Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,

Whilst changing parts of the exhaust (1.9 DG) I noticed what might be a slight coolant leak from the rubber water jacket around the cylinder heads. It's only visible with the push rod covers taken off and is only a very slow drip (nothing under the van in the morning) and I don't have to top up the coolant very often. Just changed the oil and no coolant in there and no oil in the coolant. Plugs were fine too. Could this be why the van takes ages to start when left for a while?

I know it's prob something terrible so shall I just keep going till it goes bang!

Thanks for your replies.

is the exhaust the early J tube system ?
and were you replacing one of the J tube ?

If you're just running it into the ground, put some of that 'stop leak' stuff in it will really slow down that water useage!

T'Onion wrote:is the exhaust the early J tube system ?
and were you replacing one of the J tube ?

Sorry what's a J tube?

It's a 1987, and i was replacing the pipe from the 3 way elbow to the cylinder heads. The one with the hot air pick up for the air filter.

KarlT wrote:If you're just running it into the ground, put some of that 'stop leak' stuff in it will really slow down that water useage!

That's the thing it's hardly using water, I only know there's a leak because I've seen it. I'm concerned it'll go bang on the in laws drive..........

the early exhaust system is 4 pipes

did you support the exhaust when you removed the pipe , could be that the weight of the system put pressure on the jacket causing it to leak ,did it stop when you replaced the pipe ?

try to have a good look at as much of the water jacket gaskets on both sides as you can see clearly, if they look perished or brittle and blistered with white deposits in places they could do with replacing soon, a slight drip may not develop into anything worse for ages, or it could suddenly start pi**ing out big time miles from home if you're unlucky like mine did, no way of knowing unfortunately, keep an eye on it incase it gets worse, think theres something on the Wiki about what 'stop leak' stuff is ok to use and which to avoid.

Don't use Bars Leaks, Halfords or Holts type Rad Seal.
Use Wynns and follow the instuctions carefully. There is another brand which is excellent but the name escapes me.

Does anybody know where the Wynnes fluid is available from as also have a small leak from the gasket.


cheers