aghh water leek

[apole]

Hi,

Glad you are on the road again.

Don't forget Flippa on here sells silicon coolant hose sets as well. Not sure if you can get new metal pipes but it would be interesting to know if you can.

Andy

[mayk19]

no, its brown inside the tank.... think your onto something there....

[smartmonkey]

The brown stuff is the key to most overheating problems. It means your coolant system has been neglected and is corroding, usually because of poor quality or insufficient coolant. The coolant should be a nice colour (usually green or blue) and it must be nice and clear. I would always thoroughly flush and refill any system with brown or cloudy coolant. Always backflush and you can buy additives to assist with dislodging the sediment whilst draining. You can clean out the header tank by removing it from the car and shaking it with a mild phosphoric acid solution (or brick cleaner). The phos acid dissolves the ferric residue a treat and leaves you with a shiny new tank. Failing that a good shake with hot soapy water and a pressure wash to finish.

[Peg leg Pete]

Must try that smartmonkey, bongo due a coolant change soon, almost 2 years since last done

[mikeonb4c]

The brown stuff is the key to most overheating problems. It means your coolant system has been neglected and is corroding, usually because of poor quality or insufficient coolant. The coolant should be a nice colour (usually green or blue) and it must be nice and clear. I would always thoroughly flush and refill any system with brown or cloudy coolant. Always backflush and you can buy additives to assist with dislodging the sediment whilst draining. You can clean out the header tank by removing it from the car and shaking it with a mild phosphoric acid solution (or brick cleaner). The phos acid dissolves the ferric residue a treat and leaves you with a shiny new tank. Failing that a good shake with hot soapy water and a pressure wash to finish.

Great to have this man back online - knows his stuff

[bigdaddycain]

Before anybody with murky tanks starts to panic, it is only an observation i have made,the discolouration of the tank could have occured four,six,... eight years ago....Coolant issue resolved at the time,tank left stained...it's not indicative of an ongoing/onsetting problem, merely a hint of past problems,and quite possibly future issues....

[mayk19]

My coolant is clear... the discolouration is something thats happend before. The question is... how much damage was done at that time....

[bigdaddycain]

That's exactly my point mayk...I have noticed that the bongo's with discolourd tanks seem to have re-occuring problems...It stresses the importance of the two yearly coolant change. Keep bongo's mean,ensure the coolant's clean!

[dipstick]

When I read SmartMonkeys advice to clean the header tank out using a mild phosphoric acid solution something 'clicked' in my brain!!!

In a previous topic on coolant etc some-one cleaned their radiator out by leaving it full of coca-cola overnight and flushing out with water, and guess what is contained in coca-cola - phosphoric acid.

So if you remove the header tank, block all the holes and fill with coke and leave overnight it may have the same effect as mild phosphoric acid and leave you with a clear tank.

Let us all know what happens if anyone tries it.

[Veg_Ian]

But the strength of phosphoric acid in coke is very weak (or at least bloody well should be!). Alloy wheel cleaner (or at least the stuff I have) is 17% strength and should work well if coke fails the test.