Urgent help with water cooled please.

[jen&mark]

Ok, i may sound like a complete novice but here is my question.

Ive just noticed that the water level in my 1.9 water cooled transporter van has gone down quite dramatically.

It used to be blue and up between the min and max marks but when i inspected it this evening it had gone down to the min mark and it lhas changed colour from blue to a murky brown colour.

What does this mean?

Can i top it up with tap water?

Please help as im driving back to sheffield tomorrow and i dont want to blow the thing up as i did to my vw polo last year.

[kevtherev]

take the top off the expansion tank and ensure thats full to the brim...


then top up with water in the top up tank to max ... run it up to normal temp and check for leaks.

[jen&mark]

I will do that first thing tomorrow.

Will using plain water without anti freeze have any bad effects on the van? I do have some anti freeze but it is in sheffield.

[kevtherev]

no, not for such a short time