Cooling system leakage in new XR8 - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

AUII XR8 · 12-31-2001, 23:16

My new XR8 goes through a top tank of water every 700km. Have topped up 3 times in 2200km (all done in 1 1/2 weeks :) . Temperature gauge sits where it should by the N and O of Normal on gauge. After 700km, light on dash comes on and its time to add more water. At this rate it'll soon need water with every refuel:( . No visable leaks anywhere, no sign of coolant on ground or around hoses anywhere or from the overflow pipe behind tank. Changed the oil at 1100km and neither old or new stuff shows contamination.
Where's the water going?

Ghia · 01-01-2002, 00:40

I'm not the expert on these tpyes of things, but the other two things I could think of if you have checked for visible leaks and the oil is :
A head Gasket - Does the car start easily on the morning?
The Heater

I would think none of these would occur on a new car, and i'm sure someone else can shed some more light on the topic.

discokin6 · 01-01-2002, 01:46

I take it its running OK?

look at the welch plugs on the side of the block, if none are rusty-looking, then i'd suspect a waterpump leak or somehting along those lines..

Mr Sparkle · 01-01-2002, 02:15

Another thing to check would be the coolant reservoir lid.. a poor seal will cause many problems, including some of the ones you have mentioned.

Martin · 01-01-2002, 05:37

There could be a chance there was still air in the system when you bought it so it may go away eventually. How much 'liquid' are you putting in when you top it up?

Oh and when your topping it up make sure its either water(distilled prefferably), or the exact same coolant as whats already in there. Mixing coolant types, even the from same brand is a serious no no. It will literally turn the coolant into sludge, clogging everything.

Unfortuanatly id be leaning more towards headgasket leakage though....

01-01-2002, 05:40

hell man it's a new car!!!
Take it to Ford and let them find the leak. If I paid $45000+ for a car I wouldn't be asking us for the answer. And when they find it I'm sure they'll tell ya and then you can tell us.
I'm very interested though...

batbo6 · 01-01-2002, 06:06

Quote:

Originally posted by AUII XR8
My new XR8 goes through a top tank of water every 700km. Have topped up 3 times in 2200km (all done in 1 1/2 weeks :) . Temperature gauge sits where it should by the N and O of Normal on gauge. After 700km, light on dash comes on and its time to add more water. At this rate it'll soon need water with every refuel:( . No visable leaks anywhere, no sign of coolant on ground or around hoses anywhere or from the overflow pipe behind tank. Changed the oil at 1100km and neither old or new stuff shows contamination.
Where's the water going?

Get the car back into your dealer ASAP before any serious damage occurs (runs out of coolant and overheats)

AUII XR8 · 01-01-2002, 16:14

Thanks for the advice guys - just thought it might be something simple which Ford may have seen before and sent out one of their Service Bulletins on. Shouldn't result in complete failure, or be very common, or else the fault wouldn't have happened?

Starts first time every time, and no noticeable 'extra' vapour or other stuff being expelled from exhaust - in fact its cleaner than the AUII XR8 just replace (which used to splatter little black dots of 'soot/oil' on rear of car).

I have looked all over the engine, hoses, entry of heater hoses into firewall, overflow etc but there is no sign of external leakage. Also as mentioned earlier, no oil contamination (at least not yet). Temperature doesn't go up. Water usage - well in 700km is the difference between the 'MIN' and 'MAX' mark lines on the top tank - maybe 500ml to 1 litre? Meant to measure it last time, but just plain forgot.

Aside from this lil problem she's a great beast to drive - who needs or could use much more power on the road? Really does go well!

Mr Sparkle · 01-01-2002, 18:27

Quote:

Originally posted by AUII XR8
Thanks for the advice guys - just thought it might be something simple which Ford may have seen before and sent out one of their Service Bulletins on. Shouldn't result in complete failure, or be very common, or else the fault wouldn't have happened?

Starts first time every time, and no noticeable 'extra' vapour or other stuff being expelled from exhaust - in fact its cleaner than the AUII XR8 just replace (which used to splatter little black dots of 'soot/oil' on rear of car).

I have looked all over the engine, hoses, entry of heater hoses into firewall, overflow etc but there is no sign of external leakage. Also as mentioned earlier, no oil contamination (at least not yet). Temperature doesn't go up. Water usage - well in 700km is the difference between the 'MIN' and 'MAX' mark lines on the top tank - maybe 500ml to 1 litre? Meant to measure it last time, but just plain forgot.

Aside from this lil problem she's a great beast to drive - who needs or could use much more power on the road? Really does go well!

Mine was using more coolant / water than normal for a while, and I replaced the coolant tank cap. This fixed it. It appears that even if the cap "looks" ok, it may not be sealing properly.

Just a thought! :s3

botch · 01-02-2002, 00:12

some au's leak coolant from the tanks on the radiator leaking under pressure. The coolant sometimes leaks in behind the thermo fans and downt the radiator, which cannot be seen unless you remove the radiator.

Like others have said here - Take it to the dealer!! lf you leave the car there overnight they should be able to put the pressure tester on overnight and find the leak by the morning.!

Glad to hear you love the car:s5 :s5 :s5