Small Silver Crap, Adventures Of The £200 Suzuki - 12/04 - "New Careful* Owner"

[twosmoke300]

Oil cooler , either engine , gearbox or pas but I doubt it has any of those.

[Matt]

I like how the tacho goes to 10000 rpm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I like how the redline is only just over half way round...

 

I like that detail too, goodness knows what made someone somewhere think it was necessary enough for it to make production.

[jakebullet]

~hopeless optimism~

Maybe giffer got confused and topped up oil in the header tank?

[Matt]

If there was a leak between an oil passage and a coolant passage should I expect both oil and coolant to be fouled at the same time or is one usually fouled before the other? Could the very low coolant level just be coincidental?

[twosmoke300]

Oil pressure is higher than cooling system pressure so will go into the water .

[Matt]

Popped up to the car again this morning to double check the symptoms, I was trying to work out how the radiator cap comes off but couldn't get it; it turns some of the way and doesn't lift off. As it transpires this seems to be a nincompoop trap which by all rights makes me nincompoop. I decided to try manhandling it and voila, it opens. Here is what I found:

 

 

This is a piece of rubber hosing attached to the overfill bottle lid:

 

What looks like sediment in the tank:

 

Another look at the murky coolant:

 

There was a sign of green liquid in the radiator but no so much the tank. I decided to run the car for a bit and it started and idled perfectly. Revving it a bit didn't cause any coolant to come into the bottle nor did anything bubble in the radiator. It came down from fast idle nicely and warmed up to regular operating temperature within 5-10 minutes and stayed there. I held the engine at 2k RPM for a few minutes and the temperature gauge stayed solid at this point:

 

There was still a fair bit of vapour in the air at this point but I don't know if that is because I only really idled the car up to temperature combined with the low temperature we have this morning.

[vulgalour]

I reckon getting that coolant flushed out would be a good idea at the very least, looks like someone's put Reddybrek instead of water in it.

[Junkman]

There is nothing wrong with the bloody car.

Flush and fill the cooling system and happy days.

[derskine]

Screp it!

[ruffgeezer]

You won't necessarily get the oil and the coolant contaminated, it depends where the leak is and which has the higher operating pressure at that point.

 

The only other thing it might be is if there is a heater exchanger on the oil filter housing, which I'm almost positive it hasn't got. It's the headgasket.

[Craig the Princess]

Drive it until it breaks, if it isn't pressurising the tank, starts well and isn't using water there is no problem.

[twosmoke300]

Craig has the correct (shiters) idea. Drive er on.

[Rusty_Rocket]

To me, that just looks like the average neglect that cars like this see on a daily basis.  By that, I mean the coolant has never been topped up, let alone changed.

Fill it to the correct level and forget about it.  You'll soon know if there is a problem!

[Cavcraft]

Popped up to the car again this morning to double check the symptoms, I was trying to work out how the radiator cap comes off but couldn't get it; it turns some of the way and doesn't lift off. As it transpires this seems to be a nincompoop trap which by all rights makes me nincompoop. I decided to try manhandling it and voila, it opens. Here is what I found:

 

 

 

This is a piece of rubber hosing attached to the overfill bottle lid:

 

 

What looks like sediment in the tank:

 

 

Another look at the murky coolant:

 

 

There was a sign of green liquid in the radiator but no so much the tank. I decided to run the car for a bit and it started and idled perfectly. Revving it a bit didn't cause any coolant to come into the bottle nor did anything bubble in the radiator. It came down from fast idle nicely and warmed up to regular operating temperature within 5-10 minutes and stayed there. I held the engine at 2k RPM for a few minutes and the temperature gauge stayed solid at this point:

 

There was still a fair bit of vapour in the air at this point but I don't know if that is because I only really idled the car up to temperature combined with the low temperature we have this morning.

 

 

 

Any reason the EML is on?

[Matt]

To me, that just looks like the average neglect that cars like this see on a daily basis.  By that, I mean the coolant has never been topped up, let alone changed.

Fill it to the correct level and forget about it.  You'll soon know if there is a problem!

 

A friend on Facebook mentioned that the buildup under the radiator cap looked similar to what he had in his Caddy van after filling it with about 3 different radiator leak stopping products after having a low speed front end shunt. I've got a bottle of new coolant now so I'll flush it, replace with new coolant and see what happens.

 

 

Any reason the EML is on?

 

I'm not sure yet, the previous owner said that it had been on for some time but the garage couldn't find the fault. I'll be getting a code scanner plugged in as soon as I can. Whatever it is doesn't appear to have been some catastrophic fault because it was mentioned on the 2010 MOT but passed anyway.

[Cavcraft]

Honest, you want to tax that and thrash the absolute living bollocks off it up/down the road once it's warmed up. Then do an oil flush (or two) and keep hammering the bastarding life out of it.

[Doctormop]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That was a party election broadcast on behalf of The Green party

(Chester branch)

 

Sounds like good advice, I'm sure these little motors thrive on abuse, a garage up the road are selling one with 160k on the clock (Imagine that) and it looks sweet as a nut.

[hairnet]

eml likely sensor

 

broken wires maybe depending on where it lives

 

civic does it now and again - it passes the mot so not paying 75 quid for a lambda

[Matt]

broken wires maybe depending on where it lives

 

Actually there is a broken wire in the engine bay poking from the loom that is attached to the cam belt cover.

[Matt]

So my dad decided that he wanted the Alto as he thinks his '06 Grande Punto is on it's lasts legs (I wonder who's fault that is, couldn't possibly be his    ). He took the Alto for an MOT last week and it failed on a wheel bearing and some rear brake issue, both have since been rectified and a 12 month ticket gained. Much to my astonishment the bungee cord that he attached to the bonnet and wrapped around the front valance a couple of times was considered secured without even a mention as an advisory. An OEM latch assembly is now fitted and the rear bumper has been replaced with one that is nearly the right shade of silver. I swear Suzuki must have been doing about forty thousand shades of silver in the early noughts.

 

All just it time for him to brake his leg!

 

[Lacquer Peel]

What of the grim coolant? Was it just short journeys and lack of maintenance?

[Matt]

What of the grim coolant? Was it just short journeys and lack of maintenance?

 

It's done a 40 mile trip four times with no ill effects so that could well be the case, my father has little mechanical sympathy though so time will tell.