Video: Campervan Diary 8: where's the water gone?

[ChrisG46]

New Campervan Video Diary 8: Where’s the water gone? I’ve put around 5 litres of water into the van's cooling system . . but none seems to come out! Where's it going?

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[CJH]

Hi Chris

If it's an airlock it suggests that your cooling system might have been drained down recently and not bled properly when refilled. You can find a lot of good advice about bleeding the system in the wiki. Have you had to put the 5 litres in all in one go? If so your expansion tank (on the left) must have been nearly empty, so expect to need more bleeding.

If you've been adding a litre or two every now and then then it's still possible that it's just air working its way out of the system, but its also possible that you have a leak somewhere. All the hose clips have to be very tight in my experience, or you may get a leak under pressure, and the coolant will typically drop onto something hot and evaporate before you get a chance to lift the engine cover to see it, so there may be no sign of it. If your coolant is the right concentration you'll usually be able to see a coolant stain where the leak is happening though.

Just a word of warning - your coolant should always be at a good concentration, not just to prevent freezing but to prevent corrosion in the engine. There was some discussion of it recently here. If you've topped up 5 litres of plain water that will have diluted it a lot, so you should maybe make sure you return it to the right concentration soon.

[ChrisG46]

Thanks, bud!

There's been several suggestions, but I took her to the garage who I think are pretty good, and we'll see what they say. I'll pass some of the thoughts on to them at some point.

Is this part of the fun of VW ownership?

[California Dreamin]

Needs a coolant pressure check from warm, where a pump is attached to the header tank and constant pressure applied (around 1 bar) and left to cool down.
There really are so many places that could be leaking: the metal coolant pipe on the left side, one of the plastic coolant housings on the heads, the thermostat housing, the heater matrix in the car, front to rear pipes and god forbid, the coolant jacket seals.

The coolant pressure test will find the leak but start from hot (not too hot you obviously) apply the pressure, leave (on a ramp so it can be raised to take a proper look around).

Martin

[thebobster]

Just to mention, the cooling system holds 17 litres of coolant so 5 litres topping up will soon vanish if there is an airlock due to incorrect bleeding. The next 5 litres you put in should be neat anti-freeze! A useful bit of kit to keep by you is a hydrometer which will allow you to monitor the specific gravity of your coolant to enable you to maintain the correct ratio between water and anti-freeze. Modern ones are fairly idiot proof as they give a reading on a scale of "Not enough anti-freeze" to "too much anti-freeze" or a scale of degrees of frost from which your coolant is safe.

[CJH]

A useful bit of kit to keep by you is a hydrometer which will allow you to monitor the specific gravity of your coolant to enable you to maintain the correct ratio between water and anti-freeze. Modern ones are fairly idiot proof as they give a reading on a scale of "Not enough anti-freeze" to "too much anti-freeze" or a scale of degrees of frost from which your coolant is safe.

Lidl had some in at the beginning of the week - £1.49. They've gone from their website now, but they will probably still have some in the stores.

[thebobster]

Hi, CJH. I was actually looking for the link to the Lidl hydrometers and you beat me to it with your post. (Great minds think alike!)

Hi, Chris.Knowing you and I have the same conversion (Holdsworth Vision) My first thought when I saw the title of this thread was that you had had a water loss from your drinking water tank situated in the cupboard beneath the cooker. The drain tap for this tank is located just aft of the nearside rear wheel and the next time you take on drinking water, it can sometimes leak if the tap is not tightened properly when previously draining the tank to lighten the load on the van. (In the winter months it is a good idea to keep this tank dry to prevent frost damage.)

I am enjoying watching your videos when I find them, so thank you for posting them.

[ChrisG46]

Glad to hear from you, Bobster - do you (or did you) have leak problems with the top windows?

Thanks for all the comments - I'm learning lots!

[thebobster]

With those upper sliding windows I have noticed a slight water ingress from time to time, particularly if it is windy, but nothing serious. I have noticed a little moss growing in the channels too from time to time, but it is easily removed.