I don’t think the C6 likes me

[Gabriall]

Road trips with Talbot are never boring. I switch to driving get 200m away from service station and the car boils over !

[Talbot]

Wellllll that was amusing.  I did wonder why we didn't seem to be getting much if any heat from the heater.

1.5L of water at the roadside, which is all I had on board, was enough to get us to a fuel station, where the cooling system swallowed about another 3L of water.

And back on the road.  Next comedy failure awaited.

[N Dentressangle]

That's a pain. Where's the coolant going?

[robt100]

Out?

[Peter C]

But it looks pretty.

[hairnet]

dave was bored he needed something to do

or go back for more snacks

[hairnet]

46 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

That's a pain. Where's the coolant going?

for a holiday

[richardmorris]

29 minutes ago, robt100 said:

Out?

Or in?

[tooSavvy]

40 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Or in?

Simply bored, going round and round....

Hope it stays in (.. this time 😵‍💫)

🚙💨

[Schaefft]

Oh no, any clue where its coming from (or going to)?

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, tooSavvy said:

Simply bored, going round and round....

Hope it stays in (.. this time 😵‍💫)

🚙💨

I loved my CXs but they were relatively simple things. If quite needy. C6s just have so much going on to scare me away.

[Bradders59]

I wouldnt take it personally. They all treat their owners like that, apparently. 

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

Oh no, any clue where its coming from (or going to)?

m40?

[Gabriall]

M40…m25…m42….m5… m6

 

probably a lot more 

[Missy Charm]

23 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

That's a pain. Where's the coolant going?

I experienced coolant disappearance in a Xantia, years ago.  Diagnostics consisted of opening the bonnet with the engine running and getting hit in the eye by a jet of hot antifreeze - some pipe or other had split.  I was too surprised to get out of the way with any alacrity, so ended up with coolant all over the polyester suit I was wearing (happened on the way to work).  

Would absolutely recommend the above as a means of fault finding, by the way!  It combines the best things in life: heat, danger, chemicals, humiliation and soiled clothing...  

[beko1987]

I troubleshooted a similar small pinhole in my xm by angrily revving the engine with the bonnet up. The tiny pinhole became known once the system pressurized and I self amagmating tape'd it and it was fixed.

When driving it would evaporate quickly so by the time the low coolant light had come on, I'd pulled over and popped the bonnet the obvious bits were dry.

Equally my stepdad came home from work once with the sub year old Zafira B he had at the time with an empty coolant tank and the dash light on. We refilled it and kept an eye on it but it never happened again 🤷 The 2012 Octavia he had a few cars later did the same, both brand new company cars

[richardmorris]

2 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

I experienced coolant disappearance in a Xantia, years ago.  Diagnostics consisted of opening the bonnet with the engine running and getting hit in the eye by a jet of hot antifreeze - some pipe or other had split.  I was too surprised to get out of the way with any alacrity, so ended up with coolant all over the polyester suit I was wearing (happened on the way to work).  

Would absolutely recommend the above as a means of fault finding, by the way!  It combines the best things in life: heat, danger, chemicals, humiliation and soiled clothing...  

usual route for coolant loss in CX, XM and xantia was through the heater matrix.

[loserone]

22 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

heater matrix.

Into the passenger footwell

[Bear]

I thought it was mentioned that this had had the very annoying coolant/exchanger pipe done? Unless I'm getting confused with my old one. Anyway, if there's no obvious departure point, and the cooling system has been messed with and no long drives undertaken for a while...

It's probably had the biggest airlock burp in history.

And if it hasn't been messed with I'd be shining a torch down the nearside back/side of the engine...

[Bear]

59 minutes ago, loserone said:

Into the passenger footwell

O-rings on an XM is driver footwell.

And hurts if the car is really hot.

[Bear]

3 hours ago, beko1987 said:

I troubleshooted a similar small pinhole in my xm by angrily revving the engine with the bonnet up. The tiny pinhole became known once the system pressurized and I self amagmating tape'd it and it was fixed.

When driving it would evaporate quickly so by the time the low coolant light had come on, I'd pulled over and popped the bonnet the obvious bits were dry.

Equally my stepdad came home from work once with the sub year old Zafira B he had at the time with an empty coolant tank and the dash light on. We refilled it and kept an eye on it but it never happened again 🤷 The 2012 Octavia he had a few cars later did the same, both brand new company cars

If I smell antifreeze on my car I check everything. Amazing how people overlook pressure cap seals as something that squashes and wears out then never replace them, despite often being mentioned in service schedules!

[Gabriall]

Well despite predictions that we wouldn’t make it home we did with no further technical issues …. Small issue … I’m not used to long vehicles and driver changer over … I judged the space a little wrong much to talbots amusement 

[Talbot]

On 10/10/2025 at 17:11, N Dentressangle said:

That's a pain. Where's the coolant going?

Unknown at the moment.  The heater output on this car has always been a bit crap, so I am guessing it's been low since I've had it.  Having lobbed most of a gallon of water in, it's not only had a significantly* better heater, but it's not even boiled over once!  And it's done another 300 miles since then.  So, it's not clear if there's a leak, or it was just a massive airlock that cleared.

Have to see if the level drops.

Have done around 3k miles in this heap now, and it's just superb at destroying miles, while using surprisingly little fuel.  The jaunt from sAAArf london up to Oulton park and back has run at approx 42 mpg, and we were not driving in a particularly slow or economic manner.

It is, of course, quite large though.... 

[gm]

7 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

alacrity

good word ! 

[Schaefft]

It's possible that there might have been some air trapped in the system after replacing the coolant outlet pipe. However with the quantities of coolant needed here the system would have to be close to empty, so definitely have a good look around where it's coming from. With the leaky pipe replaced the pressure will now be on plenty of other quality* plastic coolant system components that like to fail...

[Brigsy]

Get an old header tank cap, drill and fit a tyre valve. Stick 15psi pressure into the cooling system and that should reveal your leak.

[High Jetter]

Old trick, but good

[406V6]

I saw a C6 last Friday when travelling round the roundabout at the M40 High Wycombe junction. The first C6 I've seen on the road for years. Was it you ? 

I was surprised how small it looked compared to all the huge modern cars and SUVs around it.

[Talbot]

Twas not.

The C6 is actually a quite large footprint car... it's long and wide, just not very tall.

And it continues to be used as the stupidest car ever to drive 1.5 miles in to work.  yes, I should cycle or walk, but I am lazy.

[GeordieInExile]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

Twas not.

The C6 is actually a quite large footprint car... it's long and wide, just not very tall.

And it continues to be used as the stupidest car ever to drive 1.5 miles in to work.  yes, I should cycle or walk, but I am lazy.

I used to use mine daily to go to the gym a mile away. A very nice way to relax after a workout.