Coolant leak issues

[pleasestartnow]

Another day another question.

I have had a leaky oil sump for years now, possibly even since I first got it 10 years ago. It only leaks after the oil gets hot during a spin and then when you stop, it slowly drips unil the oil cools down and I'm guessing becomes to thick to leak out. It doesn't leak a huge amount, as in I drove it about 6 thousand miles in the last year and didn't have any issues with needing to top it up.

Would I be right and say there is a seal there somewhere and maybe that has burst? If so is this an easy thing to change, and again by that I mean if I was to do it am I potentially opening a can of worms. Going to France next week so I'm happy to leave it until we come back but at the same time if its fairly straight forward I would like to do it now.

The leak is on the right hand side of the sump and it slowly trickles down onto the exhaust bracket, you can see some of the drops in the image.



Any advice appreciated as usual

[Oldiebut goodie]

Take a look higher up where the breather mounts to the block - if you have the original plastic one it is liable to distortion and splitting. I made a metal one to replace mine as it was leaking like heck.

[pleasestartnow]

Spot on, I will give that a check in the morning when I get back up there.

[pleasestartnow]

Had a look there and I think it's actually coming from where the dipstick goes into the sump.

There is a really small pool there, and when it fills a bit it dripples down . Think I will leave it as a job to do when I get back

[pleasestartnow]

So the leak here isn't from the dip stick its coming from above it, actually its on the coolant pipe in the image. In particular the spring band clamp on the pipe (red). I think whats happened is, that clamp is actually half way down the pipe rather than being where the coolant pipe goes over the flange on the engine. This pipe goes from the engine to the water pump, https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/uk/ ... -pump.html#. 

There has been a slow drip from here since i bought the van nearly 10 years ago so im guessing the clamp has been in this position since then. I moved the clamp up a bit yesterday and the very slow trickle turned into a torrent, my heart literally sank like. Thought there must be a hole there somewhere that the clamp was somehow covering, however after much swearing i got the the pipe off to check for any visible holes (could not see any) and placed clamp up to the correct position and the leak has stopped...kind of. Its not a torrent anymore and appears even less than before so im guessing there might be a small pinhole leak in the pipe.

Im thinking the torrent that i got came from the initial moving of the clamp upwards actually pulled the pipe a bit off the flange and the coolant was coming out at the join. 

My problem now is, during all this messing about i have probably lost about 2-3 litres of coolant. Should i simply keep running the engine and topping up the expansion tank or would i have introduced air to the system and now have to bleed the system? Realistically, i really really don't want to bleed the system as the big trip is coming up on Wednesday but i also dont want to overheat and damage the engine etc. 

I have a replacement piece of pipe ordered, if its just a pin hole would i get away with just covering that area with something like tape or a sleeve of some sort? Also can i replace those spring clamps with any other type of clamp because they are an absolute nightmare. 

Can i change the name of this thread or mods change the name to 'Coolant bleed or top up?' as it is actually nothing to do with the oil sump? please and thanks

[pleasestartnow]

Just got to my van there,

Coolant is just above the min mark in the expansion tank.

There is no other coolant container behind the number plate or anywhere else I can see. I know in the wiki and other threads etc it always mentions one but I don't seem to have any. I only have the one with the blue dalek cap highlighted in yellow.

No sign of any leak from the previous mentioned pipe now but a coolant pipe above it (in red) also didn't have the spring clamp in the right place and that began to very slowly drip as the van ran, this would drip onto the pipe which I originally thought was leaking. So hopefully this was the problem all along.

Coolant level light flashes on startup and then goes off. Comes back about a minute later but obviously the coolant level is low.

Main question as before is can I just keep topping up and should I top up to the very brim of the coolant container.

[mioba]

Give the engine a good jet wash so you can find the leak. It will make working on the engine so much easier than dealing with all that sludgy mess.

Common for the orange seal under the dipstick guide to fail.

Coolant bleeding covered to death. Main bottle should be at the brim.

[pleasestartnow]

Cheers Mioba, I actually have found the leak (I hope). It's not leaking now anyway after I adjusted all the pipes on their flanges correctly.

I'm not bleeding the coolant system however I just double checked the wiki and had missed the last section on diesel engines.

Does this order make sense for topping up and removing any air:
Engine off
Dalek cap off
Expansion tank topped up to brim
Start engine
Rev engine
Add more coolant
Leave engine idle
Open rad bleed screw
Rev engine again
Check to see if only coolant coming out the bleed screw
Rev engine and top up until only coolant coming out bleed screw.
Tighten bleed screw.
Turn off engine
Put cap back on tank.

I cant find an answer to this question though as answers refer to the top up tank behind the license plate which I don't have. If I fill the coolant bottle up to the top( the one with the blue dalek cap) as the coolant heats up and expands would it not cause a pipe/bottle to explode due to the pressure and the bottle being full so there is no where to expand to?

[Oldiebut goodie]

It is supposed to expand out of the dalek cap along the small pipe into the tank behind the number plate flap. As it cools the coolant is sucked back via the dalek cap into the tank.
Your system will expand the water out of the small pipe and is lost, when yours cools you will have lost coolant from your tank.

[Mocki]

I dont “do”diesels , but what i can tell you is , top the coolant up to the brim , leave the cap off , start it and get someone to rev it up so the coolant level in the header tank drops , add more water , hold the revs up, put the cap back on and then let the revs drop .
Frankly if you dont have the top up tank connected to the pressure cap , you will be forever refilling with coolant .

[pleasestartnow]

Ah ok, I get the process there now.

My pipe from the dalek cap goes out to the engine, I highlighted it in blue in the image below. Which is part of a flange where one pipe goes to the water pump and the the larger one heads off under the van to the radiator I guess.

Any ideas why there would be no fill up bottle and is it a regular thing for 1y's to have that setup?

If I get a fill up bottle, can I just run the pipe from the dalek cap to it and then plug the place it ran to on the engine side flange?

[Mocki]

It’s non standard , so i have No idea, you will need to speak to some who has one,

[silverbullet]

Hutch runs a 1Y in his early Vanagon and has done a few swaps.

[pleasestartnow]

Cheers for that. I'm not really worried about the actual setup as I've been driving the van for years and not had any heating issues. I wouldn't even be going at it only I lost about 2 litres of coolant when I disconnected the pipe. Maybe there won't be air in the system so I will just top it up today and go for a spin and see what happens.

[muttleypup]

I have a 1y and same as you it’s never had the second tank/bottle. I bought it like this and didnt know any different. Level in the tank with dalek cap is and always has been around min mark. I’ve used it like this for 12 years or so with no issue and no coolant loss. As has been said previously, if you brim the tank you will lose coolant as it expands so maybe stick to how it is if it’s working.