Water leak. please help me find it

[steve_earwig]

That's a bit of a bastard, at least you weren't marooned.

...a common cause of water loss on theses hdi engines in that the enine cover supports snap and the vibrating rattling result of an engine cover rubs the top of the stat housing through

Aha, I knew there was a reason I took my engine cover off (other than it's pointless)

Im sorry to all who are finding this a bid boring. But its like a diary of my troubles and it helps me look at them logically by typing them down. So the ramblings continue. Hurrayy!

No problemo, you carry on.

[teamster1975]

Oh gawd, sorry to hear that lamby

Im sorry to all who are finding this a bid boring. But its like a diary of my troubles and it helps me look at them logically by typing them down. So the ramblings continue. Hurrayy!

No need to apologise, you're indirectly helping others with your troubleshooting! Hope you finally get it sorted

If it's any consolation mine has started losing coolant again and I fitted a new rad 2 months ago Oh and the rad has gone on my bike too

[puggy]

totally agree teamster, carry on biglamb interesting post and good reference
for future problems

[Welly]

Ooh-errr biggy

Keep posting fella - you are not boring us at all, like the others said it's helpfull.

[teamster1975]

What is it about these cars constantly giving us little (or big!) challenges to sort out

[puggy]

The joys of driving courtesey of Peugeot = If you aint a mechanic now you Fooking soon will be !!

[biglamb]

Well, its now had a new top pipe from rad to tank, a new bottom pipe from rad to tank. a new stat and gasket. New top housing for the stat. New bleed plug caps. All cooling parts taken of and cleaned, and refittind with new clips. The rad has been cleaned and inspected. and im still loosing water.
Due to fridays bottom pipe malfunction. The engine is now covered in orange antifreeze stains. so spotting a small leak is now impossible, and the constant rain is making spotting any sort or active leak nay on impossible too. My head is hurting. Next i will be pressure testing the rad. The garge local to me would not do it while the rad is off the car. So ill be trying that next, now its all back together.
Where is my leak??
Head gasket? no emulsified oil. no high pressure in the pipes, no oil in the water, and with the amout of water that has gone, im sure the engine would have blown up by now.
Radiator? no obvious signs of corrosion or decay or damage, no steam visable whilst running, but not been tested as yet.
Thermostat? New stat fitted. Slight stablisation in the water temp. good sign. not cause of water loss.
Pipes? All pipes up to the heater matrix have been checked, cleaned or replaced. new clips fitted.
Drains/ bleeds? All, areas checked and replaced.
Water pump? Cant see any obvious signs, but last resort, as its difficult to check and expensive to replace.
Heater Matrix? Not leaking into cab, no wet carpets. heater and air con all work perfectly.
Header tank? new cap, cap is still blowing water out. this is due to leak causing exess pressure in the system, and there is not enough coming out to warrent the lss that is happening. No steam is present under driving conditions. Has hank cleaned and checked. no leak seen. no obvious signs of damage or corrosion.

Have i missed anything?? is any thing im saying not right? any suggestions? im getting desparate now.

[teamster1975]

You've checked everything I would have lamby, all that's left is the head gasket.
Send a PM to jameslxdt; he's our resident mechanic/genius and he did the head gasket on his now sold 110Hdi.

[biglamb]

Hmm. ive just been down to my local indi garage. He did a preasure test, and said that there is no drop in preasure, no leak and the head gasket it fine. He tested oth, running and none running. He suggested that after a system flush, the chances of the stat opening are slim, therefore the system is unlikley to be full. so a good run is likly to open stat and take all the water. he said this could happen afew times, before it is full. This does fit with what i found. as i had filled the tank up a few times after a proper flush. and it was running ok. did a few hundred miles, then the pipe fell off. Starting me back to square one. This does all fit with the origional how too's posted at the beggining of this long thread. It was suggested, that after filing the tank and bleeding. that the water level in the extra header tank would drop. and to get some water in there pronto. Well this never happend to me. i left it running for an hour with no drop. so issumed it was already dropped from the start. am i making sense?? so i have been advised to run for a few days topping up as nesseccery. if there is still a prob im going to drive it of a cliff. or go back to the garage. Who did not chargeme for the test or info.

[steve_earwig]

Christ on a bike! If you do the bleedin' bleeding thing with the bottle and leave it on there, topped up with auntyfreeze then steam should drive out the air and as it cools down it should draw in more antifroze to replace it. It sounds like you got it right to me, the hose blowing off may have put more air in the system of course, but if you bleed it again with the bottle then it shouldn't have any air trapped in it.

If topping it up for a while doesn't do the business then it's cliff time.

[biglamb]

Bit of an update.
I have taken the thermostat out copletely. and have performed a full flush bleeding all as before. then i have done a run to work and the level has dropped to about the tot of the filler pipe area. exactley where i was advised it should be. so im thinking result.!!! just sounds like the stat wasnt opening for my to fill her up properly. so the system past the stat was full of air. now its not. i hope this is the nd of the mater. What are the implications of running without a stat. at the moment the water temp dosent go beyond 80 and the oil temp barly sees 90. all the heating works fine though. i cant think that the would be a problem running a colder engine. this is all just curiosity, as i will be replacing the stat at the weekend when i replace all the water with antifreeze.
So thanks to all who contributed to this thread. Ill be starting another soon, about trying to get more mpg out of her cause she is letting me down abit ot the moment.

[Welly]

Oh sh*t sh*t sh*t....Be carefull.... I just remembered - this may sound weird but you may have the wrong thermostat this happened to my friend a couple of years back.

The thermostats for various different Peugeots will all look fairly similar BUT if it's the wrong length it can't open properly when it has to - leading to over-pressure and because the HDi runs cool (and the weathers been cool) you almost get away with it.

Well worth checking with the stealers.

[biglamb]

intresting point welly.
the stat that i had in (the new one) camr from the stealers, and is identical to the one that came out. but you may be on to something, cause im sure the stat should open after an hour of ticover. but this one dont.