MrRegieRitmo Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Recently found my previously steady temperature gauge erratically rising & falling, travelling right up into the red then seconds later dipping right back down again. Thought about checking the coolant but swore that last time I looked it was at a satisfactory level & had no reason to doubt that would have changed as it's supposed to remain steady. Had a look last night & the reservoir was bone dry! Strange as I was sure it had plenty in it when last checked. So got out my recently bought (quite pre-emptive of me!) bottle of anti-freeze / summer coolant, filled it up to the max line which was basically the whole 1 litre bottle, started her up - temperature gauge behaving normally = job done!This morning, drove to work, all good, nothing to report! Excellent thinks I!This evening, drove home, again all good till just around the corner from the house when I noticed wisps of white steam or smoke coming from the offside front corner of the bonnet. Praying it was the wind blowing exhaust fumes across the front of the car, I drove into the driveway, got out & inspected. Still puffs of steam / smoke coming through the grille / out from behind the headlight. I saw a dribble of brown liquid trickling down the headlight. Fearing it was about to ignite, I turned it off & opened the bonnet & was greeted with the sight of dirty water / fluid coating everything in sight across most of the engine bay, parts of the underside of the bonnet, even staining the front bumper where it escaped through. Everything was shiny, wet & brown & there seemed to be steam or smoke rising up from most of the components where they'd got coated in this hot brown fluid. I looked at the reservoir & it was down to the minimum, barely anything left in it yet it was at 'Max' the night before with a fresh dose of coolant! What gives?! Best case, we suspect I need to purr-chase some 'Rad Weld' for my radiator as it can't be holding what we give it! Or worst case, a new radiator! Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouseflakes Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 1) Can you see the source of the leak Reg? Is it a leaky radiator cap for instance? Check the hoses - you could have a lose hose clip or pin-hole somewhere - you'll have to spend some time searching.2) Remember all these Renners have pressurised cooling systems. If you have to remove the expansion bottle cap, first clamp the thin rubber hose from the rad to the bottle. This will maintain the pressure in the system. If you take off the cap without doing this you lose the pressure and it doesn't operate as it should afterwards. So - use a Haynes manual to work out the process for refilling/repressurising.3) Alternatively - get the R14 back on the road! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volksy Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Top up the system as you did before, leave the bonnet up and fire it up from cold. Given that you have said that the majority of the engine bay was blathered in coolant it shouldn't be hard to find the leak. It may only show itself as pressure builds in the system, this will occur as it gets warm. Hopefully it will just be a split hose or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.welfare Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 What he said ^^^ but what's the external condition of the radiator like? Are the vanes still complete, or all crumbled? I'd probably be scouting eBay for a cheap new rad anyhow, if you don't know when it was last changed - last one I got for an older car ('78 Opel Rekord) cost me the princely sum of £20 from a car show and made the world of difference, even though the original rad (which looked hellishly crumbly) didn't actually leak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lobster Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Agree with all the above with the addition of the following - R5 / 9 / 11's do like to have leaking heater matrix's, the easiest way to check is if the carpets in the n/s/r footwell are damp. Unfortunately its a bit of an arse to fix properly...However, as others have said, refill the system, get it nice and hot and look for a leak. Hopefully its nothing too serious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRegieRitmo Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 A new twist in the tale & it doesn't look particularly positive! Bought some Rad Weld & some more coolant to replace the load that had vanished, got home & set about following the instructions. Refilled the coolant then left the car running to warm up a bit, the next stage being to pour the Rad Weld into the radiator........in some ways I'm thankful we didn't get that far because I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to find the necessary tool to remove the radiator cap! Instead I decided to shine the torch in a general fashion across various engine components & happened to notice something a bit sinister & likely to be the root of the problem! From an area beneath where the belt for the alternator spins round on the main engine block I saw a constant seepage of the dirty brown water that had coated everything yesterday. The belt must have been spraying it over everything because with the bonnet open it was spotting this fluid onto the windscreen as if it was dirty light rain. Needless to say I didn't bother with the Rad Weld & now I'm faced with having to book it in with our mechanic to see if he can get to the bottom of it! Good job I get paid on Friday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volksy Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Sounds like a waterpump to me, or check the hoses going to and from it.Shouldn't be very expensive, even if it is the pump, as with a pushrod engine there is no pesky cambelt getting in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouseflakes Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Yup - warty pump Reg. Nothing too frightful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRegieRitmo Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 and this would cause an extensive browning of the engine components in the peripheral area, steam & a loss of all of the coolant?Fingers crossed you're right, pay day or not I could do without a big bill! Thanks for your input guys. :)PS: safe to drive it to my mechanic a couple of miles away or not recommended? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pogweasel Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Again, waterpump.I had the same issue last week, reg. In my case it turned out to be a split hose, exacerbated by a kenked thermostat. If you can DIY it, it's easy life. For me, these things always happen at the Worst Possible Time, IE when I me mega busy work-wise. This time I wimped out and paid to have it done at a local indy specialist... not cheap but much cheaper than sacking off a days work to do it... though I expect that you unlike me can take days off to tinker without losing ca$h. DO get it sorted sooner rather than later - as a cautionary tale, my last E30 BMW I paid a local guy (who shall remain nameless but caused me great displeasure) to fix the water pump, except he made a right hash of it: cue headgasket melt-down on the MoT ramp at DaveRapid's MoT shack and a bill in excess of £1000. ARGH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STUNO Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Should be ok for a short journey but depends of course on how much is coming out.For a small(ish) leak just leaving the pressure cap off MIGHT stop it leaking too much. Hate to be so if and but , BUT I cannot see it from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouseflakes Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 and this would cause an extensive browning of the engine components in the peripheral area, steam & a loss of all of the coolant?Once you start to lose coolant things get hot - although some is leaking from the pump itself - if it gets too hot it'll start to blow past the radiator cap and anywhere else it can squeeze out Reg. Could explain some of the widespread steam and stains your seeing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 I assume that you've got the 1397cc C1j engine?!? If so, just beneath the water pump between the timing chain cover and the earth strap there should be a coolant drain screw into the side of the block. Has that split or fractured? I have heard of it happening.Many of the parts for the 9/11 cooling system are the same as the early clio's and some 19's so should be readily available. If the water pump is at fault there are two types, one a threaded aperture on the top surface to take the temp sensor the other doesn't. Yours should have the sensor.Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr-reno-139 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 just spottted your tale of woe Richard sorry, but you could of had the extended warranty putting my money on water pump as there was the faintest staining on timing cover when i sold it to you pump is same as mk 2 r5 about £25 new warning you to make sure engine is warmed up before un bolting as m6 bolts tend to shear off in the alloy head because of corrosion could do it for you but too far too drive to me losing coolant good luck --- paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRegieRitmo Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 It's ok, I'm already booked in to take it to my mechanic in the morning, assuming that is, I'm ok to drive it across town? If not I could be in a jam! But anyway, if it's like you say then it's hopefully not going to hurt too much. Unless of course there's a lot of labour involved as that can often be the main cost of repair!?Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split_Pin Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Hope you get it sorted ok, doesnt sound like too big a fix from what you and others have said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRegieRitmo Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 Got it down to the mechanic safe & sound thankfully. The temp gauge did look like it was going to hit the dizzy heights but then it came down again. Just playing the waiting game now with everything crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRegieRitmo Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 Ok, well I rang the garage to check on progress about half hour before closing time & they asked me to ring back in the morning.....so not sure what to make of that! All manner of things go through your mind! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owain-328i Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 You need to flush the system aswell Brown coolant, is a sign of corrosion in the coolant system. Not good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volksy Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Ok, well I rang the garage to check on progress about half hour before closing time & they asked me to ring back in the morning.....so not sure what to make of that! All manner of things go through your mind! More than likely 'Shit it's friday, and were behind with everything else, and that lad has dropped a leaky Renault off..' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRegieRitmo Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 It's ok I rang them this morning & they confirmed it was the water pump so they've ordered one which should be in on Mon or Tues. They don't reckon it'll end up costing much as it's not a mega job, so certainly sub £100. I've left it with them till they get the part in as there didn't seem much point in taking it back off them in the meantime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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