What could be wrong with my car?

megan01

I have a clio, and on 3 occasions I have had my car show the oil and stop lights with the engine overheating. On the Thursday, the water was topped up to maximum but by Friday night it was below minimum so I topped it up. In total I've done about 3 miles today before I took it to the garage and the water was empty again. I left my car with the guy to do tests, and he left it running for an hour and put cardboard underneath to see where it's leaking and he said not a single drop appeared on it.

Anyone got any ideas? I've brought it back to keep an eye on in the week but I don't want anything major to go wrong on it and would like it to be stopped now before it gets worse . Thanks

whitecloud663

megan01 wrote: »

I have a clio, and on 3 occasions I have had my car show the oil and stop lights with the engine overheating. On the Thursday, the water was topped up to maximum but by Friday night it was below minimum so I topped it up. In total I've done about 3 miles today before I took it to the garage and the water was empty again. I left my car with the guy to do tests, and he left it running for an hour and put cardboard underneath to see where it's leaking and he said not a single drop appeared on it.

Anyone got any ideas? I've brought it back to keep an eye on in the week but I don't want anything major to go wrong on it and would like it to be stopped now before it gets worse . Thanks

When was it last serviced, i.e. oil change?
Could be low oil that needs changing and/or broken radiator/water pump.

jbainbridge

The coolant is leaking out somewhere ... either from a pipe in the engine bay or inside the engine - which means the head gasket has gone (a lot of work to fix). The garage should run some tests to rule out the head gasket ... I'm suprised they didn't tell you this.

benham3160

Wow, that's a bit like a GP waving a stethoscope over your chest and claiming there's absolutely nothing wrong with your leg!

On a Clio it could be the dreaded head-gasket, it could still be a leak but to just shove a bit of cardboard underneath the engine and proclaim it's not leaking (thus, the car is healthy) is a snap diagnosis at best.

I don't know what level of knowledge you have, but a few things you might look at which might point you in the general direction of what's going on;

a) Do you have any white smoke (steam) coming out of the exhaust pipe?
b) If you take off the oil filling cap and look at the bottom of the cap is there any sludge or creamy looking substance on it?
c) Does the engine get hot very quickly?

These are only very simple things to look at.

megan01

whitecloud663 wrote: »

When was it last serviced, i.e. oil change?
Could be low oil that needs changing and/or broken radiator/water pump.

It was about July when it was last services, oil looks fine. Mechanic said the radiator looks new, hmm...

megan01

jbainbridge wrote: »

The coolant is leaking out somewhere ... either from a pipe in the engine bay or inside the engine - which means the head gasket has gone (a lot of work to fix). The garage should run some tests to rule out the head gasket ... I'm suprised they didn't tell you this.

I know next to nothing about cars. If it is the head gasket, how much is a new one roughly? Like worth not repairing kinda money?

AdrianC

How old's the Clio? What engine?

megan01

benham3160 wrote: »

Wow, that's a bit like a GP waving a stethoscope over your chest and claiming there's absolutely nothing wrong with your leg!

On a Clio it could be the dreaded head-gasket, it could still be a leak but to just shove a bit of cardboard underneath the engine and proclaim it's not leaking (thus, the car is healthy) is a snap diagnosis at best.

I don't know what level of knowledge you have, but a few things you might look at which might point you in the general direction of what's going on;

a) Do you have any white smoke (steam) coming out of the exhaust pipe?
b) If you take off the oil filling cap and look at the bottom of the cap is there any sludge or creamy looking substance on it?
c) Does the engine get hot very quickly?

These are only very simple things to look at.

I have no clue about cars, thank you for your reply. I have no white smoke, there's no substance at the bottom of the cap, and it gets from about 0 bars to about 5 within about three miles on the temperature thing on my dashboard. When it gets to about 7 and when I'm doing above 50mph is when I tend to get the warning signs to stop.

megan01

AdrianC wrote: »

How old's the Clio? What engine?

2005 1.2 Clio rush.

arcon5

HG less than a tenner.
Fitting is a big job though so usually hits 500+.
More if head needs skimming

arcon5

Btw all this HG talk is getting ahead of itself. Cooling systems are not difficult to diagnose, especially if leaking that bad. Take it to a decent garage for pressure testing etc