Yes, we had an eventful first trip.
The garage
We got the van back on Tuesday.
I couldn't go, so my wife picked it up and had the subsequent conversation with them.
I was disappointed to see that the coolant level in the engine bay (not the one behind the licence plate) was a couple of inches below the top.
My wife called them about this, and they had done it deliberately. They said that the system had been pressure tested and that the coolant in that inner container should be half full, to allow room for the water to expand.
I think that you guys know what you're talking about more than a generalist garage, so I think I'll be taking the van somewhere else in future.
The injector pipes have been replaced. That seems to have addressed the leak.
With regard to the dark smoke, that the exhaust pumps out, the garage believe that it's down to a fault on the injection pump. They believe that it's the old original pump and it's heading towards needing replacing. They said that it's fine to drive until it does need replacing, and told my wife that it's an expensive job when it needs doing (pump alone £200 - £1,000).
The garage were also told about a new issue where I could feel that the engine was over revving on idle, until I touched the accelerator, then it went back down. The initially assumed that this was down to a cable, but in the end have said that this is also down to the pump.
The trip
We had a night away on Thursday. Only about an hour and a half away from the house.
Before the trip, I checked both coolant levels (leaving the inner one as the garage had left it) and all seemed fine.
On the motorway, we were happily driving along until we got flashed and eagerly told to pull over to the hard shoulder.
When I took a look around the back, there was a fast dripping/stream of liquid and some smoke.
As the Injector pipes had just been changed, I thought the worse and thought that this could be diesel. However, it became clear that the liquid was coolant, coming out of the top of the rear (behind licence plate) container.
I released the lid of the rear coolant and LOTS of liquid came out. I put the cap back on and wasn't sure if I should let more coolant out or not. However, as the coolant was obviously busting out of the rear container, I decided to let it come out. Lots came out and I let it settle back down to the 'max' level.
For the rest of the journey, we kept an eye on the temperature gauge and pulled in to a service station once, to check the level again (with the engine still running). All seemed fine.
The trip home on Friday was all OK too.
Next?
My uneducated best guess is that they didn't bleed the radiator when they did the coolant. I'm wondering if that left lots of air in the system and that air, once hot, was the cause of the overflow of liquid. I can't think why else it would have happened. The levels seemed fine before the trip, and if anything, the inner container was too low. Is there another reason why the van suddenly had way too coolant?
If I'm right, then I intend to buy some of my own coolant (G12+ or G12++) and do the whole radiator bleeding process again.
Regarding the smoke, i should probably start a new thread, but does their injector pump suggestion sound correct?
