Technical Coolant Low Level

[Fleaspirit]

Hello good day to ya all

The coolant level in my Ducato 2.8 2003 is 5mm below the minimum level . I'm very short on cash , so can't buy coolant for topping it up .
So I'm wondering as its winter , if I drive sensibly without over working the engine , will I get away without causing damage to the engine . Plus what kind of damage can be caused ?

I should also mention there is no warning yet of over heating

 

[ecunotemu]

Hello good day to ya all

The coolant level in my Ducato 2.8 2003 is 5mm below the minimum level . I'm very short on cash , so can't buy coolant for topping it up .
So I'm wondering as its winter , if I drive sensibly without over working the engine , will I get away without causing damage to the engine . Plus what kind of damage can be caused ?

I should also mention there is no warning yet of over heating

Theres 10l of coolant 5mm in the bottle is about 300ml, if you're sure it has a good dose of coolant and its not full of water you can just top it up with water. You need to make sure its not still dropping it could indicate radiator, heater matric, water pump etc. issues. The metal coolant pipe accross the top of the engine can fail at the welder bracket too.

Can't imagine how you can afford diesel and not coolant. Don't waste your money on premixed stuff or stuff that says it does anything less than -30C you're just paying for water then.

 

[Fleaspirit]

The fact the the coolant level is low , has made me wonder what might be wrong . At the time of writing I couldn't afford either fuel or coolant ( I just happen to have 1/2 a tank of fuel left ) .
The coolant in the tank is opaque blue , which would suggest that there is a mix of sort . I thought that if the mix was good i could just bump it up with water .

fortunately I have been loaned a small amount of cash , so now I'm going down my local car part shop to sort it out .

Thanks for your help , I'll let you know how things turn out .

have a good day

Flea

 

[ecunotemu]

The fact the the coolant level is low , has made me wonder what might be wrong . At the time of writing I couldn't afford either fuel or coolant ( I just happen to have 1/2 a tank of fuel left ) .
The coolant in the tank is opaque blue , which would suggest that there is a mix of sort . I thought that if the mix was good i could just bump it up with water .

fortunately I have been loaned a small amount of cash , so now I'm going down my local car part shop to sort it out .

Thanks for your help , I'll let you know how things turn out .

have a good day

Flea

If its opaque and its not oil someones mixed crappy silicate coolant with OAT coolant this can produce solids in the cooling system so I would to drain it down and flush it with a hose.

 

[Fleaspirit]

Ok top it up with recommended 50/50 mix of antifreeze and ionised water , surprisingly it only needed about a litre if that .

Soon I will drain it all out and start again .

thanks very much for your help , can I contact you in future with other questions ?

 

[maingate]

Hello good day to ya all

The coolant level in my Ducato 2.8 2003 is 5mm below the minimum level . I'm very short on cash , so can't buy coolant for topping it up .
So I'm wondering as its winter , if I drive sensibly without over working the engine , will I get away without causing damage to the engine . Plus what kind of damage can be caused ?

I should also mention there is no warning yet of over heating

I would not worry about it, especially this weather.


I had a 2003 Ducato 2.8 jtd for 5 years. It always ran just below the minimum level. I could top it up but always lost a little bit immediately, it would stay at that level and never move. I never found out why it did that but just forgot about it after a while.

 

[ecunotemu]

Split expansion bottle probably.

 

[maingate]

Split expansion bottle probably.

Nope, not a trace of a leak anywhere (I checked).


My suspicion was the plastic cap on the expansion tank, it looked a cheap and nasty affair. I meant to get a replacement but as there was always some antifreeze and water in the tank, I thought it was not important.


Also, in 5 years, I never heard the engine cooling fan cut in once.

 

[The Seasider]

Now I've had this maingate & it took me nayyy on a year to get to the bottom of it .... Renault Laguna 2 loosing water & Running DOG ROUGH.........I did EVERYTHING you could imagine to cure it but NO ... it STILL lost water & Ran like a bag of Spanners .......I was on the verge of giving up when my neighbour stopped fer a chat .....he was asking about summot (the Turbo I think) & I lifted the hood to show him (The engine was running & up to Temp) ....

I put my hand/arm down the back of the engine (to point out something) & it came out SOAKING WET !!! ....I quickly got rid of the neighbour & proceeded to investigate .....

MICROSCOPIC PIN HOLE in the expansion tank (It was that small you could not even SEE the spray, just "Feel" it when you put yer hand/arm in its path) & it was spraying directly onto the wiring loom & water was running in the engine ECU .....

£5.00 fer a "New" bottle from the scrapper & it never missed another beat in over 100,000 miles !!! ....