Mx5 Losing water

Plasterer

Hello,

Misses has a mrk 2 MX5 and problem as follows:

I borrowed it to drive to up the M5 to Brum to view a job - gets there and hear a bubbling noise from engine. Lift bonnet and waters empty. Fill it up and drive 5 miles - pull over and check - lost 80% of water - fill it up again and then stop every 10 miles to check - all fine. Get home up in the morning drive to cheltenham and back approx 20 miles. check - fine no water lost. Doing my head in!?! someone said it may be the head gasget but not sure?

This happened a few months ago and did the same then was fine?
Any Ideas guys - i put pink stuff on walls for a living so go easy!

DollyDimple

Look in the oil cap ,if therres white gunk in its then its a head gasket at the very least.

Dont be scared though i ran two mx5s on track and one ran for an entire day with no water in it at all and was fine again when i let it cool down and put water in,the engines are bulletprooof.

Liam

Plasterer

DollyDimple wrote: »

Look in the oil cap ,if therres white gunk in its then its a head gasket at the very least.

Dont be scared though i ran two mx5s on track and one ran for an entire day with no water in it at all and was fine again when i let it cool down and put water in,the engines are bulletprooof.

Liam

Thanks - however here lies a bit more of the story - after speaking to a mehanic I checked the oil and all fine oil colour as normal no gunk, cream etc - the mechanic told me that it is not always the case when the the gasket goes (can look normal) if this makes sense!?!

Annoying as the car is overserviced if anything and well kept and driven - weve had the car 5 years.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Rads can spring leaks on these, so i'd be looking there first.

Is anti freeze good, obviously it is now as you've had to top the coolant up.

These as said are good cars and some people neglect them, one of the things that get neglected on all cars is coolant change, coolant doesn't just stop the car overheating, nor does anti freeze just stop the coolant freezing, its most important property is to stop engine and cooling system internal corrosion.

The first time you topped it up and then it threw the water out its possible that you had a massive air lock, sounds like its settled down since then though.

If the water loss persists and you can find no leaks you can get a garage to sniff test the coolant, this should tell you if you are getting combustion gases seeping into the water meaning head gasket or other problem.

EDIT, when the garage do a sniff test get them to pressure test the cooling system too.

Plasterer

Thanks Guilbert - any idea how many hours/how much I should be paying for such a check?

mchale

As post 4 has said could have been an air lock, when you run it now, is interior heater blowing hot air out

gilbert_and_sullivan

Plasterer wrote: »

Thanks Guilbert - any idea how many hours/how much I should be paying for such a check?

Probably an hour or so should cover diagnosis only, its finding that competent indy garage thats going to be the problem, i'm not into MX5's or similar meself so can't help you there, i'd have thought joining the MX5 forum and asking there for advice and indy recomendations might be an idea.

Plasterer

mchale wrote: »

As post 4 has said could have been an air lock, when you run it now, is interior heater blowing hot air out

Heater works fine - hot for hot turn to cold and comes out cold.

mchale

Plasterer wrote: »

Heater works fine - hot for hot turn to cold and comes out cold.

Then I would run it for a few days, checking water level when cold on a regular basis, prior to it loosing water when was it last checked