Garage & missing coolant cap

karl271186

Hi,

Took my car in for a full service on Thursday, everything was fine with it. I did not drive it on Friday and then drove to work on Saturday where when I got to staff car park I noticed smoke coming from under the bonnet.

I opened this up and noticed the engine coolant compartment was missing it's cap (garage forgot to put this back on) and the fluid has splashed out onto surrounding services where I drove to work - I think it was the fluid that was burning off.

Car is going back to garage on Tuesday for them to put a new cap on, but my concern is what long term damage could have been done to the engine?

Thanks

khcomp

Shouldn't be any lasting damage as long as not a great deal of coolant was lost, and the engine didn't overheat - I'd be demanding an apology & some compensation from the garage though (such as a discount or refund on the service), and I'd be wary of using their services again, but mistakes do happen.

SuperAllyB

I suspect it was probably steam rather than smoke.

Strider590

How far was it driven?

Without the coolant cap the coolant would have boiled and this would have left air pockets inside the engine, which in turn causes hot spots, which in turn can warp the cylinder head and the head gasket.

You can get away with it if the engine doesn't reach operating temp, but you really should not drive it again until it has a coolant cap and if the garage have told you to do so, then they're complete idiots.

arcon5

Let's not be melodramatic now.

Op top it up, put another cap on and tell the garage to reimburse you. That way you can drive it again

DTDfanBoy

Strider590 wrote: »

Without the coolant cap the coolant would have boiled and this would have left air pockets inside the engine, which in turn causes hot spots, which in turn can warp the cylinder head and the head gasket.

Complete twaddle, if the car was running at normal operating temperatures the coolant wouldn't have reached boiling point regardless of the lack of pressure.

s_b

MR Boyle is the man to read

mb101_2

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

Complete twaddle, if the car was running at normal operating temperatures the coolant wouldn't have reached boiling point regardless of the lack of pressure.

You're the one talking twaddle, because you clearly don't know anything about physics, or cars. Car cooling systems are pressurised.

The radiator cap is effectively a cork on (what should be) a closed system. Restricting the volume of the system means that, as the coolant heats up, the pressure rises, which increases the boiling point of the fluid. Without this cork, coolant can boil at normal operating temperatures with the potentially bad consequences others have outlined.

I will never understand the desire of the ignorant to not only blithely repeat things which are totally wrong but to actually contradict others who are correct.

OP, you should hopefully be okay if your journey wasn't too long and didn't get the engine too hot for too long (i.e. not queuing traffic), but do not drive the car any further without a coolant cap on.

Call the garage, raise hell and demand they come out to you, replace the cap free of charge and offer you some goodwill.

karl271186

Thanks for all your replies. Thankfully the drive was only a few miles very early in the morning with no traffic.

My friend is meeting me at work tomorrow with a new cap from Vauxhall and coolant, then I will take it to the garage.

Strider590

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

Complete twaddle, if the car was running at normal operating temperatures the coolant wouldn't have reached boiling point regardless of the lack of pressure.

But it's the pressure that stop the water actually boiling.........

arcon5

Ye he was correct. The theory anyway was factually correct but the reality is somewhat different. The reality being so long as she never lost the lot and caused overheating she'd have to be the unluckiest sole on this planet to suffer head damage