Water Leaks

[robbo123]

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has had the issue I am currently going through as I cant quite figure out what it is.

The short of it is that I have a water leak. When I drive along the highway for a few hours with the air con on (have to use it or the dog will melt) everything works fine. When i stop for petrol, I get a hiss sound and it drops all its water (never been attentive enough to see where its coming from. It seems as though there is pressure build up in there when I stop and it keeps building up and spitting out the water.


I let it cool down - Filled radiator up with water - drove another hour home with no air con (dog is alive) and no issues. Have been driving around (and some 3 hour trips) with no more issues, it does use a bit of water, but it has not dropped the lot. Seems to be related to when i use the air con that created the pressure.

I did the heater core about a year ago, so i know the water is not leaking out that end. Its front end @ radiator or a hose. Just wondering if anyone has encountered to save me some investigation.

note - I am no mechanic by any means.

Thanks!!!

[robbo123]

Sorry - Forgot to say - 1991 L series

[RSR 555]

A/C condensers put out a lot of heat and you need to make sure your electric fans are coming on when your A/C is on. There should be 2 when A/C is fitted to the vehicle. An L.Series without A/C has one electric and one viscous fan.

[justincase41]

Does this only happen when the aircon has been running?

[robbo123]

HI All, Thanks, I will take a look at the fans tonight with A/C on and off.

justincase41 - Yes, it will only drop its water (all of it) if the A/C has been on for a while. So when i go away for the weekend - if I run the A/C on a hot day for a while - only when i stop it drops all the water. I remember it kind of made a hissing sound as it was happening so i was thinking a leak from pressure built up when its not moving.

Just driving about during the week, everything is fine. only uses a slight amount of water. But it does not need a top up unless the above occurs.

[RSR 555]

Another thing to also check, is that the radiator and cap are both in good working order. Might pay to get your local radiator shop to check this for you, especially now it's coming up to summer and we don't want the dog to get too hot.

[justincase41]

Sounds like you may have a pin hole leak somewhere, and when the motor is being pushed a little harder with the the aircon running, its enough to get the squirts. A pressure test by a radiator shop may help.

[El_Freddo]

It could be several things:

The moisture from the air that the AC removes, there's a drain pipe on the passenger's side firewall that will drop water when standing - especially in humid weather.

Coolant should be coloured - green or red are the usual coolant colours. If you're using water that spells trouble - or it's the above.

After shut off your engine's temp goes up and the coolant continues to naturally cycle through the cooling system to a point. If this gets too hot it can boil, especially if your engine is already running hot, or it's your radiator cap as Paul has mentioned.

The last possibility is that it's the first sign of a blown head gasket, get it early enough and you're all good, leave it for longer and you're up for more maintenance when rebuilding with new HG's or worst case scenario you're up for a new engine.

One of the things you can do is let the car idle for a little bit before shutting it off, then leaving the accessories on to let the thermo fans continue pulling fresh air through the radiator after the engine is shut off. Also make sure both fans are working!

I hope it's a simple fix.

Cheers

Bennie

[robbo123]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the replies. I have a bit of an update......

I decided to just bite the bullet on this one and take it to a mechanic as I wanted to take it away for a week fishing along ninety mile beach and didn’t want to run any risks.
Good News - Mechanic replaced a bypass hose with a split and replaced the thermostat....So I thought it was fixed...

Although I made it from Melbourne, there and back - I noticed not all good news when i went to buy some bait in Lakes entrance and the guy behind the counter said "is that your car out the front, Without turning around and a sense of pride I snapped back "sure is", to which he replies - "you better get out there, its smoking"........Turns out it was steam - but a problem none the less.

So the update - It happens after a long or short drive - not dependant on the air con at all, as I hadn't been using it. It’s inconsistent

I got back to Melbourne and heard the hissing sound of the car and popped the bonnet to see if i could find the leak - Unfortunately I could not see it dropping water/coolant, but was still hissing and I noticed that there was coolant on the carb and the inside of the bonnet was wet (coolant). The sound did not appear to be coming from the radiator, but in under the carb near the belts (photo attached as I have admitted I’m no mechanic). I keep my eye on the temp all the time (fuel gauge doesn’t work so it’s all I have to look at) It was not running that hot at all.

Suppose a pressure test is the next step…or if sounds more like a HG issue, I’ll take it straight back to the mechanic.

I’m now just stumped as to where to take it to a Radiator place or a mechanic.

Thanks again.

[Rodeo4jake]

Hey mate,
What a bugger of an issue, not really sure where the problem could be on that one without looking at it in person. But another forum member just got really good results off a place called Subabits. They are in Clayton, so if you're close to them I'd give em a try.

Cheers Jake

[Silverbullet]

Crikey! Never seen one spray coolant on top of the air filter before. I see it's on the spare wheel as well, could it be spraying up from one of the heater hoses below the tyre?

[Gannon]

There are 2 small hoses that supply water to the carb to keep it from icing up, its possible that there is a pinhole leak that only leaks once the radiator reaches a certain pressure / temperature and is spraying coolant upwards on the bonnet.

[NachaLuva]

+1 on either the heater hoses or carby hoses have pinhole leak that only leaks when the cooling system is at full pressure, esp as El Freddo says when there is a temp/pressure spike after the engine is switched off.

If you take off the carby housing you should be able to see a telltale mark on the hose where its been leaking

[Smokey]

I replaced my carb hoses with new genuine.
Click here for the pics, part numbers and cost.

[RSR 555]

There are 2 small hoses that supply water to the carb to keep it from icing up, its possible that there is a pinhole leak that only leaks once the radiator reaches a certain pressure / temperature and is spraying coolant upwards on the bonnet.

Yeah.. I'm with Gannon on this one. If the mechanic changed the RHS one, then most likely the LHS one will be in the same condition. Just whip off the air filter assembly and you should be able to spot it or just take out the spare tyre and have a look from the back of the carby.

[robbo123]

Thanks All,

I will have a look at that other hose - should be evident if that's the leak as there will be a bit of mess about after coolant hit the hood.

I will report back - Fingers crossed......(I glad no one is mentioning a HG anymore)

[robbo123]

Today she will live again!!! To close this off - the problem was the 2 bypass hose (Gannon I think you nailed it). I suppose when I looked for it there was not enough pressure in the system to find it - without taking parts of I just never had time to do.

Took it to a mechanic to resolve, got lazy and would have made it worse myself. On mechanics, I have learnt with an old L series never to go to a generic mechanic. Took a recommendation of here to go to Lucas automotive - will again.

[RSR 555]

Glad to hear after 3 months, she is finally getting sorted