car rapidly losing coolant

ooter

looking for a bit of advice if possible, i've been having an issue with my 12 opel corsa since late last year, an alert light was coming on the dashboard so i left it in with a garage, it was due a service at the end of that month anyway. spent a fair chunk of money and when i collected it i got about 5 mins down the road and another alert light came on and had to take it back, the coolant had completely emptied from the container. had to leave it in for another couple of days and spend more money and they said the issue was sorted but to keep an eye on the coolant level. in the last month i've gone through 2 x 1 litre bottles of coolant, yesterday i put about half a bottle in and it was gone within a few hours. can't see any leaks anywhere but the fluid is obviously going somewhere.

should i take it back to the crowd that did the repair (really don't want to to be honest) or would i be better off going elsewhere, is this a common issue and does it require a lot of work and money to repair?

denismc

If its not leaking out then it is possibly leaking into the engine which is a big deal, you may have a damaged head gasket or engine head.

It's not a good idea to drive a car that's losing coolant, you are risking serious damage to your engine.

It might be a good idea to get a second opinion from a different mechanic.

ooter

to be honest i drive it very little as it is, just to work and back mostly. but i'll definitely park it up and get on to another mechanic.

thanks for the reply.

ooter

before i topped up the coolant yesterday i noticed the car was just blowing cold air but after i topped it up the hot air was blowing again.

would that suggest an engine issue or something else?

The highest point is the heater core, it explain everything

Cass

Are your floors wet?

If the heater matrix is leaking it usually shows by leaking the coolant into the cabin and wetting/soaking the floor. Usually the passenger side, but check both sides. There should also be a tell tale smell of coolant in the car.

This is all assuming there is no coolant leak, visible, on the outside of the car.

ooter

no i've been keeping an eye on that and there's no leak inside the car and no smell and any time i check under the car there's no drips visible or pools of liquid.

listermint

Drips can be masked by under body tray. If possible it's a good idea to remove them for a week to see properly if there's a drip .

I would check under the oil fill cap for excessive white gunk. It's a sign of water mixing in with the oil.

When you run it is the engine temp flying up fast. Do you see bubbles in the coolant resevoir.

Depending on the signs above you could be facing an exhaust gas test of the coolant resevoir

XsApollo

Surely if coolant was getting in with the oil the level would rise.

check the oil level, don’t see it mentioned that you have.

Gant21

Drive it to the scrapper and don’t look back. Money pit.

Hellrazer

I agree listermint being a 12 corsa and the op cant visibly see any coolant leaking Id be doing a sniffer test to see if the head gasket is gone. Quite common on them.

ooter

thanks for the replies lads, what sort of money would i be looking at if it was the head gasket?

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118633765#Comment_118633765

The reason for this is there was no fluid in the heater as its basically a radiator with a fan at the back... don't go near the garage as they likely caused the problem... the very fact that they asked you to check the level suggests they know what the problem is...

ooter

i got in touch with the crowd that i brought it to in november and they said bring it back out and they'll have a look but i haven't confirmed anything with them yet.

BlakeS94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118639026#Comment_118639026

Head gasket can fail in different areas of the gasket and not cause any coolant and oil mixing, I had a head gasket failure on an i40, Hellrazer will probably remember, I never had any coolant or oil mixing, it just absolutely guzzled coolant without any external signs of leaks

BlakeS94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118639063#Comment_118639063

I paid €1200 for an i40 head gasket, but the reinstallation of all the parts by my local trusted (at the time) mechanic lead to engine failure and he took zero responsibility and denied everything, if it is the head gasket I'd take other posters advice and get rid

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118639063#Comment_118639063

Head probably need to be skimmed. So anything from 1200 - 1800 euro.

You don't sound too mechanical so are relying on the good work of proper mechanics. Id say get rid of it should it fail exhaust gas test. (sniffer) as pointed above.

Money pit for those that are not mechanically minded.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118639909#Comment_118639909

They're a chocolate machine anyway though tbf. That thing was a walking talking money gobbler

ooter

not mechanical at all to be honest, this is my first car. i have it booked in with a local mechanic tomorrow so fingers crossed it's nothing too serious.

just seeing this post now, a few weeks ago i noticed the coolant was bubbling in the container but there was still some coolant in it, i got a new bottle of coolant and topped it up and seemed to be grand for a week or so but then had to top it up again and in the last 2 weeks i've gone through another bottle of coolant. not noticing the bubbling now but the coolant is just disappearing quickly.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118639015#Comment_118639015

BlakeS94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118639982#Comment_118639982

Yeah, I wish I just cut my losses and left it on the hard shoulder between limerick and Cork. Hindsight is 20/20

ooter

when i collected the car after the service/repair and had to bring it straight back they showed me that the full container of coolant had leaked out, they said i could take it away and drive it but i'd be constantly topping it up with coolant and it would cost me a fortune which i found very strange but i just wanted to get the car back driving right so i left it with them again and collected it a few days later. i was hoping/assuming there wouldn't be another charge but ended up forking out another few hundred and it's still not right.

can't remember exactly what they did off the top of my head but i do remember they replaced the coil pack.

BlakeS94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118640252#Comment_118640252

It's the very same symptoms when my head gasket was gone, if you're regularly putting large amounts of coolant into the car, and it's gone in a few days with no signs of a leak on the ground or outside of the engine, it's an internal leak and given that it's a common failure on that car, I'd be getting ready to make a decision

Before head gasket replacement, be 100% sure where it really leaks. Use UV dye and UV light

Most of people keep ignoring until everything is broken. Sure, everything cost money but one moment they must to make hard decision and spend load of money. It is possible to reduce the cost and make DIY. If you document / sort everything and have a manufacturer torque specs, not hard job. Just takes more or less time and requires some simple tools.

ooter

quick update, left the car in yesterday with a local mechanic who was recommended to me and he said he found the issue/leak and fixed it, charged me 60e which i was shocked with but shocked in a good way. collected it earlier, hopefully that's the end of the problems.

Cass

Did he say what the issue was? Just curious.

passatman86

Brilliant

Keep us updated if its completely sorted for the long term

ooter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118653241#Comment_118653241

i asked him on the phone yesterday was it a leak in the container/bottle and he said no, can't remember exactly what he said but basically it was somewhere further down, i was hoping to ask him exactly what the issue was when i was collecting it but he wasn't there at the time so i just paid the money and headed off.

Cass

Glad you got sorted.

Hellrazer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118653612#Comment_118653612

Could have been the thermostat housing??

I only did one yesterday on a 11 corsa!!!!

passatman86

How's the corsa driving now

CoBo55

Ded 😉😉

ooter

3 weeks now and all good, no issues with leaks.

passatman86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118764362#Comment_118764362

Good to hear

ooter

was fearing the worst having read some of the comments on here but looks like it wasn't anything major.

suffice to say i won't be going anywhere near the first garage i brought it to again that done me for the guts of a grand, valuable lesson learned.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118767785#Comment_118767785

Keeping a good eye on fluid levels is better than anything, you were very lucky as they're a soft engine.

John.G

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118767785#Comment_118767785

Lack of coolant or cooling will soften the hardest of engines so delighted you are sorted out.😀😀😀