Acceptable water loss

[Dave307]

Hi all.
Another dumb ass question I have no doubt.
I am aware that these great vans need oil and water top ups on a regular basis
Just wondered what is considered to be an acceptable loss of water. I have just topped up my water systems with about 500ml of water/antifreeze having done about 700 miles in 4 weeks.
Does that seem about right.

[lloydy]

shouldn't leak at all, i'd go around and check the hoses and hose clips and make sure they are in good nick. Nothing worse than a pipe coming off when your on the motorway. Check for white crust around where the heads join the block, as you might have a leak there?
lloyd

[Dave307]

Will do. I was told they need toppin up but will check everything.

[lloydy]

1/2 litre in 4 weeks, works out a complete fluid change every 30 odd weeks, not good..
if its petrol, a lot of them leak around the heads. If it has the rear heater under the back seat, they leak a lot so worth checking. If it was my van i would want to find it, plenty of people ignore it though and just top up all the time

[Dave307]

Looks like I'll be checking the water supply. Oh the joy.

[mike_gee32]

One thing to watch on these old vans is that as you find one leak and fix it the system holds a bit more pressure and the next weakest point starts to weap.

I had what I thought was a watertight system until I replaced the sensor on the top of the radiator bottle......I've now replaced pretty much the whole cooling system over the last year, just the heater pipes to do as I get an occasional leak from the nearside one. Hopefully the waterjackets will handle full pressure

I use the van as a daily driver and have to stick 'abit' of water in the bottle every couple of months, it never completely empties the rear bottle so I'm probably using half a litre every 2000 miles or so.

[Dave307]

I have looked at all the pipes and fittings and cannot see any staining on any of the pipes. It has been with my mechanic recently to have some carb work done an I asked him to have a quick look. He said he couldn't see any leaks and he had it running sat still for ages and he said it didn't get hot enough to worry him at all. He also said that he had checked the cooling system by eye and couldn't see any issue.

I meant to ask him but forgot so thought I'd ask you wonderful people.
Would the fact that it's been running like poop kangarooing back firing stalling due to a knackered carb be a reason for the extra waterloss.
Since I have filled it up and he has worked on it I have checked it and it doesn't seem to have lost any. Were as before having done the same amount of miles it had visibly lost some water in the tank.

[dazzzer1]

have a check around the water pump too, sometimes settles in the little hollows around that area. sometimes hard to spot these as the water will evaporate when it hits the hot engine. you can sometimes smell it. if you dont know what the smell is then just splash a little coolant onto the hot engine....thats what the smell is like!!

id get the water out first before you start the van up, you only need a tiny bit. the smell is quite destinctive

another idea is to put paper or card under the van overnight when its parked up so you can spot any small leaks

[Mocki]

another trick is to "squirt" the missus's talcom powder round the pipe connections, when water goes through it it leaves little tracks to follow......just dont get caught !

[Ralf85]

I put up with this toppiong up for three years. I had replaced all the main pipes and hoses. Eventually, I replaced the radiator, which had a tiny leak that only occurred after switching the engine off. A tell tale almost invisible dampness on the ground to the left of the front bumper that disappeared overnight. There are so many connections and hoses. The card on the ground under the whole length of the van is the only easy way to find it. Good luck.

Patrick