You dont necesarily need to pressure test a cooling system or compression test the cylinders to find a blown headgasket or split head. If water is going into the cylinder, pull the spark plugs out. You may find that 1 of them is as clean as a whistle while the rest are dirty with carbon etc.

Are you noticeing the level drop when the engine is hot or when its cold

G'day people.

Thanks for your replies, No, I have not checked under the vehicle to look under the manifold as yet, been raining so will wait until the rain stops a bit otherwise no fun getting wet.

Yes, I though air pocket would have gone by now as Tim stated.

When I looked at the water level this time the engine was hot (warm). I topped the coolant up when it was safe.

I left it overnight and checked whilst cold, could not see any difference in level

Cheers

Like i qouted above, the level will fluctuate

No worries, I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks

G'day. yeah I'll check it as soon as its dry enough to do so, too much rain where I am.

Hello again,

Well looks like I may have solved my loss of coolant problem.

From the beginning.

I installed a new radiator and hoses, but never had the heater unit opened from the first instance so it did take a few days for the coolant to fill the system as air pockets were still evident.

Now that its full. I have noticed I am losing coolant from the surge tank itself.

After driving 5 days, long and short distances I have noticed the green liquid sitting on top of the bottle between the upper and lower joins, also evidence of seepage tracking onto the outside of the main hose leading to the radiator.

I'm going to take the idea what one poster said. i.e. get another surge tank for same make and model and clean it with Hydrochloric Acid, instead of 30 minutes I'm going to do mine for 24 hours, 12 hours both sides and give it a thorough was to remove the acid.

The acid should clean the scale build up inside the bottle to a point where one should be able to see the coolant max and minimum instead of second guessing.

I'll let you know how it pans out.

I'll post photos, before, during and after.

Cheers.

Ok,

I've cleaned my spare coolant / surge tank from the wreckers with Hydrochloric Acid.

I let the Acid soak for about 1 and half hours. Seemed to have cleaned the scale no problems

Here are the photos:-

 

 

Attachments:

File comment: Coolant bottle after Hydrochloric Acid coolant bottle after acid treatment (Large).JPG [ 81.12 KiB | Viewed 210 times ]

File comment: Hydrochloric acid at work Hydrochloric acid at work (Large).JPG [ 97.21 KiB | Viewed 211 times ]

File comment: Before Acid treatment Coolant bottle before acid treatment (Large).JPG [ 82.45 KiB | Viewed 209 times ]

That acid sure did a good job, good way to clean of the gunk in there so it wont go floating around in the system.

Yeah, it sure did, bugger of a job though.

Used acid proof gloves, protector eye shield designed for working with acid, no bear feet, and dont breath the fumes, nasty stuff, keep upwind where possible and pleanty of ventilation.

I used full strength acid. I'll be doing another one on saturday and will keep as a spare.

Gaff tape I used to block the holes to stop fluid escaping was not enough, I'll be trying more gaph tape next time and will try to keep acid contained say for 3 hours both sides or longer and see what happens. I might try using an old rubber with cork and clamp to seal it next time.

Cheers