Drinking engine coolant

[fattony]

Sorry to bump this but the engine coolant level has dropped again, I've done approx 250 miles and the level is about half way, the strange thing is those 250 miles have taken 10 hours to drive ( central London) so I think it would be fair to say it's loosing coolant whilst under load.

Even with a cold engine if I undo the coolant cap it hisses and after a drive if I pop the bonnet I can hear the air in the coolant

[T4Rick]

Do a compression test,It will rule out out if its a head gasket thats leaking or not.Would be worth dropping the oil just to see if its watery or not .Thats is quiet a bit of fluid your losing there to be honest mate

[jez v40]

try and take it for a "sniffer test" they put some fluid in your cooling system, depending on how it reacts they can tell you whats in coolant. don't want to be baerer of bad news but you seem to have same symptons as i had. result Head Gasket. but do try K-seal it may work , for a tenner it's worth a go.

[fattony]

Think I will try the k seal, how long does a head gasket last (mileage) I have receipts which list head gasket done at 110k miles and its now on 153k

[mikeyskona]

That K-seal really is great stuff. I've used it to plug my illusive leak successfully and a friend said it allowed him a few weeks to save up for his headgasket replacement too

As for life span, i really can't help you on that one, it all depends on the engine (BMW B20 2.5 engines were a pig for them).... I always thought the head gasket on the Volvo engines were pretty robust.

[fattony]

is it worth replacing the headgasket on a car worth so little?

its a 2002 v40 with 153k miles, there has to be a point where its not worth repairing?

[mikeyskona]

I suppose that's a matter of judgement and budget, what condition is the rest of the motor in? How likely is it to pass it's next MOT? Is it worth more as a running car or breaking for parts? How much is a headgasket?

You sure it;s the headgasket? had a compression test done?
I thought my issue was a headgasket (had air in coolant, but no oil etc).. but compression was fine, and the k-seal did the job

[fattony]

Just checked the level again and the coolant looks oily to me but thought someone could confirm this?

Please see pic


How much is a headasket on a 1.9 td v40?

[mikeyskona]

Looks oily to me too, although that could just be lots of crap.

Maybe if you flush the cooling system, to get rid of all the crap, re-fill with coolant and some K-seal and see what happens? See how much a head gasket will cost you and then if / when the k-seal repair fails you will know wether you want to scrap it or get it fixed ... Nothing to lose other than maybe £20 on K-Seal, Coolant and flush

[fattony]

I'll try and see if my garage can test for headgasket failure, I'm not sure how to flush the engine coolant to be honest, I'm no mechanic unfortunately, Is it simple?

Where can you buy K Seal - halfords?