coolant leaks - from many places!!!!

[whit]

i've got coolant leaks from almost all my hose joins now!!! the tell-tale sign of pink crusty deposits!!

do the hoses themselves need changing or are there rubber washers when they are connected?

i know the one into the side of the engine block has a rubber washer as this has shown signs of seepage for years!! lol

the coolant level only drops a little over time but in the past week or so abit more than normal and the odd damp patch at front of car now!!

this appears to be from the radiator or hopefully just the bottom hose connection and is running along the front skirt and evidence of coolant splashes in the fan!!

any advice how best to go about sorting this out?

[christomk3gti]

Replace the clips on the leaky pipes with jubilee clips, then u can tighten them if needed in time.... I dont rate the standard clips at all.

[thai-wronghorse]

Those standard clips are well crap plus they can only be used once anyway due to the way they are crimped around the pipes in the factory. Jubilee clips are definitely the way forward.

[Christo77]

All your hose joints !?  it's not uncommon to spring a leak here or there but all hose joints..?  absolutely as other chaps mentions check your jubillee/clamp hose clips.. although have you done something to the cooling system recently..if i saw leaks popping up everywhere i'd suspect pressurising of the system somehow.. hope it's a simple fix though eh..

[thai-wronghorse]

It does sound rather unusual that ALL joints would leak at the same time. Further investigation is certainly called for on this i reckon as mentioned.

[Christo77]

Absolutely.. and just to add that i meant an over' pressurisation fault..as the cooling system operates under a level of pressure as normal.  It could be a simple airlock putting a strain on the rest of the system.. all speculation though..
If it was me i'd be draining the coolant out and starting again from scratch.

[AudiA8Quattro]

Get your coolant system checked for exhaust gases. Could be a headgasket leak.

[kae]

Heya,

As the other guys have said, if you have leaks from all joints, it sounds like you've got a pressurisation problem in your cooling system.  The cooling system is designed to work under a certain pressure (naturally as the system heats water) but too high a pressure and you'll get leaks (and as your radiator is getting older, it may cause the seams in this to split also!)

Two things could be causing the system to over pressurise:
1 - The Head Gasket is leaking exhaust fumes into the system - there is a simple test for this.  It involves fitting a container to the expansion tank with a colour-changing fluid inside it.  Then as the coolant system warms up, gas bubbles through this, the liquid changes colour if exhaust fumes are present.
2 - The cap of the expansion tank has a valve in it that allows excess gas to be released.  This quite often fails, thus the system over pressurises causing leaks.

Personally now that the leaks have appeared, it's time to get new hoses and clips (as these will all be stretched and knackered) and to find the source of the problem.  Any good garage will do an exhaust gas test, then if this is clear, get a new expansion bottle lid (make sure it's a VW one, not a cheap alternative as these are awful!).


All the best,
Kae.