How long does it take coolant to work it's way into the system?
Posted: 29 Sep 2021, 15:28
Hello,
I have a diesel auto 85. Recently, in an effort to fix some overheating, I went to check on my thermostat, and from what I can tell - there isn't one installed. My guess is the PO just removed it and left it out because it was faulty. I have one on order, but anyway, on to my point. During that process, I obviously drained and lost a lot of fluid. Since then I've noticed the reserve tank empty 2 times. I don't really drive her that frequently - I live on a tiny island and it maybe sees a tank of gas a month at best. I did a "test" of sorts on the coolant system, by fitting an air pump onto the resevoir pressure valve, pumping it up to ~20PSI, and unscrewing the radiator bleed valve (to get any air out of the radiator). I then left it pumped up, and kept an eye on the gauge, and it stayed at pressure, which would make me optimistically think there's not a coolant leak.
That said, I have had to top off the reserve tank twice since I filled it up after the thermostat hunt. This seems a little strange to me. I'm also having some transmission slippage in low gear, so I'm kind of concerned maybe the trans cooler is being contaminated with fluid. Is there some way I can test/verify where the coolant is disappearing to? No visible leaks in the driveway, and other than a little ugly diesel smoke on startup, everything seems normal (for a 40 year old van with 300KM on it, anyway)
I have a diesel auto 85. Recently, in an effort to fix some overheating, I went to check on my thermostat, and from what I can tell - there isn't one installed. My guess is the PO just removed it and left it out because it was faulty. I have one on order, but anyway, on to my point. During that process, I obviously drained and lost a lot of fluid. Since then I've noticed the reserve tank empty 2 times. I don't really drive her that frequently - I live on a tiny island and it maybe sees a tank of gas a month at best. I did a "test" of sorts on the coolant system, by fitting an air pump onto the resevoir pressure valve, pumping it up to ~20PSI, and unscrewing the radiator bleed valve (to get any air out of the radiator). I then left it pumped up, and kept an eye on the gauge, and it stayed at pressure, which would make me optimistically think there's not a coolant leak.
That said, I have had to top off the reserve tank twice since I filled it up after the thermostat hunt. This seems a little strange to me. I'm also having some transmission slippage in low gear, so I'm kind of concerned maybe the trans cooler is being contaminated with fluid. Is there some way I can test/verify where the coolant is disappearing to? No visible leaks in the driveway, and other than a little ugly diesel smoke on startup, everything seems normal (for a 40 year old van with 300KM on it, anyway)
