Water problem

Bored-Stupid

Hi all,

I have an 01 Seat Leon 1.9 TDi 110SE and I am leaking water at a serious rate. I replaced the radiator and couldnt believe when the problem wasnt fixed.There is no water dripping from anywhere although sometimes water does be around the passenger footwell.My uncle mentioned it could be the heater radiator leaking water. Could this be true and if so is it hard to remedy?

Thanks in advance

mickdw

Well footwells can be as a result of leaking heater matrix on some cars. Is it continually wet there? If so that must be your problem. If however the footwell is only wet occasionally (ie wet weather) then it has nothing to do with the problem. I have seen a few of these vw 110 bhp deisels suffering from mystery loss of water with no apparent leaks. The problem always turns out to be the head gasket. It causes the water loss by engine gases under pressure getting into the water system.

dloob

Well regarding the footwells I have a Leon of that vintage and they suffered from a problem with the door seals.
There is a drainage hole that blocks in the bottom of the seal.
I had mine replaced after leaks in multiple doors, needed a new underlay as well.
It was only partially covered under warranty too despite it being a common problem.

crosstownk

Ok - just to clarify - is your car letting water in, or are you loosing coolant?

Which radiator did you replace?

Bored-Stupid

Im loosing coolant. I would fill it before I would go to work and it would be enpty when I reached there (25 miles away!). I replaced the main radiator! He thought the head gasket was clear, how much would that be to replace?

itarumaa

can you smell any coolant inside the car when you put the heating on (heater matrix)

how does the oil look like, normal or mix of water and oil (head gasket)

if you hit the throttle when stationary do you get a lot of white smoke (head gasket)

does the car windows stay moist free inside of the car?

If you are losing so much water can you see where it goes,

Take the rubber mats out and try the carpet in the passenger side, if that is wet press it down and if it does feel soft etc you might have loads of water under the carpets, this for me would definitely point to heater matrix and yes it´s usually pain in the... to change.

Oh yes, one more thing, are sure that expansion tank cap is tight and working as planned, if you have that cap loose there is no pressure in the system and water will just boil away

Bored-Stupid

Thanks for your input itarumaa much appreciated.

By what you say I think it must be the heater because there is a smell in it since I got it and there does be visible streams of water on the passenger footwell even on a dry day. I bought a new expansion tank cap so thats not the problem. Well im glad im getting to the crux of the problem anyway. I have climate control. Will that make it harder/dearer to change??

crosstownk

You'll need to have the cooling system pressure tested. This should, hopefully, show the source of the leak.

itarumaa

Hi,

if you have the sweet smell inside the car and wet carpets well then heater matrix is quite strong quess,

I have only changed a heater matrix to Daewoo Matiz, really tough job:(

I would say that it might be easier for your car, since it not so bloody small so you actually have some space to work with,

but usually you have to remove the dash to get access to the matrix and definitely disconnect the battery (minus cable) if you do the job yourself, specially if you have any airbags in the car.

And of course, if you take the car to garage change of the matrix is quite time consuming job,

Dirty_Diesel

With a time consuming (and head wrecking) job like removing the heater matrix I would try a bottle or radweld. I've used it on a number of cars over the years and as long as the leak isn't too big (and in metal) it will seal it up permanently. You must make sure the engine is upto temperature (i.e. thermostat is open) before you our it into the rad.

For the sake of €7 its worth a shot, if it doesnt work you will have to remove the heater matrix anyway.

itarumaa

Yes, you can try that stuff, but for me it worked for while, then on the heavy traffic matrix got stuck, temperature went sky high untill matrix exploded and all the hot coolant was leaking to the passengers side.

Bored-Stupid

I tried radweld so that did nothing for me!

Thanks for you help lad I suppose I better bite the bullet and get the local lads to screw me over.

Although what crosstownk mentioned is interesting.

I got the system pressure tested and he said the leak was coming from the expansion tank although I got a new cap and radiator.

HJL

Might be worth doing a search on http://www.seatcupra.net to pin point the exact problem, the guys on this forum know their Seats. Very good resource and your bound to hit on something that should shed a bit of light on your problem.

Esel

Bored-Stupid wrote: »

I tried radweld so that did nothing for me!

Try Novastop, it's streets better than Radweld.

Maximilian

I have an issue with leaking coolant - anyone know where you can get this Novastop stuff? Somewhere close to Dublin 2/4 preferably

Esel

I'd say a lot of Motor Factors stock it. I know consort do, but the nearest branch to you is beside Tesco in Drumcondra. Check around.

crosstownk

Maximilian wrote: »

I have an issue with leaking coolant - anyone know where you can get this Novastop stuff? Somewhere close to Dublin 2/4 preferably

Get the real cause of the leak addressed. I'm not a fan of stopping the leak with some additive.