car losing water

wizdumb

Expert Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
2,170
Reaction score
4
Location
now randburg
my car is losing water at an alarming rate - i have to fill the water bottle everyday....

...now i haven't found any leaks so i doubt it's any of the pipes or the bottle itself.

sometimes my car makes a starnge whining noise - so i am thinking, could it be the water pump?

maybe radiator?

how do i check?
 
Same thing happened to me.

Could definitely be your water pump. Its normally infront of the engine where one of the pulleys are attached like a fan belt or something.
 
If there's no water leaking anywhere, it's most likely the cylinder head gasket, and the water is leaving through the exhaust. If you open the radiator cap when the engine is running, look out for bubbles appearing in the water, also a creamy, oily deposit on the inside of the radiator cap. Both of those point to a leaking cylinder head gasket.
 
if there are absolutely no water drops falling under the car or water marks anywhere around the engine...

You may consider the possability that a gasket has broken... on the inside of the engine and leaking water into the engine itself and evedently out your exhaust when you drive.
Keep in mind though, if this is the case, I would expect the engine isnt sounding too good at all and loosing power possibly?

Possability two...

With the gasket on the inside gone (if it is) it may work the other way round and be pushing any water in the system out the pressure release pipe that I rate would be next to your radiator cap. take a look there. add cold water and let it run to see if when hot, it starts to run out.

Wither way, you going to need to see a mechanic about it A.S.A.P. before any real damage is done!

Good luck
 
Water pump seal could have failed...most water pumps are built with a drain hole at the bottom next to the engine block..the heat of the engine evaporates the water but you should see a whitish line of mineral residue running from under the pump down the block where its leaking. If this is the case you need a water pump replacement.
 
Yep look for mayonnaise like substance on the top of the oil filler cap or dip stick and/or layer of oil in the water, IE. blown head gasket. But at the rate you are losing water its more likely that you have leak somewhere. Especially because anti-freeze in the water causes huge white bellows of smoke when combusted (like those cars you see that have smoke clouds following them so you can hardly see the road, yeah they have blown head gaskets with water leaking into the combustion chamber).

If you do have a blown head gasket, your engine isn't going to last very long, the anti-freeze when mixed with oil becomes an acid that corrodes engine internals and bearing races. The car will hastily develop a connecting rod knock followed swiftly by a snapped connecting rod, when the connecting rod snaps the piston shoots through the cylinder block and you can pretty much go looking for a new engine (since your crank will probably be messed up, your rods have snapped, pistons will be properly messed up having just shot through the block and probably fallen onto the road, engine block has a hole in it, almost completely new bottom end needed). Whereas catching it early means you only need some engineering work and replace bearings at worst.
 
Another possibility is that your radiator (or some other component) might have developed a hairline crack, and will eject water/steam when the engine is hot.

This happened to my Corolla, the radiator cracked at the top. Was only picked up because of driving in cold weather and seeing steam coming out from the engine. Otherwise there's no leak or telltale water.

Sometimes you'll also see a rust-colored stain which will indicate a hairline crack.

These are buggers to trace, but easy to fix fortunately.
 
thx for all the tips guys....

...i have found no creamy substance on the dipstik (sounds liike a dodgy line from a b-grade porno doesn't it), the car temp gauge never goes above normal (ie half way). i've checked the exhaust this morning, and i don't see anything abnormal. i've also not seen any steam anywhere at any time.
 
Have you managed to resolve or track down the cause of the issue? I'm experiencing the same symptoms right now

I would suggest you get this checked out by a mechanic you can trust or do it yourself if you can before your gasket actually blows which could be a huge cost. I was experiencing similar symptoms on my car, it's a performance car, but I sorted it out very fast.
 
my vw polo 1.4 2006 is loosing water now and then but has not seen any leaks after checking, and its not overheating
 
Good Day,

I have a 2003 VW Polo 9N, I have recently done some work on the car - changed the petrol pump, did my bearings, changed the top gasket, oil and oil pump change, new plugs and plug leads (this was done a week ago). on Monday I noticed oil stains on the ground, and it keeps leaking just underneath the car when parked overnight or just a couple of hours and just this morning when I tried to refill the water coolant I noticed that there is a leak as well underneath the car and the coolant becomes empty - tried refilling it a couple of times.

would you please advise as to what might be the reason for the oil leak and the water leakage.

Thanks
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X