persistent coolant drip

[chrism]

DSCF0376a.jpg

(As well as battery/current leak) I'm troubled by a persistent drip that is ~45cm back from the front bumper on the passenger side around 7/10 of the way along the rhs of the no. plate looking from the front.

Looking from above the engine I can see the garage floor so there's nothing there to drip from so I'm a bit bamboozled...

Can anyone help with any thoughts or similar experience, please? Pic attached, it did this in about an hour...

ps yep, I've jacked it up + looked underneath. No obvious drip-residue...

[Tuga2112]

just one idea.

[chrism]

Thanks yet again Tuga. Hesitant 'cos I'm not sure what I'll find.

That hose-to-hose connection join seems to be in the right place for a downward drip though. Thanks to your video I'll take a closer look.

[esprit888]

Thanks yet again Tuga. Hesitant 'cos I'm not sure what I'll find.

That hose-to-hose connection join seems to be in the right place for a downward drip though. Thanks to your video I'll take a closer look.

I’ve come across this search few times, every time it was the seal leaking on the auxiliary water pump, that’s the electric pump that should only run after the engine is shut down and engine has reached a preset temperature, they are easily replaced with a non-OEM pump.

[chrism]

Thanks esprit888, that's something I hadn't tconsidered.

I'll have a peek tomorrow. It's close to the front, isn't it?

Best wishes

[woody]

Chris,
It could be a loose jubilee clip on the Bottom Hose. Coolant drips onto the Undertray, runs across to the Passenger side, then drips onto the floor.
Jack the car up, remove the Undertray, and tighten up or replace the Jubilee clip to the Bottom Hose, and then see if the coolant drip stops.
Cheers,

[chrism]

It wasn't the aux pump but the bottom hose sounds plausible, too, esp since I had to dig about at it to renew the coolant recently.

I remember it was difficult to 'get at' and I wish I'd jacked up a little more. That'll need looking at again asap anyway...

Thanks for all the alternatives folks

Edit: Nope, not coolant hose clip, thanks for that, though taking off the undertray and poking around doing up clips and rag-wiping was certainly a worthwhile activity given that I've changed oil (dare you not to spill anything), p/steering fluid and coolant within the last few weeks. Perhaps it could still be 'residual' though; some of the coolant drips were very 'freshly pink'...

[Rambo]

Do you have new SAMCO hises fitted Chris? If so, and they have been fitted relatively recently, the jubilee clips will probably be needing nipped up.

[Rambo]

Hope you're not using pink OAT coolant? Just re-read your post and it sounds like you are? You need the green or blue coolant (glycol based) rather than the pink (organic acid) stuff used in more modern vehicles

[chrism]

Nope nothing so posh Rambo but I did nip up any jub clips that I saw with the front plastic tray removed.

Thanks tho'.

Yep pink was already in there...I gather you can't mix the types otherwise you get a precipitation. Should I flush + refill?

[Rambo]

Personally, I would flush well with water (pink OAT and blue/green glycol antifreeze are immiscible and form a sludge) and then add a good glycol based antifreeze at the correct strength. I tend to run with 25% and I change it every couple of years

Incidentally, I had an M100 once which had pink OAT antifreeze which weeped like yours. After a flush and change to blue glycol the leak stopped

[chrism]

Okay that's good advice not to mix the two and I've heard that 'all new antifreeze' will find the places that others won't.

I saw on the video that pink OAT came in vogue after the m100 and Lotus haven't actually tested it on the model so they haven't seen the need to recommend or advise against it. It had the same 'standard' tho'...

Thanks Rambo. I think I'll take your good advice to thoroughly flush it and go 25% blue silicate since that has been tested and recommended by Lotus.

[Saltire]

I would agree with Mark. Weeping with the pink stuff, none at all with the blue. But you do have to change it every two years, irrespective of mileage.

Incidentally, I have a friend (hard to believe, I know) who swears by the Evans waterless coolant for his classic cars. Expensive at the outset, but you never need to change the coolant again. I have no personal experience, but I’m minded to try it one of the days

[Tuga2112]

i always use blue for the simple reason that i've never had the car for more than 2 years without the need to do something to it that would require me to drain the tank anyway.

no point on paying for the more expensive stuff if its gonna be swapped over before its end of life

[chrism]

Aw flushing the pink stuff out now but getting any purchase on that coolant hose drain system is a real pig.

I've drained with cold then reattached it then drained again a few time and the water is getting clear now, so I think I'm getting the radiator + heater flushed.

I reckon after a few more cold flushes I'll have to top it up again later and run it up to temp to flush the coolant trapped behind the thermostat?

ps Doing it in a single garage + jacking up the driver's side to get at that hose must earn me some Brownie points?...soaked through ...

[chrism]

...and running it up to temp has made the clear water in the expansion tank a little pink from the trapped coolant, so when it cools down it seems I'm gonna have to wrangle that coolant hose some more and repeat the process ...

Don't we just love them?

update: two warm flushes - running up to mid-temp gauge removed the final pink traces so blue's god-to-go now...

[Simon_P]

Incidentally, I have a friend (hard to believe, I know) who swears by the Evans waterless coolant for his classic cars. Expensive at the outset, but you never need to change the coolant again. I have no personal experience, but I’m minded to try it one of the days

It has its place in old cars with ineffective/ defective cooling systems. The heat transfer properties aren't as good as normal coolant though so the engine will run hotter all of the time - Not what you want in an M100.

ps Doing it in a single garage + jacking up the driver's side to get at that hose must earn me some Brownie points?...soaked through ...

only if ther is snow on the ground!

Also check the pipe on the bottom of the header tank and the small pipe on the rhs of the turbo.

[chrism]

Aw...no snow...but surely heavy rain must count for something?
Yep, those others will be nipped up thanks

[chrism]

All done now and back to blue coolant. Probably not catastrophic staying pink - but I'm more comfortable knowing that blue was originally approved.

Getting rid of all traces so as exclude any chances of blue/pink precipitation was the major concern, but I had been a little bothered with some pinky sludgy deposits in the bottom of the exp tank given that the previous-to-sale-garage 'service' topped up the p/steering reservoir to the hot mark . I'm suspicious that they may have reached for on-the-shelf/modern products and might not have been too concerned with spending the sort of hours that I spent on the flushing process (or finding out about the p/steering marks. Cynical, I know...)

After the tank clean, a good coolant flush was very necessary anyway - a couple more and the blue solution became a 'no-brainer'...

[Tuga2112]

any progress with the leak ?