No coolant and completely unaware...

FlaatusGoat

Had a minor melt down today (well, at least just I did and perhaps not the engine) Just by pure chance I gave a mechanic friend a lift to a petrol station and he did noticed a strong anti-freeze smell in the van (NV200/DCI1.5K) so we stopped and to my horror I saw some fumes coming from the engine bay. Not a single drop of coolant in the expansion tank. Nothing. I went white. This van has NO engine temperature gauge on the instrument cluster. I have no idea how long I've been driving on empty for.

So I sprinted into the forecourt shop and grabbed 1L of coolant concentrate, last bottle they had. Went in, filled it. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough to get back to the min level on the tank. So I re-filled the bottle with tap water (I know....but being an emergency)

Shortly after, we pressure tested. Radiator catastrophically dumping coolant. So, best case scenario is a new radiator. Worst case scenario cracked cylinder/blown gasket. Worth noting it has been a few days since I last drove the van, I'm not sure why the radiator suddenly blew a catastrophic leak (if it had developed why I was away?) The leak 'stops' or becomes quite minor when the filler cap is on. Take the cap off and it really spits it out. Also, water/coolant. How long have I reasonably got to flush before that water mix starts hurting my engine? Or, stupid question - has that already happened.

Any next steps here would be great. Bearing in mind I still need to drive the van to a garage to do the rad once they can fit me in. I'm also told radweld etc is a bad idea.

Ayr_Rage

Don't drive it.

Get it towed to a garage.

lisyloo

I wouldn't drive it and I dont think radweld is appropriate for a major leak.
You need to get it towed to a garage and first thing I do is checked if I've already cooked the engine.
If you've damaged the engine that's far more serious than the radiator issue.

I had my coolant all boil off after a thermostat failure.
I didn't cook the engine and just needed a new thermostat but had to get towed.

FlaatusGoat

Is it still not a good idea to drive to the garage even if I keep an eye on the expansion tank and top up/check the level on the way? Getting it recovered isn't going to be cheap!

knightstyle

Years ago I had a bad leak from the radiator when in France, I bodged a repair with araldite and drove homw with the radiator cap off, got me home without damaging the engine.
So you could get to a garage to have the radiator replaced.

subjecttocontract

Normally modern vehicles without a water temp' gauge have a dash warning light if engine temp gets to hot.

On-the-coast

Doesn’t sound either “catastrophic” or “major” if it stops or almost stops if you put the filler cap back on…

And a part mix ?25% or so? Won’t damage your cooling system in a few days (unless there’s an extreme frost)

LightFlare

Whilst you can’t anticipate a catastrophic failure - when did you last manually check the level ?

Problem you lface is not knowing for how long it’s been empty 

ButterCheese

ONly a garage can diagnose what damage has been done.  They will probbaly fit a new radiator and thermostat, and check the oil.  It would be wise to check the oil shortly after, in case the prolonged running of it with no coolant has damaged your head hasket enough so that it become compromised.  This may or may not show up as milkshake appearance in the oil.  Whatever you do, just get a trusted garage to deal with it and don't opt for quick bodges unless you know what you are looking for

Mildly_Miffed

FlaatusGoat said:

Had a minor melt down today (well, at least just I did and perhaps not the engine) Just by pure chance I gave a mechanic friend a lift to a petrol station and he did noticed a strong anti-freeze smell in the van (NV200/DCI1.5K) so we stopped and to my horror I saw some fumes coming from the engine bay. Not a single drop of coolant in the expansion tank. Nothing. I went white. This van has NO engine temperature gauge on the instrument cluster. I have no idea how long I've been driving on empty for.

So I sprinted into the forecourt shop and grabbed 1L of coolant concentrate, last bottle they had. Went in, filled it. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough to get back to the min level on the tank. So I re-filled the bottle with tap water (I know....but being an emergency)

Shortly after, we pressure tested. Radiator catastrophically dumping coolant. So, best case scenario is a new radiator. Worst case scenario cracked cylinder/blown gasket. Worth noting it has been a few days since I last drove the van, I'm not sure why the radiator suddenly blew a catastrophic leak (if it had developed why I was away?) The leak 'stops' or becomes quite minor when the filler cap is on. Take the cap off and it really spits it out. Also, water/coolant. How long have I reasonably got to flush before that water mix starts hurting my engine? Or, stupid question - has that already happened.

Any next steps here would be great. Bearing in mind I still need to drive the van to a garage to do the rad once they can fit me in. I'm also told radweld etc is a bad idea.

When did you last check the coolant level?

The reason the coolant doesn't leak when the cap is on is because the cap seals - so you've got no air coming in. It pressurises the cooling system, when the engine gets warm.

If the rad's that split, then the mix of coolant's bit irrelevant, since it won't stay in there until you replace the rad. Then put proper coolant in when it's refilled and tested... Until such time as you do that, there's no easy way to tell if you overheated it badly enough to cook the head gasket or do other damage.

Don't drive it. Get it towed to the garage. You have breakdown cover?

And, yes, radweld and similar bodge goops are a terrible idea - not that they'll do anything in the case of a split rad. They simply mask small leaks until such time as you can fix them properly or scrap the car.

born_again

What did the expert  mechanic friend  advise?