V50T5 How can I have been this lucky? Coolant Cap Left Off!
 

I am ashamed of myself.

I drive a V50 T5 FWD Manual '07.

In my rush to get away for the weekend, I left the coolant cap off of my header tank and proceeded to complete a 285 mile journey at high speeds.

I swear I never saw the temperature gauge do anything out of the ordinary during the journey.

Only after we arrived, slept the night, run it for a further 30 mile round trip did I see steam coming from the header tank under the bonnet. Popped it, commence S***ING myself after seeing an empty header tank with boiling coolant bubbling up the feed-pipe. :eek:

I let it all cool until it wasn't boiling, then I threw in what coolant I had available (500ml) and drove it a very slow 5 miles into town to a garage, bought 1 litre and threw that in, then had to top off the rest with something like 4 litres :eek: until the tank was full, so she took something like 5-6 litres of coolant at this point.

The absolute wildest thing is, she's completely fine. How on earth can I be this lucky? - Checked the coolant the following day, needed a bit more, then drove the 285 miles back home, not an issue. All power is there, there's no coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant, no smoke out the exhaust.

Are these engines just built like brick s*** houses or is my car screwed in some non-observable way? - I could do with knowing what I'm dealing with and what to look out for since I am getting it tuned next week after completing a full spec of bolt-ons, list below.

Airtek intercooler and boost pipe
K&N Typhoon
3" Downpipe and De-cat
GFB DV+ (To be installed).

PS I regularly change the oil every 5k with Castrol EDGE 0W-30 A5/B5

Sounds like a very near miss, buy a lottery ticket is my advice :omg_smile:

Forgot to say, I think full capacity of coolant is 8 or 9L, so it sounds like you lost over half, but as it was recirculating and didn't get pushed to the reservoir then kept things working.

Pretty incredible I dodged the worst of it then. I'm certain to the nearest litre on the amount required to top up.

Thank you for the advice there, it must have been just enough... can't believe my luck...

Update, that T pipe off of the thermostat has broken it's plastic surround and it's leaking slowly when warm from there. Nothing I can't fix myself thankfully, seems it's a common fault?