Pulled into the garage the other day and a few minutes later I spot coolant trickling out from the front of the car (BX16V) As usual with coolant leaks, everything red hot and everything is dripping in coolant so decided I'd wait for it to cool and check again. Nothing; bone dry. 
Ran it stopped and waited, nothing still. Checked fluid level, it looked OK :crazy: so, I decided to bleed the system. Air coming out as level dropped in coolant bottle and bingo, it leaked!! :banana:
On the fitting that attaches to the block at the water pump, there's three hoses. One heads off towards the heater matrix (haven't traced it yet but it's an elbow) one is simply a blank off, why? and both of these were like jelly; totally stuffed.
I have often heard of BX16V/Mi16 engines having both heating and air in the system problems and these pair are real likely candidates for both as they can be porous for years and weep rather than leak, causing the "where is my coolant going to?" type of questions.
Why do they leak? Well, the 16V engine lays back and the same engine sems to be a bugger for weeping oil from the mega expensive rocker cover gasket. If/when this happens, regardless of where the leak is, gravity says it will run to the rear of the rocker cover and tickle and drip directly down to the (hard to access and see) engine backend, crossmember and anything that may be located there, in this case, these hoses. In the case of a really bad leak, it can even make it's way to the hose that runs to the intake of the pump; the one that's about $300 which when you remember this one is also vulnerable from grease from the front O/S inner VC boot if it splits, makes the urgency of checking this take on a bit of importance.
How to see it. Jack the car up high and remove the road wheel and inner plastic guard. Prise the pump intake hose to one side, (or in my case where I modified the hose by fitting a new elbow and connected it to a piece of stainless pipe, separate at the connector and remove from pump) and shine a spotlight into the greasy black bowels inside there. Naturally they are held on using those useless non reuseable hose clamps that normally are either so sloppy they just pull off or have to be cut off using a pair of side cutters.
Now the best bit!! How to get access? Drain the system (which should have been done prior to removing the hose) remove the radiator and attach an engine crane. Take the weight of the engine and then remove the top engine mount and slacken the bottom. This can be removed later if needed. Slide in over the top of the front subframe and remove and replace hose and blank off. I'm looking at making some form of deflector plate to prevent a recurrence. I have already got the pump intake hose covered in duct tape which I did after it went soggy due to the busted CV gaitor years ago.
I think every owner od every BX16V/Mi16 should get this checked out as a matter of urgency as to my way of thinking, there must be a mountain of these sitting there all puffed up like big toads just waiting to give some owner a nasty surprise.
Alan S
P.S. The rest of the job is now crossreferenced here:
http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/showthread.php?p=201730#post201730
Ran it stopped and waited, nothing still. Checked fluid level, it looked OK :crazy: so, I decided to bleed the system. Air coming out as level dropped in coolant bottle and bingo, it leaked!! :banana: On the fitting that attaches to the block at the water pump, there's three hoses. One heads off towards the heater matrix (haven't traced it yet but it's an elbow) one is simply a blank off, why?
and both of these were like jelly; totally stuffed.I have often heard of BX16V/Mi16 engines having both heating and air in the system problems and these pair are real likely candidates for both as they can be porous for years and weep rather than leak, causing the "where is my coolant going to?" type of questions.
Why do they leak? Well, the 16V engine lays back and the same engine sems to be a bugger for weeping oil from the mega expensive rocker cover gasket. If/when this happens, regardless of where the leak is, gravity says it will run to the rear of the rocker cover and tickle and drip directly down to the (hard to access and see) engine backend, crossmember and anything that may be located there, in this case, these hoses. In the case of a really bad leak, it can even make it's way to the hose that runs to the intake of the pump; the one that's about $300 which when you remember this one is also vulnerable from grease from the front O/S inner VC boot if it splits, makes the urgency of checking this take on a bit of importance.
How to see it. Jack the car up high and remove the road wheel and inner plastic guard. Prise the pump intake hose to one side, (or in my case where I modified the hose by fitting a new elbow and connected it to a piece of stainless pipe, separate at the connector and remove from pump) and shine a spotlight into the greasy black bowels inside there. Naturally they are held on using those useless non reuseable hose clamps that normally are either so sloppy they just pull off or have to be cut off using a pair of side cutters.
Now the best bit!! How to get access? Drain the system (which should have been done prior to removing the hose)
remove the radiator and attach an engine crane. Take the weight of the engine and then remove the top engine mount and slacken the bottom. This can be removed later if needed. Slide in over the top of the front subframe and remove and replace hose and blank off. I'm looking at making some form of deflector plate to prevent a recurrence. I have already got the pump intake hose covered in duct tape which I did after it went soggy due to the busted CV gaitor years ago.I think every owner od every BX16V/Mi16 should get this checked out as a matter of urgency as to my way of thinking, there must be a mountain of these sitting there all puffed up like big toads just waiting to give some owner a nasty surprise.
Alan S
P.S. The rest of the job is now crossreferenced here:
http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/showthread.php?p=201730#post201730
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