No coolant and completely unaware...

Mildly_Miffed

No, don't "get it up to temperature" with no coolant in... That's the same thing as driving it.

Goudy

FlaatusGoat said:

lisyloo said:

FlaatusGoat said:

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!

Presume that means you didn't bother with breakdown cover then?
Just checking in case you forgot you had it.

It may be too delayed by now, but have you considered a mobile mechanic?

I'll try getting the engine up to temperature here in the drive in the meantime and see what happens with the coolant. Very helpful much appreciated. Fingers crossed on the head gasket/cylinder

Make sure you add coolant first (water will be fine as you'll need to drain it down to later fit the new rad).
When it's cold this will fill the water jacket around the engine.

Then continue to top it up when you run it up as once the thermostat reached around 88c, it'll open and start pushing coolant through the rad (where the hole is).

Even without the hole it'll take more coolant to fill the empty rad.

If the hole is massive and it all pours out the hole, if you are canny with topping up, you can run it as a total loss system like a boat.
But I think you'd have a good idea if the head gasket is gone within a few minutes after starting.

FlaatusGoat

Ok so I've had a play with the van on the drive. I think I can say with caution the HG is OK....

No white smoke, or any smoke. Engine turns over fine. Got it up to temperature. The coolant seems to hold ok in the expansion tank, no bubbles in there either. However, the coolant leaks when I take the cap off the expansion tank irrespective of whether the van is running or not.

I suspect as the engine gets properly hot from running and the coolant system really gets running, the thermostat opens the flow (just like when I open the expansion cap) and that causes the coolant to seep out.

The fins of the radiator are covered in the red coolant. Definitely worth starting off replacing the radiator.

Unfortunately 3/4 years ago green coolant was in the system (requires red) and perhaps it's no coincidence but I was told the water pump was leaking 2 years ago during a timing belt change. The right coolant was added. I don't know if there's any residual damage from having had the wrong coolant that's caused this issue. We'll see I guess.

FlaatusGoat

And... it was a hole in the radiator! Something small hit the radiator causing a hole/rupture in one of the horizontal pipes. Pity, must have been something off the road or motorway. I'm hoping I can put this down to just real bad luck.