flange is at best only a third of the radius so easy for the host to work loose.
A pisser literally. Best fix is an alloy rad imho.

[pac1uk]

Hi,
I had the same problem a while back. Mine was the radiator, plastic endcaps leaking. I upgraded the Radiator to a nice upgraded Alluminium one, from Elise parts.

Don't loose a drop of coolant now.

Paul.

[Eat it up]

Double check that your radiator hose clips are secure and correctly positioned on the hose and radiator, before thinking it is the radiator!!.
Very common for the jubilee clips to POP of on the europa! Or not be 100%Secure and leak under pressure.Hense the reason why lotus have modified radiator clips for this reason. Double the width and better design.
If you open the front access panel using a light you will be able to see the hose clip and it's position on the radiator.
If you need to check the n/s/f radiator hose clip you will need to remove the headlight to gain suitable access to the jubilee clip.

[C43]

on mine is was the hose clips that let go, twice. Just as stated above.

C43

[bigcalm]

Thanks Guys

Great advice, that's the job for this weekend
Cheers
Steve

[p4cks]

Yeah the radiators on them aren't the best and are prone to leaking. A lot of VX220 Turbo owners have upgraded to the Eliseparts one (and other cheaper ones I hasten to add).

As they are effectively the same car you might consider signing up to VX220.org.uk?