996tt coolant loss

[666TUR]

My coolant has dropped from the max level over c.4 months and 1500 miles by about 4mm, is any loss of coolant normal? The radiators were done about 7k miles ago/18 months. No evidence of any fluid on the floor etc.

Any feedback appreciated.

[maxpaul]

Just top it up! such low mileage its probably evaporation!

[maxpaul]

Or bleeding the air out of the system

[maxpaul]

Or bleeding the air out of the system

[666TUR]

Thanks for the reply. the header tank is quite big and 4mm over that surface area is quite alot of fluid. I have been advised to remove the undertrays look for evidence of coolant there, also replacing the coolant cap too. Will post back what I find.

[mm450exc]

^+1. Remove everything and check. Could be a minor leak from some hose.

[ds666]

The cap on the header tank can leak - there is a more modern cap ( someone will know the part numbers) that solves this problem . I had this issue , opc changed all the rads and still coolant level dropped . Changed the cap ...problem solved ..

[666TUR]

Will change the cap as cheap way of ruling out the easy items.

[Pope]

Is the header tank discoloured ?

With age the header tanks are known to fail (weirdly right round the back of the bottle hidden away in the inner wing usually!) the bottles can suffer hairline cracks with age that only leak at certain temperatures; are there any signs of dried coolant on the inner wing / undrr the LH turbo / heatshield areas??

[666TUR]

The header is stil white, I have dug around the best I can and can't see any evidence of coolant around the tank.

[666TUR]

Have tonight jacked the rear of the car up to get better access to view the heat shields, area under the coolant tank. I noticed some fluid running from the front under tray, drivers side just behind the front wheel. The fluid does nt smell of anything, I wondered it was some residual water from a puddle or could it be from the air con. I have tried to dry what I can see and will check again later. My plan is this weekend to strip that under tray off to gets better look of what's happening under there. Is there a section of hose vulnerable to leaks in that area of the car?

[666TUR]

I took the car out tonight, got it up to temperature. When I got back in the garage I jacked the back up again and some fluid poured out from the under tray from the same point as before. I managed to collect some in a syringe, the fluid was clear and all I can assume is that's coming from the air con .

[Pope]

Yep; only AC condensation - totally normal.

[666TUR]

I am going to carefully monitor what's going on in the header tank. I took it out today, the longer I leave it between drives the faster it feels, it is so quick I can't imagine what the new one is like.

[steve singh]

666TUR said:

I am going to carefully monitor what's going on in the header tank. I took it out today, the longer I leave it between drives the faster it feels, it is so quick I can't imagine what the new one is like.

The cold air must help too