Bongo Fury

Hi, Just wondering if anyone can help.

My 5SGL is in the garage - AS Motors in Caerphily [ recommended elsewhere on this site]

The garage is in a bit of a quandary.

I have been loosing water for months in fairly small amounts but recently[ last three weeks] it has accelerated and combined with clouds of white ?? Steam coming from the exhaust. The steam is particularly noticeable when I stop at lights etc. - can't say whether it come out all the time or not. [ I must stress this a lot of steam]
Water usage was 2 litres on one 40 mile recent trip, mostly not quite as much as this.

The garage and me after reading stuff on here and talking to people had come to the conclusion Head gasket or cracked head. So I booked the vehicle in and set up the best value parts suppliers and readied myself to spend a small fortune. [ which i can't afford]

NOW they have had the car in the garage for a few days , done a compression test that was ok and run the car for hours without much steam [ on tick over, of course]

They don't want to change gaskets or heads and there be no difference.

ANY THOUGHTS

Just want to add - no overheating for about six months when there was on episode when coolant was low.
Vehicle is running perfectly.

Large amounts of steam definitely point to the head gasket having gone - have they pressure tested the cooling system?

Thanks John - I don't think they have pressure tested the coolant system - you're presumably saying they should do this.

Paul

Indeed yes - compression testing the cylinders may not show a small leak in the head gasket because some pressure escapes past the piston rings anyway. Pressure testing the cooling system should show the system capable of holding a constant pressure - if it doesn't, it shows a leak in the system. It only requires a very small leak into a cylinder to produce clouds of steam.

tell them to remove the glow plugs when cold and place card over the holes, turn the engin over and if water hits the card then the gaskit or head is definatly gone.

Thats on the coolant fact sheet and how mine was diagnosed.

Mine had a very tiny crack, sounds like yours will show much easier

just a thought. when our turbo went we had steam out of the exhaust with the water loss but a compression check failed to pick up any problem.
the turbo is water fed by two pipes into a 4 way jacket. i blanked off the two pipes with bolts and the white smoke stopped for a while until the oil seals went.