Empty engine coolant

Arsenal2019

motorguy said:

Arsenal2019 said:

I’ve bought and put K seal in. HOPEFULLY that works 

I would tread with extreme caution.

You are one bad day and one journey away from needing a new engine in that car IF that heater matrix leaks again and best case right now is you're likely running with an air locked system.

You may not be as lucky as Nobby was.

A heater matrix isnt a wildy expensive thing to replace, relative to the price of a new engine or new car, so i'd be seriously considering where you go from here.

I plan on taking it to the garage Monday . I took out warranty with Vauxhall when the car was bought so I pray it’s at least something t covered by warranty!!??

Car_54

Arsenal2019 said:

motorguy said:

Arsenal2019 said:

I’ve bought and put K seal in. HOPEFULLY that works 

I would tread with extreme caution.

You are one bad day and one journey away from needing a new engine in that car IF that heater matrix leaks again and best case right now is you're likely running with an air locked system.

You may not be as lucky as Nobby was.

A heater matrix isnt a wildy expensive thing to replace, relative to the price of a new engine or new car, so i'd be seriously considering where you go from here.

I plan on taking it to the garage Monday . I took out warranty with Vauxhall when the car was bought so I pray it’s at least something t covered by warranty!!??

 You said "I have had it for a few years". How long was the warranty valid for?

Arsenal2019

Car_54 said:

Arsenal2019 said:

motorguy said:

Arsenal2019 said:

I’ve bought and put K seal in. HOPEFULLY that works 

I would tread with extreme caution.

You are one bad day and one journey away from needing a new engine in that car IF that heater matrix leaks again and best case right now is you're likely running with an air locked system.

You may not be as lucky as Nobby was.

A heater matrix isnt a wildy expensive thing to replace, relative to the price of a new engine or new car, so i'd be seriously considering where you go from here.

I plan on taking it to the garage Monday . I took out warranty with Vauxhall when the car was bought so I pray it’s at least something t covered by warranty!!??

 You said "I have had it for a few years". How long was the warranty valid for?

Bought the car in September 2023. The car is a 69 plate

paul_c123

I'd not worry too much about the warranty. The fact that you continued to use it with the fault, then poured some K-seal into it, has pretty much ensured you won't be able to claim on it.

Arsenal2019

paul_c123 said:

I'd not worry too much about the warranty. The fact that you continued to use it with the fault, then poured some K-seal into it, has pretty much ensured you won't be able to claim on it.

Wow you’re joking!!?? And I’ve probably only done  40 miles on it

paul_c123

Warranty terms and conditions are like Swiss cheese, most of the time people try and fail to claim off them. Its worth taking a thorough look at them now (I'm assuming you didn't read them when you took it out?)

Ayr_Rage

Arsenal2019 said:

paul_c123 said:

I'd not worry too much about the warranty. The fact that you continued to use it with the fault, then poured some K-seal into it, has pretty much ensured you won't be able to claim on it.

Wow you’re joking!!?? And I’ve probably only done  40 miles on it

40 miles is enough to cook an engine and having tried your own repair will likely invalidate any warranty.

Arsenal2019

paul_c123 said:

Warranty terms and conditions are like Swiss cheese, most of the time people try and fail to claim off them. It’s worth taking a thorough look at them now (I'm assuming you didn't read them when you took it out?)

At the time I didn’t. In all honestly, I don’t even know where I’d be able to find them. I had a look through my car paperwork before and couldn’t find it. However I’ve seen an email saying I took out and paid x amount for warranty 

Arsenal2019

Ayr_Rage said:

Arsenal2019 said:

paul_c123 said:

I'd not worry too much about the warranty. The fact that you continued to use it with the fault, then poured some K-seal into it, has pretty much ensured you won't be able to claim on it.

Wow you’re joking!!?? And I’ve probably only done  40 miles on it

40 miles is enough to cook an engine and having tried your own repair will likely invalidate any warranty.

Absolutely fantastic -_- 

Extremely annoying news

paul_c123

Does the car have a coolant temperature gauge? If it did, then you'll have seen it go up and stopped before it went into the red?

If it didn't, then in its place is a generic "STOP" message if/when it overheats - which seems to have happened first time and you stopped. I think the chance of doing further damage then was slim. And if you've kept an eye on it and topped it up a number of times, and the STOP message hasn't recurred, its probably not overheated. Car engines can tolerate being hot, or not having enough coolant in, if used gently for short periods of time (although its risky relying on it for much longer than a few minutes). 

So, I don't think you've "cooked" the engine to the point of further damage, but you do have the original issue of the coolant leak, which is more than likely the heater matrix. If the warranty is still valid, and you keep quiet about the onwards use after its initial fault (and dumping a load of K-seal in it), and it covers overheating/heater matrix (it might not.....), then you might be able to claim on it but you need to find the warranty details and check the small print on it.